Deuteronomy 23-24

Complete Jewish Bible

23 ^(22:30)“A man is not to take his father’s wife, thus violating his father’s rights.

²⁽¹⁾“A man with crushed or damaged private parts may not enter the assembly of Adonai.

³⁽²⁾“A mamzer may not enter the assembly of Adonai, nor may his descendants down to the tenth generation enter the assembly of Adonai.

⁴⁽³⁾“No ‘Amoni or Mo’avi may enter the assembly of Adonai, nor may any of his descendants down to the tenth generation ever enter the assembly of Adonai, ⁵⁽⁴⁾because they did not supply you with food and water when you were on the road after leaving Egypt, and because they hired Bil‘am the son of B‘or from P’tor in Aram-Naharayim to put a curse on you. ⁶⁽⁵⁾But Adonai your God would not listen to Bil‘am; rather, Adonai your God turned the curse into a blessing for you; because Adonai your God loved you. ⁷⁽⁶⁾So you are never to seek their peace or well being, as long as you live.

(iv) ⁸⁽⁷⁾“But you are not to detest an Edomi, because he is your brother; and you are not to detest an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land. ⁹⁽⁸⁾The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of Adonai.

¹⁰⁽⁹⁾“When you are in camp, at war with your enemies, you are to guard yourself against anything bad. ¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp; he is not to enter the camp. ¹²⁽¹¹⁾When evening arrives he is to bathe himself in water, and after sunset he may enter the camp. ¹³⁽¹²⁾Also you are to have an area outside the camp to use as a latrine. ¹⁴⁽¹³⁾You must include a trowel with your equipment, and when you relieve yourself, you are to dig a hole first and afterwards cover your excrement. ¹⁵⁽¹⁴⁾For Adonai your God moves about in your camp to rescue you and to hand over your enemies to you. Therefore your camp must be a holy place. [Adonai] should not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you.

¹⁶⁽¹⁵⁾“If a slave has escaped from his master and taken refuge with you, you are not to hand him back to his master. ¹⁷⁽¹⁶⁾Allow him to stay with you, in whichever place suits him best among your settlements; do not mistreat him.

¹⁸⁽¹⁷⁾“No woman of Isra’el is to engage in ritual prostitution, and no man of Isra’el is to engage in ritual homosexual prostitution.

¹⁹⁽¹⁸⁾Nothing earned through heterosexual or homosexual prostitution is to be brought into the house of Adonai your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to Adonai your God.

²⁰⁽¹⁹⁾“You are not to lend at interest to your brother, no matter whether the loan is of money, food or anything else that can earn interest. ²¹⁽²⁰⁾To an outsider you may lend at interest, but to your brother you are not to lend at interest, so that Adonai your God will prosper you in everything you set out to do in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

²²⁽²¹⁾“When you make a vow to Adonai your God, you are not to delay in fulfilling it, for Adonai your God will certainly demand it of you, and your failure to do so will be your sin. ²³⁽²²⁾If you choose not to make a vow at all, that will not be a sin for you; ²⁴⁽²³⁾but if a vow passes your lips, you must take care to perform it according to what you voluntarily vowed to Adonai your God, what you promised in words spoken aloud.

(v) ²⁵⁽²⁴⁾“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat enough grapes to satisfy your appetite; but you are not to put any in your basket. ²⁶⁽²⁵⁾When you enter your neighbor’s field of growing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand; but you are not to put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

24 “Suppose a man marries a woman and consummates the marriage but later finds her displeasing, because he has found her offensive in some respect. He writes her a divorce document, gives it to her and sends her away from his house. ²She leaves his house, goes and becomes another man’s wife; ³but the second husband dislikes her and writes her a get, gives it to her and sends her away from his house; or the second husband whom she married dies. ⁴In such a case her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again as his wife, because she is now defiled. It would be detestable to Adonai, and you are not to bring about sin in the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance.

(vi) ⁵“If a man has recently married his wife, he is not to be subject to military service; he is to be free of external obligations and left at home for one year to make his new wife happy.

⁶“No one may take a mill or even an upper millstone as collateral for a loan, because that would be taking as collateral the debtor’s very means of sustenance.

⁷“If a man kidnaps any of his brothers, fellow members of the community of Isra’el, and makes him his slave or sells him, that kidnapper must die; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

⁸“When there is an outbreak of tzara‘at, be careful to observe and do just what the cohanim, who are L’vi’im, teach you. Take care to do as I ordered them. ⁹Remember what Adonai your God did to Miryam on the road after you left Egypt.

¹⁰“When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you are not to enter his house to take his collateral. ¹¹You must stand outside, and the borrower will bring the collateral outside to you. ¹²If he is poor, you are not to go to bed with what he gave as collateral in your possession; ¹³rather, you must restore the pledged item at sunset; then he will go to sleep wearing his garment and bless you. This will be an upright deed of yours before Adonai your God.

(vii) ¹⁴“You are not to exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or a foreigner living in your land in your town. ¹⁵You are to pay him his wages the day he earns them, before sunset; for he is poor and looks forward to being paid. Otherwise he will cry out against you to Adonai, and it will be your sin.

¹⁶“Fathers are not to be executed for the children, nor are children to be executed for the fathers; every person will be executed for his own sin.

¹⁷“You are not to deprive the foreigner or the orphan of the justice which is his due, and you are not to take a widow’s clothing as collateral for a loan. ¹⁸Rather, remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and Adonai your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

¹⁹“When harvesting the grain in your field, if you forgot a sheaf of grain there, you are not to go back and get it; it will remain there for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that Adonai your God will bless you in all the work you do. ²⁰When you beat your olive tree, you are not to go back over the branches again; the olives that are left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. ²¹When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you are not to return and pick grapes a second time; what is left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. ²²Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am ordering you to do this.