Deuteronomy 23
Expanded Bible
The Lord’s People
23 No man who has had ·part of his sex organ [L his testicles crushed or his penis] cut off may come into the ·meeting to worship [assembly of] the Lord [Acts 8:26–40].
2 No one born ·to parents who were forbidden by law to marry [of a forbidden marriage] may come into the ·meeting to worship [assembly of] the Lord. The descendants for ten generations may not come in either.
3 No Ammonite or Moabite may come into the ·meeting to worship [assembly of] the Lord, and none of their descendants for ten generations may come in. 4 This is because the Ammonites and Moabites did not give you bread and water when you came out of Egypt. And they hired Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor in Northwest Mesopotamia, to put a curse on you [Num. 22–24]. 5 But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam. He ·turned [transformed; overturned] the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. 6 Don’t ·wish for [seek] their peace or ·success [prosperity] as long as you live.
7 Don’t ·hate [detest] Edomites; they are your ·close relatives [brothers; C descendants of Esau the brother of Jacob/Israel]. Don’t ·hate [detest] Egyptians, because you were ·foreigners [resident aliens] in their country [C during the time of Joseph, God’s people survived a famine in Egypt; Gen. 41–42]. 8 ·The great-grandchildren of these two peoples [L their children to the third generation] may come into the ·meeting to worship [assembly of] the Lord.
Keeping the Camp Clean
9 When you are camped ·in time of war [L against your enemies], keep away from ·unclean things [foulness; L a bad/evil thing; C referring to ritual uncleanness]. 10 If a man becomes unclean during the night, he must go outside the camp and not come back [C referring to an emission of semen; Lev. 15:16]. 11 But when evening comes, he must wash himself, and at sunset he may come back into the camp.
12 Choose a place outside the camp where people may go ·to relieve themselves [L outside]. 13 ·Carry a tent peg with you [L As part of your equipment have a tent peg/or trowel with you], and when you ·relieve yourself [squat; L sit], dig a hole and cover up your ·dung [excrement]. 14 The Lord your God ·moves [walks] around through your camp to protect you and to defeat your enemies for you, so the camp must be holy. He must not see anything ·unclean [indecent] among you so that he will not leave you.
Other Laws
15 If an escaped slave comes to you, do not hand over the slave to his master. 16 Let the slave live with you anywhere he likes, in any ·town [gate] he chooses. Do not ·mistreat [oppress; exploit] him.
17 No Israelite ·man [L son] or ·woman [L daughter] must ever become a ·temple [sacred] prostitute. 18 Do not bring ·a male or female prostitute’s pay [L the pay of a prostitute or the price of a “dog”; C “dog” is probably a reference to a male temple prostitute] to the ·Temple [L house] of the Lord your God to pay what you have ·promised [vowed] to the Lord, because the Lord your God ·hates [detests] ·prostitution [L both of them; C male and female temple prostitution].
19 If you loan your ·fellow Israelites [relatives; brothers] money or food or anything else, don’t make them pay back ·more than you loaned them [interest; Ex. 22:25; Lev. 25:36–37]. 20 You may charge foreigners, but not ·fellow Israelites [L your relatives/brothers]. Then the Lord your God will bless ·everything you do [your undertakings; L all that is sent out from your hand] in the land you are entering to ·take as your own [possess].
21 If you make a ·promise [vow] to give ·something [a vow] to the Lord your God [Lev. 7:16–17; Num. 30:2–17], do not ·be slow [delay] to pay it, because the Lord your God ·demands [will surely seek] it from you. Do not be guilty of sin. 22 But if you do not make the ·promise [vow], you will not be guilty. 23 You must do whatever ·you say you will do [L comes out of your lips], because you ·chose to make [L freely made with your own mouth] the ·promise [vow] to the Lord your God [Eccl. 5:4–5].
24 If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you wish, but do not put any grapes into your basket. 25 If you go into your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick grain with your hands, but you must not cut down your neighbor’s grain with your sickle.
Deuteronomy 23
Amplified Bible
Persons Excluded from the Assembly
23 “He who has been castrated by having his testicles crushed or his male organ cut off shall not enter the congregation of the Lord. 2 A person of [a]illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation. 3 An Ammonite or [b]Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord, 4 because they did not meet you with bread (food) and water on the road as you came out of Egypt, and because they hired [to act] against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God has loved you. 6 You shall never seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days.
7 “You shall not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother [Esau’s descendant]. You shall not detest an Egyptian, because you were a stranger (resident alien, foreigner) in his land. 8 Their children of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
9 “When you go out as an army [to fight] against your enemies, you shall keep yourselves from every evil [thing].
10 “If there is any man among you who is [ceremonially] unclean because of nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he shall not come back to the camp. 11 But when evening comes, he shall bathe in water, and at sundown he may return to the camp.
12 “You shall also have a place outside the camp to which you may go, 13 and you shall have a spade among your tools, and when you [prepare to] sit down outside [to relieve yourself], you shall dig a hole with it and shall turn and cover up your waste. 14 Since the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to rescue you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy (undefiled); and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.
15 “You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He shall live among you, in the place he chooses in one of your cities where it pleases him; you shall not mistreat or oppress him.
17 “There shall be no cult prostitute among the daughters of Israel, nor shall there be a cult prostitute (a sodomite) among the sons of Israel. 18 You shall not bring the wages of a prostitute or the price of a dog [that is, a male prostitute] into the house of the Lord your God as payment for any vow, for both of these [the gift and the giver] are utterly repulsive to the Lord your God.
19 “You shall not charge interest to your fellow Israelite—interest on money, food or anything that may be loaned for interest. 20 You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your fellow Israelite you shall not charge interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in [c]all that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to possess.
21 “When you make a [d]vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for He will most certainly require it of you, and a delay would cause you to sin. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, that would not be [counted as] sin in you. 23 You shall be careful to perform that [vow] which passes your lips, just as you have made a voluntary vow to the Lord your God, just as you have promised with your own words (mouth).
24 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, [e]as many as you please, but you shall not put any in your basket [to take with you].
25 “When you come into the standing grain of your neighbor, you may [f]pluck the ears of grain with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain [to harvest it].
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 23:2 That is, one who was born from incest, an adulterous relationship, or a mixed marriage (a Jew or a Jewess and a Gentile).
- Deuteronomy 23:3 Ruth, one of the ancestors of Jesus, was a Moabitess, but she essentially became an Israelite (Ruth 1:16) and married an Israelite (Boaz). Moreover, the rabbis taught that Deut 23:3 applied only to Ammonite and Moabite men. This teaching was summarized by what became a common saying: “An Ammonite [is forbidden], but not an Ammonitess; a Moabite, but not a Moabitess!” (as quoted from the Talmud).
- Deuteronomy 23:20 Lit all to which your hand is put.
- Deuteronomy 23:21 The abuse of vows was a practice for which Jesus sternly rebuked the Pharisees. There were at least two kinds of abuse for which they were rightly held responsible: 1) their approval of vows which should have been overruled and rejected because they violated even more important commandments (see Matt 15:3-6); and 2) inappropriate or hair-splitting criteria for determining the validity of a vow (Matt 23:16-22).
- Deuteronomy 23:24 Lit according to your soul.
- Deuteronomy 23:25 When Jesus and His disciples picked some grain in this manner, they were not charged with theft by the Pharisees, but of doing work on the Sabbath, which was clearly not the case (Matt 12:1-6).
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
