Laws of Sexual Morality

13 “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and (A)detests her, 14 and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin,’ 15 then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 And the young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her. 17 Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, “I found your daughter was not a virgin,” and yet these are the evidences of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him; 19 and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.

20 “But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with (B)stones, because she has (C)done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. (D)So you shall [a]put away the evil from among you.

22 (E)“If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.

23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is (F)betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he (G)humbled his neighbor’s wife; (H)so you shall put away the evil from among you.

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

28 (I)“If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, 29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father (J)fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife (K)because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.

30 (L)“A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor (M)uncover his father’s bed.

Those Excluded from the Congregation

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

“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.

(O)“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, (P)because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and (Q)because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of [b]Mesopotamia, to curse you. 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 (R)loves you. (S)You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

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

Cleanliness of the Campsite

“When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. 10 (V)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 (W)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 (X)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.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 22:21 purge the evil person
  2. Deuteronomy 23:4 Heb. Aram Naharaim

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