Those Excluded from the Congregation

23 “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall ^(A)not enter the assembly of the Lord.

² “One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

^3 (B)“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, ^4 (C)because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and ^(D)because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ^[a]Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵ Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God ^(E)loves you. ^6 (F)You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

⁷ “You shall not abhor an Edomite, ^(G)for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because ^(H)you were an alien in his land. ⁸ The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Cleanliness of the Campsite

⁹ “When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. ^10 (I)If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp. ¹¹ But it shall be, when evening comes, that ^(J)he shall wash with water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.

¹² “Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; ¹³ and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. ¹⁴ For the Lord your God ^(K)walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

^15 (L)“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it ^[b]seems best to him; ^(M)you shall not oppress him.

¹⁷ “There shall be no ritual ^[c]harlot ^(N)of the daughters of Israel, or a ^(O)perverted^[d] one of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸ You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are ^[e]an abomination to the Lord your God.

^19 (P)“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. ^20 (Q)To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, ^(R)that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.

^21 (S)“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. ²² But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. ^23 (T)That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

²⁴ “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. ²⁵ When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, ^(U)you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Law Concerning Divorce

24 “When a ^(V)man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ^[f]uncleanness in her, and he writes her a ^(W)certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, ² when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, ^4 (X)then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is ^[g]an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Miscellaneous Laws

^5 (Y)“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and ^(Z)bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

⁶ “No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes ^[h]one’s living in pledge.

⁷ “If a man is ^(AA)found ^[i]kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; ^(AB)and you shall put away the evil from among you.

⁸ “Take heed in ^(AC)an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. ^9 (AD)Remember what the Lord your God did ^(AE)to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!

¹⁰ “When you ^(AF)lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. ¹¹ You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. ¹² And if the man is poor, you shall not ^[j]keep his pledge overnight. ^13 (AG)You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and ^(AH)bless you; and ^(AI)it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ “You shall not ^(AJ)oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. ¹⁵ Each day ^(AK)you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; ^(AL)lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.

^16 (AM)“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.

^17 (AN)“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, ^(AO)nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. ¹⁸ But ^(AP)you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.

^19 (AQ)“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may ^(AR)bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²² And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.

Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness

To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

Wisdom Loves Righteousness

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic^(A)

¹⁷ Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present ^[a]to heal them. ^18 (B)Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. ¹⁹ And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst ^(C)before Jesus.

²⁰ When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

^21 (D)And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? ^(E)Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²² But when Jesus ^(F)perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, ^(G)“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

²⁵ Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, ^(H)glorifying God. ²⁶ And they were all amazed, and they ^(I)glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

Matthew the Tax Collector^(J)

^27 (K)After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, ^(L)“Follow Me.” ²⁸ So he left all, rose up, and ^(M)followed Him.

^29 (N)Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And ^(O)there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. ^30 [b]And their scribes and the Pharisees ^[c]complained against His disciples, saying, ^(P)“Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^32 (Q)I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting^(R)

³³ Then they said to Him, ^(S)“Why^[d] do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”

³⁴ And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the ^(T)bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”

^36 (U)Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one ^[e]puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into new wineskins, ^[f]and both are preserved. ³⁹ And no one, having drunk old wine, ^[g]immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is ^[h]better.’ ”