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22 “You shall not watch the ox of your neighbor or his sheep or goat straying and ignore them; certainly you shall return them to your neighbor. And if your countryman[a] is not near you or you do not know who he is,[b] then you shall bring it to your household,[c] and it shall be[d] with you until your countryman seeks after it,[e] and you shall return it to him. And thus also you shall do regarding[f] his donkey, and thus you shall do concerning[g] his garment, and so you shall do with respect to[h] all of the lost property of your countryman[i] that is lost from him and you find it; you are not allowed to withhold help.

“You shall not see the donkey of your neighbor or his ox fallen on the road and you ignore them; certainly you must help them get up along with him.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 22:2 Or “brother”
  2. Deuteronomy 22:2 Literally “him”
  3. Deuteronomy 22:2 Literally “to the midst of your house”
  4. Deuteronomy 22:2 Or “remain”
  5. Deuteronomy 22:2 Literally “the seeking of your countryman after it”
  6. Deuteronomy 22:3 Or “to”
  7. Deuteronomy 22:3 Or “to”
  8. Deuteronomy 22:3 Or “to”
  9. Deuteronomy 22:3 Or “brother”

Rules for property and mixtures

22 Don’t just watch your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep wandering around and do nothing about it. You must return the animal to its owner. If the owner doesn’t live nearby, or you don’t know who owns the animal, then you must take care of it. It should stay with you until your fellow Israelite comes looking for it, at which point you must return it to him.

Do the same thing in the case of a donkey. Do the same thing in the case of a piece of clothing. Do the same thing in the case of anything that your fellow Israelite loses and you end up finding. You are not allowed to sit back and do nothing about it.

Don’t just watch your fellow Israelite’s donkey or ox fall down in the road and do nothing about it. You must help your fellow Israelite get the animal up again.

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