Miscellaneous Laws

^15 (A)“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it ^[a]seems best to him; ^(B)you shall not oppress him.

¹⁷ “There shall be no ritual ^[b]harlot ^(C)of the daughters of Israel, or a ^(D)perverted^[c] one of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸ You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are ^[d]an abomination to the Lord your God.

^19 (E)“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. ^20 (F)To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, ^(G)that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.

^21 (H)“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. ²² But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. ^23 (I)That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

²⁴ “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. ²⁵ When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, ^(J)you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.

Law Concerning Divorce

24 “When a ^(K)man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ^[e]uncleanness in her, and he writes her a ^(L)certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, ² when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, ^4 (M)then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is ^[f]an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Miscellaneous Laws

^5 (N)“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and ^(O)bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

⁶ “No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes ^[g]one’s living in pledge.

⁷ “If a man is ^(P)found ^[h]kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; ^(Q)and you shall put away the evil from among you.

⁸ “Take heed in ^(R)an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. ^9 (S)Remember what the Lord your God did ^(T)to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!

¹⁰ “When you ^(U)lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. ¹¹ You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. ¹² And if the man is poor, you shall not ^[i]keep his pledge overnight. ^13 (V)You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and ^(W)bless you; and ^(X)it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴ “You shall not ^(Y)oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. ¹⁵ Each day ^(Z)you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; ^(AA)lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.

^16 (AB)“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.

^17 (AC)“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, ^(AD)nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. ¹⁸ But ^(AE)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 thing.

^19 (AF)“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 stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may ^(AG)bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²² And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.

Laws of Social Responsibility

25 “If there is a ^(AH)dispute between men, and they come to ^[j]court, that the judges may judge them, and they ^(AI)justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, ² then it shall be, if the wicked man ^(AJ)deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down ^(AK)and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. ^3 (AL)Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother ^(AM)be humiliated in your sight.

^4 (AN)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it ^[k]treads out the grain.

Marriage and Divorce^(A)

19 Now it came to pass, ^(B)when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. ^2 (C)And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.

³ The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

⁴ And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who ^[a]made them at the beginning ^(D)‘made them male and female,’ ⁵ and said, ^(E)‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and ^(F)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

⁷ They said to Him, ^(G)“Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

⁸ He said to them, “Moses, because of the ^(H)hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your ^(I)wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ^9 (J)And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for ^[b]sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

¹⁰ His disciples said to Him, ^(K)“If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”

Jesus Teaches on Celibacy

¹¹ But He said to them, ^(L)“All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: ¹² For there are ^[c]eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and ^(M)there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”