“When you go out as [a]an army against your enemies, you shall be on guard against every evil thing.

10 (A)If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not [b]reenter the camp. 11 But when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may [c]reenter the camp.

12 “You shall also have a place allocated outside the camp, so that you may go out there to relieve yourself, 13 and you shall have a [d]spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn and cover up your excrement. 14 Since (B)the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to save you and to [e]defeat your enemies before you, your camp must be (C)holy; so He must not see [f]anything indecent among you [g]or He will turn away from you.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 23:9 Or a camp
  2. Deuteronomy 23:10 Lit come to the midst of
  3. Deuteronomy 23:11 Lit come to the midst of
  4. Deuteronomy 23:13 Lit peg
  5. Deuteronomy 23:14 Lit give
  6. Deuteronomy 23:14 Lit nakedness of anything
  7. Deuteronomy 23:14 Lit and

Community Sanitation

“When you are encamped for battle against your enemies, be on guard against every form of impropriety. 10 If someone among you becomes unclean due to nocturnal emissions, he must leave the camp and stay outside. 11 As evening approaches, he must wash himself with water. Then at sunset, he may return to the camp.

12 “Choose a place outside the camp for a latrine. 13 Include a spade among your equipment so that when you squat to relieve yourself, you can dig a hole and then cover your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God is on the move within your camp to deliver you and to hand your enemies over to you. Therefore, your camp must be holy so that he will not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.”

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