Those Excluded from the Assembly

23 “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

(A)“No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord.

(B)“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, (C)because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they (D)hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of (E)Mesopotamia, to curse you. But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the Lord your God turned (F)the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loved you. You (G)shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever.

“You shall not abhor an Edomite, for (H)he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because (I)you were a sojourner in his land. Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Uncleanness in the Camp

“When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

10 “If any man among you becomes (J)unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, 11 but when evening comes, he shall (K)bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp.

12 “You shall have a place outside the camp, and you shall go out to it. 13 And you shall have a trowel with your tools, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig a hole with it and turn back and cover up your excrement. 14 Because (L)the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

15 (M)“You shall not give up to his master a slave[a] who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.

17 “None of the (N)daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none (O)of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute. 18 You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog[b] into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

19 (P)“You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, (Q)interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest. 20 (R)You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, (S)that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

21 (T)“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. 23 You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

24 “If you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. 25 If you go into your neighbor's standing grain, (U)you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain.

Laws Concerning Divorce

24 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and (V)he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then (W)her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Miscellaneous Laws

(X)“When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year (Y)to be happy with his wife[c] whom he has taken.

“No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.

(Z)“If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he (AA)treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. (AB)So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

“Take care, in (AC)a case of leprous[d] disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. Remember what the Lord your God did to (AD)Miriam (AE)on the way as you came out of Egypt.

10 “When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. 12 And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. 13 (AF)You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and (AG)bless you. And (AH)it shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.

14 “You shall not (AI)oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. 15 (AJ)You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), (AK)lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin.

16 (AL)“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.

17 (AM)“You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, (AN)or take a widow's garment in pledge, 18 but (AO)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.

19 (AP)“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 sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, (AQ)that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 (AR)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

25 “If there is a (AS)dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, (AT)acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty, then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense. (AU)Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.

(AV)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

Laws Concerning Levirate Marriage

(AW)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her (AX)husband's brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that (AY)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall (AZ)go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, (BA)‘I do not wish to take her,’ then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and (BB)pull his sandal off his foot and (BC)spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not (BD)build up his brother's house.’ 10 And the name of his house[e] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off.’

Miscellaneous Laws

11 “When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, 12 then you shall cut off her hand. (BE)Your eye shall have no pity.

13 “You (BF)shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15 A full and fair[f] weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, (BG)that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For (BH)all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, (BI)are an abomination to the Lord your God.

17 (BJ)“Remember what Amalek did to you (BK)on the way as you came out of Egypt, 18 how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and (BL)cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. 19 Therefore (BM)when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall (BN)blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 23:15 Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles (see Preface)
  2. Deuteronomy 23:18 Or male prostitute
  3. Deuteronomy 24:5 Or to make happy his wife
  4. Deuteronomy 24:8 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
  5. Deuteronomy 25:10 Hebrew its name
  6. Deuteronomy 25:15 Or just, or righteous; twice in this verse

Exclusion From the Assembly

23 [a]No one who has been emasculated(A) by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.

No one born of a forbidden marriage[b] nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.

No Ammonite(B) or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.(C) For they did not come to meet you with bread and water(D) on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam(E) son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim[c](F) to pronounce a curse on you.(G) However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse(H) into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves(I) you. Do not seek a treaty(J) of friendship with them as long as you live.(K)

Do not despise an Edomite,(L) for the Edomites are related to you.(M) Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country.(N) The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Uncleanness in the Camp

When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure.(O) 10 If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.(P) 11 But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset(Q) he may return to the camp.(R)

12 Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God moves(S) about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy,(T) so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

15 If a slave has taken refuge(U) with you, do not hand them over to their master.(V) 16 Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress(W) them.

17 No Israelite man(X) or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.(Y) 18 You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute[d] into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both.(Z)

19 Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.(AA) 20 You may charge a foreigner(AB) interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless(AC) you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.

21 If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it,(AD) for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.(AE) 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.(AF) 23 Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.

24 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. 25 If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.(AG)

24 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him(AH) because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce,(AI) gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord(AJ) your God is giving you as an inheritance.

If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.(AK)

Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.(AL)

If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die.(AM) You must purge the evil from among you.(AN)

In cases of defiling skin diseases,[e] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical(AO) priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.(AP) Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.(AQ)

10 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge.(AR) 11 Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. 12 If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge(AS) in your possession. 13 Return their cloak by sunset(AT) so that your neighbor may sleep in it.(AU) Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.(AV)

14 Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.(AW) 15 Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor(AX) and are counting on it.(AY) Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.(AZ)

16 Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.(BA)

17 Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless(BB) of justice,(BC) or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt(BD) and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.(BE) Leave it for the foreigner,(BF) the fatherless and the widow,(BG) so that the Lord your God may bless(BH) you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time.(BI) Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.(BJ)

25 When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges(BK) will decide the case,(BL) acquitting(BM) the innocent and condemning the guilty.(BN) If the guilty person deserves to be beaten,(BO) the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes.(BP) If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.(BQ)

Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.(BR)

If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.(BS) The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.(BT)

However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife,(BU) she shall go to the elders at the town gate(BV) and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.”(BW) Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals,(BX) spit in his face(BY) and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” 10 That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

11 If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, 12 you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.(BZ)

13 Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light.(CA) 14 Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. 15 You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long(CB) in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.(CC)

17 Remember what the Amalekites(CD) did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. 18 When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.(CE) 19 When the Lord your God gives you rest(CF) from all the enemies(CG) around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek(CH) from under heaven. Do not forget!

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 23:1 In Hebrew texts 23:1-25 is numbered 23:2-26.
  2. Deuteronomy 23:2 Or one of illegitimate birth
  3. Deuteronomy 23:4 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
  4. Deuteronomy 23:18 Hebrew of a dog
  5. Deuteronomy 24:8 The Hebrew word for defiling skin diseases, traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin.