“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.

Read full chapter

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

Sanitary, Ritual, and Humanitarian Precepts

“When you are encamped against your enemies, you shall guard against every evil thing.

10 “If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp; he must not come within the camp. 11 When evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp.

12 “You shall have a designated area outside the camp to which you shall go. 13 With your tools you shall have a trowel; when you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement. 14 Because the Lord your God travels along with your camp, to save you and to hand over your enemies to you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

Read full chapter