Parashah 49: Ki Tetze (When you go out) 21:10 –25:19

¹⁰ “When you go out to war against your enemies, and Adonai your God hands them over to you, and you take prisoners, ¹¹ and you see among the prisoners a woman who looks good to you, and you feel attracted to her and want her as your wife; ¹² you are to bring her home to your house, where she will shave her head, cut her fingernails ¹³ and remove her prison clothing. She will stay there in your house, mourning her father and mother for a full month; after which you may go in to have sexual relations with her and be her husband, and she will be your wife. ¹⁴ In the event that you lose interest in her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes; but you may not sell her for money or treat her like a slave, because you humiliated her.

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and unloved wives have borne him children, and if the firstborn son is the child of the unloved wife; ¹⁶ then, when it comes time for him to pass his inheritance on to his sons, he may not give the inheritance due the firstborn to the son of the loved wife in place of the son of the unloved one, who is in fact the firstborn. ¹⁷ No, he must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the unloved wife by giving him a double portion of everything he owns, for he is the firstfruits of his manhood, and the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸ “If a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey what his father or mother says, and even after they discipline him he still refuses to pay attention to them; ¹⁹ then his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him out to the leaders of his town, at the gate of that place, ²⁰ and say to the leaders of his town, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he doesn’t pay attention to us, lives wildly, gets drunk.’ ²¹ Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death; in this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you, and all Isra’el will hear about it and be afraid.

(ii) ²² “If someone has committed a capital crime and is put to death, then hung on a tree, ²³ his body is not to remain all night on the tree, but you must bury him the same day, because a person who has been hanged has been cursed by God — so that you will not defile your land, which Adonai your God is giving you to inherit.

22 “You are not to watch your brother’s ox or sheep straying and behave as if you hadn’t seen it; you must bring them back to your brother. ² If your brother is not close by, or you don’t know who the owner is, you are to bring it home to your house; and it will remain with you until your brother asks for it; then you are to give it back to him. ³ You are to do the same with his donkey, his coat or anything else of your brother’s that he loses. If you find something he lost, you must not ignore it.

⁴ “If you see your brother’s donkey or ox collapsed on the road, you may not behave as if you hadn’t seen it; you must help him get them up on their feet again.

⁵ “A woman is not to wear men’s clothing, and a man is not to put on women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to Adonai your God.

⁶ “If, as you are walking along, you happen to see a bird’s nest in a tree or on the ground with chicks or eggs, and the mother bird is sitting on the chicks or the eggs, you are not to take the mother with the chicks. ⁷ You must let the mother go, but you may take the chicks for yourself; so that things will go well with you, and you will prolong your life.

(iii) ⁸ “When you build a new house, you must build a low wall around your roof; otherwise someone may fall from it, and you will be responsible for his death.

⁹ “You are not to sow two kinds of seed between your rows of vines; if you do, both the two harvested crops and the yield from the vines must be forfeited. ¹⁰ You are not to plow with an ox and a donkey together. ¹¹ You are not to wear clothing woven with two kinds of thread, wool and linen together.

¹² “You are to make for yourself twisted cords on the four corners of the garment you wrap around yourself.

¹³ “If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her and then, having come to dislike her, ¹⁴ brings false charges against her and defames her character by saying, ‘I married this woman, but when I had intercourse with her I did not find evidence that she was a virgin’; ¹⁵ then the girl’s father and mother are to take the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the leaders of the town at the gate. ¹⁶ The girl’s father will say to the leaders, ‘I let my daughter marry this man, but he hates her, ¹⁷ so he has brought false charges that he didn’t find evidence of her virginity; yet here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity’ — ^{(18 )} and they will lay the cloth before the town leaders. ^18 (19) The leaders of that town are to take the man, punish him, ¹⁹ and fine him two-and-a-half pounds of silver shekels, which they will give to the girl’s father, because he has publicly defamed a virgin of Isra’el. She will remain his wife, and he is forbidden from divorcing her as long as he lives.

²⁰ “But if the charge is substantiated that evidence for the girl’s virginity could not be found; ²¹ then they are to lead the girl to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her town will stone her to death, because she has committed in Isra’el the disgraceful act of being a prostitute while still in her father’s house. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

²² “If a man is found sleeping with a woman who has a husband, both of them must die — the man who went to bed with the woman and the woman too. In this way you will expel such wickedness from Isra’el.

²³ “If a girl who is a virgin is engaged to a man, and another man comes upon her in the town and has sexual relations with her; ²⁴ you are to bring them both out to the gate of the city and stone them to death — the girl because she didn’t cry out for help, there in the city, and the man because he has humiliated his neighbor’s wife. In this way you will put an end to such wickedness among you.

²⁵ “But if the man comes upon the engaged girl out in the countryside, and the man grabs her and has sexual relations with her, then only the man who had intercourse with her is to die. ²⁶ You will do nothing to the girl, because she has done nothing deserving of death. The situation is like the case of the man who attacks his neighbor and kills him. ²⁷ For he found her in the countryside, and the engaged girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.

²⁸ “If a man comes upon a girl who is a virgin but who is not engaged, and he grabs her and has sexual relations with her, and they are caught in the act, ²⁹ then the man who had intercourse with her must give to the girl’s father one-and-a-quarter pounds of silver shekels, and she will become his wife, because he humiliated her; he may not divorce her as long as he lives.

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. ² She leaves his house, goes and becomes another man’s wife; ³ but 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. ⁴ In 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. ⁹ Remember 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. ¹¹ You must stand outside, and the borrower will bring the collateral outside to you. ¹² If he is poor, you are not to go to bed with what he gave as collateral in your possession; ¹³ rather, 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. ¹⁵ You 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. ¹⁸ Rather, 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. ²⁰ When 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. ²¹ When 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. ²² Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

25 “If people have a dispute, seek its resolution in court, and the judges render a decision in favor of the righteous one and condemning the wicked one; ² then, if the wicked one deserves to be flogged, the judge is to have him lie down and be flogged in his presence. The number of strokes is to be proportionate to his offense; ³ but the maximum number is forty. He is not to exceed this; if he goes over this limit and beats him more than this, your brother will be humiliated before your eyes.

⁴ “You are not to muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

⁵ “If brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, his widow is not to marry someone unrelated to him; her husband’s brother is to go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her. ⁶ The first child she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be eliminated from Isra’el. ⁷ If the man does not wish to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow is to go up to the gate, to the leaders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Isra’el; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother for me.’ ⁸ The leaders of his town are to summon him and speak to him. If, on appearing before them, he continues to say, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ ⁹ then his brother’s widow is to approach him in the presence of the leaders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who refuses to build up his brother’s family.’ ¹⁰ From that time on, his family is to be known in Isra’el as ‘the family of the man who had his sandal pulled off.’

¹¹ “If men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one comes up to help her husband get away from the man attacking him by grabbing the attacker’s private parts with her hand, ¹² you are to cut off her hand; show no pity.

¹³ “You are not to have in your pack two sets of weights, one heavy, the other light. ¹⁴ You are not to have in your house two sets of measures, one big, the other small. ¹⁵ You are to have a correct and fair weight, and you are to have a correct and fair measure, so that you will prolong your days in the land Adonai your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For all who do such things, all who deal dishonestly, are destestable to Adonai your God.

(Maftir) ¹⁷ “Remember what ‘Amalek did to you on the road as you were coming out of Egypt, ¹⁸ how he met you by the road, attacked those in the rear, those who were exhausted and straggling behind when you were tired and weary. He did not fear God. ¹⁹ Therefore, when Adonai your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance to possess, you are to blot out all memory of ‘Amalek from under heaven. Don’t forget!

Haftarah Ki Tetze: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 54:1–10 [Messianic adaptation: commence the reading at 52:13]

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Ki Tetze: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:31–32; 19:3–12; 22:23–32; Mark 10:2–12; 12:18–27; Luke 20:27–38; 1 Corinthians 9:4–18; Galatians 3:9–14; 1 Timothy 5:17–18