Parashat Ki Tetzei

When You Go Out

¹⁰ “When you go out to war against your enemies, and Adonai your God hands them over to you and you take them captive, ¹¹ suppose you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire her and would take her as a wife for yourself. ¹² Then you are to bring her into your house, and she must shave her head, trim her nails, ¹³ and remove her captive’s clothing, then sit in your house and weep for her father and mother a full month. After that, you may go to her and become her husband and she will be your wife. ¹⁴ Now if you are not pleased with her, then you may send her off wherever she wishes. But you must certainly not sell her for silver—you may not treat her as merchandise, since you have humiliated her.

¹⁵ “Suppose a man has two wives—the one loved and the other unloved—and both the loved and the unloved bear him sons. But it happens that the firstborn son belongs to the unloved wife. ¹⁶ Now on the day he lets his sons inherit what he has, he must not treat the loved one’s son as firstborn, in place of the unloved one’s son, who is the firstborn. ¹⁷ Rather, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated one, by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the first of his vigor—the right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸ “Suppose a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not listen to the voice of his father or mother. They discipline him, but he does not listen to them. ¹⁹ Then his father and mother are to grab hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city—to the gate of his place. ²⁰ They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious—he does not listen to our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ ²¹ Then all the men of his city are to stone him with stones to death. So you will purge the evil from your midst—and all Israel will hear and be afraid.

Hung on a Tree

²² “Suppose a man is guilty of a sin with a death sentence and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree. ²³ His body is not to remain all night on the tree—instead you must certainly bury him the same day, for anyone hanged is a curse of God.^[a] You must not defile your land that Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Love in Practice

22 “You are not to watch your brother’s ox or sheep going astray and ignore them^[b]—you must certainly bring them back to your brother. ² If your brother is not near you or if you do not know him, then you should bring it into your house and it will remain with you until your brother comes searching for it and you return it to him. ³ You are to do the same with his donkey or his coat or anything lost by your brother, that may be lost by him and you find—you may not ignore them. ⁴ You must not watch your brother’s donkey or ox fall down on the road and ignore it—you must certainly help him lift it up again.

⁵ “A man’s apparel is not to be on a woman, nor is a man to wear woman’s clothing—for whoever does these things is detestable to Adonai your God.

⁶ “If there happens to be a bird’s nest in front of you along the road, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the hen sitting on the young or on the eggs, you are not to take the hen with the young. ⁷ You must certainly let the hen go, but the young you may take for yourself so that it may go well with you and you may prolong your days.

⁸ “When you build a new house, you are to make a guardrail for your roof, so that you do not bring the guilt of blood on your house if anyone falls from it.

⁹ “You are not to plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or else the whole harvest will be forfeited^[c]—both the seed you plant and the produce of the vineyard. ¹⁰ You are not to plow with an ox and a donkey together. ¹¹ You are not to wear a woven mixture^[d], wool and linen together. ¹² You are to make for yourself twisted threads^[e] on the four corners of your garment in which you cover yourself.

¹³ “Suppose a man takes a wife and goes t0 her and then dislikes her, ¹⁴ accuses her of shameful things and gives her a bad reputation by saying, ‘I took this woman, but when I came near her, I didn’t find her virginity.’ ¹⁵ Then the father of the young woman is to take her and her mother is to bring out the signs of the young woman’s virginity to the city elders at the gate. ¹⁶ The young lady’s father is to tell the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her. ¹⁷ Indeed, he has accused her of shameful things, saying, “I didn’t find your daughter’s virginity.” Yet these are the signs of my daughter’s virginity.’ They are to spread the wedding cloth before the elders of the city. ¹⁸ The elders of that city are to take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ Then they are to fine him 100 pieces of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought an evil name on a virgin of Israel. Then she is to be his wife—he may not send her away all his days.

²⁰ “But if this thing is true—that the signs of virginity were not found in the young lady— ²¹ then they are to bring the young woman out to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city are to stone her with stones to death, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to behave like a prostitute in her father’s house. So you are to purge the evil from your midst.

²² “Suppose a man is found lying with a married woman. Then both of them are to die—the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you are to purge the evil from Israel.

²³ “Suppose there is a young woman who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her. ²⁴ Then you are to bring them both out to the gate of that city and stone them with stones to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the town, and the man because he humiliated his neighbor’s wife. So you are to purge the evil from your midst.

²⁵ “But if the man finds the engaged woman in the field, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her is to die. ²⁶ But to the young woman you are to do nothing—there is no sin in the young woman deserving of death. For this matter is the same as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him— ²⁷ for he found her in the field, the engaged woman cried out, and there was no one to save her.

²⁸ “Suppose a man finds a young virgin who is not engaged, grabs her and lies with her, and they are discovered. ²⁹ Then the man who lay with her is to give to the young woman’s father 50 pieces of silver, and she is to be his wife, since he has humiliated her—he may not send her away all his days.

Persons Excluded from the Community

23 “A man is not to take his father’s wife—he is not to expose his father’s nakedness.

² “No one with crushed or cut-off genitals is to enter the community of Adonai. ³ No one born of forbidden relations^[f] is to enter the community of Adonai—even to the tenth generation none of his descendants are to enter the community of Adonai. ⁴ No Ammonite or Moabite is to enter the community of Adonai—even to the tenth generation none belonging to them is to enter the community of Adonai forever— ⁵ because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when you came out from Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor from Petor of Aram-naharaim to curse you. ⁶ But Adonai your God refused to listen to Balaam, and Adonai your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because He loves you. ⁷ You are never to seek their shalom or welfare all your days.

⁸ “You are not to detest an Edomite, for he is your brother. You are not to detest an Egyptian, for you were an outsider in his land. ⁹ The children born to them—the third generation—may enter the community of Adonai.

¹⁰ “When you go out as an army camp against your enemies, you are to guard yourself from every evil thing. ¹¹ If there is among you a man who is not clean from a nighttime emission, he is to go outside the camp—he may not reenter the camp. ¹² Now toward evening he is to bathe in water, and when the sun sets, he may reenter the camp. ¹³ There is to be a place at hand for you outside the camp, and you are to go there outside. ¹⁴ You are to have a shovel for yourself among your weapons. Now when you sit down outside, you are to dig with it and turn and cover up what comes out of you. ¹⁵ For Adonai your God walks in the midst of your camp, to rescue you and to give your enemies over to you. Therefore your camp must be holy, so that He does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

Slavery, Cult Prostitutes

¹⁶ “You are not to hand over to his master a slave who seeks refuge with you from his master. ¹⁷ Let him dwell with you in your midst, in the place he chooses within one of your town gates—the one that is good for him. You are not to mistreat him.

¹⁸ “None of the daughters of Israel is to be a cult prostitute, nor any of the sons of Israel a cult prostitute. ¹⁹ You are not to bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the House of Adonai your God for any vow, for both of these are detestable to Adonai your God.

Usury, Vows

²⁰ “You are not to charge excessive interest to your brother—on money, food or anything that may be loaned for interest. ²¹ To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you are not to charge interest, so that Adonai your God may bless you in every undertaking of your hand on the land you are going in to possess.

²² “When you make a vow to Adonai your God, you are not to delay to make good on it—for Adonai your God will certainly require it of you, and you would have sin on you. ²³ But if you refrain from making a vow, you would not have sin on you. ²⁴ Whatever comes out of your lips you are to take care to do, since you have vowed to Adonai your God a freewill offering that you have promised with your mouth.

²⁵ “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes; but you are not to put any in your basket. ²⁶ When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you are not to swing a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Marriage and Divorce

24 “Suppose a man takes a wife and marries her. Now if she doesn’t find favor in his eyes because he has found something indecent in her, he is to write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her and send her out from his house. ² When she leaves his house, she may go and become another man’s wife. ³ Now suppose the second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, and he hands it to her and she leaves his house—or suppose the second husband who took her to be his wife dies. ⁴ Then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled—for that would be detestable before Adonai. You are not to bring guilt on the land that Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵ “When a man takes a new wife, he is not to go out with the army or have any duty passed over to him. He is to be free at home for one year and make his wife happy.

Preserving Life and Property

⁶ “No one is to take a pair of millstones or the upper one as collateral, for this would be taking a livelihood as collateral.

⁷ “If a man is caught kidnapping any of his brothers from Bnei-Yisrael, whether he treats him like property or sells him, then that kidnapper must die. So you are to purge the evil from your midst.

⁸ “Take care in the plague of tzara’at—be very careful to do all that the Levitical kohanim instruct you, just as I commanded them, so you are to take care to do. ⁹ Remember what Adonai your God did to Miriam, along the way when you were coming out from Egypt.

Relief for the Poor

¹⁰ “When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you are not to go into his house to get his pledge. ¹¹ You are to stand outside, and the man to whom you are making the loan is to bring the pledge outside to you. ¹² If he is a poor man, you are not to sleep with his pledge^[g]. ¹³ You must certainly restore the pledge to him when the sun sets, so that he may sleep in his coat and bless you—and it is to be righteousness for you before Adonai your God.

¹⁴ “You are not to oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is from your brothers or the outsiders in your land within your town gates. ¹⁵ On that day you are to give him his wages—the sun is not to set on it—for he is poor and sets his heart on it. Otherwise he will cry out against you to Adonai, and you will have sin on you.

¹⁶ “Fathers are not to be put to death for children, and children are not to be put to death for fathers—each one is to be put to death for his own sin. ¹⁷ You are not to twist justice for an outsider or orphan, and you are not to take as collateral a widow’s clothing. ¹⁸ But you are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and Adonai your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

¹⁹ “When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you are not to turn back to get it. It is for the outsider, for the orphan and for the widow—in order that Adonai your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive tree, you are not to search through the branches afterward. It is for the outsider, for the orphan and for the widow. ²¹ When you harvest your vineyard, you are not to pick over it afterward. It is for the outsider, for the orphan and for the widow. ²² You are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

Justice From the Court

25 “Suppose there is a dispute between people and they approach the court, the judges hear their case, and declare one righteous and the other guilty. ² Now if the guilty one deserves to be flogged, the judge is to make him lie down and be flogged before him, with the number of lashes in proportion to his guilt. ³ He may strike him 40 times but no more. Otherwise he would beat him with too many a wound beyond these, and your brother would be degraded in your eyes.

⁴ “You are not to muzzle the ox while it is threshing.

⁵ “If brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the dead man’s wife is not to be married outside to a stranger. Her husband’s brother is to go to her and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. ⁶ Now the firstborn that she bears is to carry on the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷ But if the man does not want to take his brother’s widow, his brother’s widow is to go to the elders at the gate and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel—he is unwilling to perform a brother-in-law’s duty for me.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his town are to summon him and speak to him. And if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ ⁹ then his brother’s widow is to come to him in the sight of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and reply, ‘So will it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰ Then his name is to be called in Israel ‘the house of the pulled-off sandal.’

¹¹ “Suppose people fight with one another, a man and his brother, and the wife of the one approaches to rescue her husband from the hand of the one hitting him; and she puts out her hand and grabs him by his genitals. ¹² Then you are to cut off her hand—your eye will show no pity.

¹³ “You are not to have stones of different weights in your bag—large and small. ¹⁴ You are not to have in your house ephahs of different measures—large and small. ¹⁵ You must have a full and honest weight and a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long on the land that Adonai your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For all who do these things, all who do injustice, are detestable to Adonai your God.

Beware, Blot Out Amalek

¹⁷ “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way as you came out from Egypt— ¹⁸ how he happened upon you along the way and attacked those among you in the rear, all the stragglers behind you, when you were tired and weary—he did not fear God. ¹⁹ Now when Adonai your God grants you rest from all the enemies surrounding you in the land Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you are to blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget!