Beginning
21 “If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it and is lying in the field, and it is not known who killed him,[a] 2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure the distance to the cities that are around the slain one. 3 And then[b] the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with in the field, that has not pulled a yoke, 4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a wadi that flows with water all year[c] and that has not been plowed and has not been sown; then there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi.[d] 5 Then the priests, the descendants[e] of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every case of assault will be subject to their ruling.[f] 6 And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer with the broken neck in the wadi.[g] 7 And they shall declare, and they shall say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see what was done. 8 Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and do not allow[h] the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven with regard to blood.’ 9 And so you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, because you must do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh.
10 “When you go out for battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God gives them into your hand, and you lead the captives[i] away, 11 and you see among the captives[j] a woman beautiful in appearance, and you become attached to her and you want to take her as a wife, 12 then you shall bring her into your household, and she shall shave her head, and she shall trim her nails. 13 And she shall remove the clothing of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in your house, and she shall mourn her father and her mother a full month,[k] and after this you may have sex with her,[l] and you may marry her, and she may become your wife.[m] 14 And then if you do not take delight in her, then you shall let her go to do whatever she wants,[n] but you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored[o] her.
15 “If a man has two wives, and the one is loved and the other one is disliked and the one loved and the one that is disliked have borne for him sons, if it happens that the firstborn son belongs to the one that is disliked,[p] 16 nevertheless it will be the case that[q] on the day of bestowing his inheritance upon his sons, he will not be allowed to treat as the firstborn son the son of the beloved wife in preference to[r] the son of the disliked wife, who is the firstborn son. 17 But he shall acknowledge the firstborn son of the disliked wife by giving[s] him a double portion of all that he has,[t] for he is the firstfruit of his vigor;[u] to him is the legal claim of the birthright.[v]
18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son[w] who does not listen to[x] the voice of his father and to the voice of his mother, and they discipline him, and he does not obey[y] them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him, and they shall bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his town,[z] 20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us,[aa] and he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him with stones and let him die; and so you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all of Israel will hear, and they will fear.
22 “And if a man commits a sin punishable by death,[ab] and so he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, 23 his dead body shall not hang on the tree, but certainly you shall bury him on that day, for cursed by God is one that is being hung; so you shall not defile your land[ac] that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance.”
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. 2 And if your countryman[ad] is not near you or you do not know who he is,[ae] then you shall bring it to your household,[af] and it shall be[ag] with you until your countryman seeks after it,[ah] and you shall return it to him. 3 And thus also you shall do regarding[ai] his donkey, and thus you shall do concerning[aj] his garment, and so you shall do with respect to[ak] all of the lost property of your countryman[al] that is lost from him and you find it; you are not allowed to withhold help.
4 “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.
5 “The apparel of a man shall not be put on[am] a woman, and a man shall not wear the clothing of a woman, because everyone who does these things is detestable to Yahweh your God.
6 “If a bird’s nest is found before you[an] on the road in any tree or on the ground, and there are chicks or eggs, and the mother is lying down on the chicks or the eggs, you shall not take the mother along with the young; 7 you shall certainly let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourselves;[ao] do this so that it may go well[ap] for you and you may live long in the land.[aq]
8 “When you build a new house then[ar] you shall make a parapet wall[as] for your roof, so that you will not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it.[at]
9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with differing kinds of seed, so that you shall not forfeit the whole harvest,[au] both the seed that you sowed and the yield of the vineyard.
10 “You shall not plow with an ox and with a donkey yoked together.
11 “You shall not wear woven material made of wool and linen mixed together.
12 “You shall make tassels for yourselves[av] on the four corners of your clothing with which you cover yourself.
13 “If a man takes a woman and he has sex with her,[aw] but he then dislikes her,[ax] 14 and he accuses her falsely,[ay] and he defames her,[az] and he says ‘This woman I took and I lay with her and I discovered that she was not a virgin,’[ba] 15 then in defense the father of the young woman shall take, along with her mother, and together they must bring out the evidence of the virginity of the young woman to display it to the elders of the city at the city gate.[bb] 16 And then the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, but he now dislikes[bc] her, 17 and now look he has accused her falsely,[bd] saying, “I did not find your daughter a virgin,”[be] but here is evidence of the virginity of my daughter’; and they shall spread the cloth out before[bf] the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take the man, and they shall discipline him. 19 Then they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and they shall give them to the father of the young woman, for he defamed an Israelite young woman,[bg] and she shall become his wife;[bh] he will not be allowed to divorce her[bi] all his days.
20 “But if this charge[bj] was true, and the signs of virginity were not found[bk] for the young woman, 21 and then they shall bring out the young woman to the doorway of the house of her father, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones, and she shall die, because she did a disgraceful thing in Israel by playing the harlot[bl] in the house of her father, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.
22 “If a man is found lying with a married woman,[bm] then they shall both die; both of them,[bn] the man who lay with the woman and the woman also, so you shall purge the evil from Israel.
23 “If it happens that a young woman, a virgin, is engaged to a man, and a man finds her in the town and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring out both of them[bo] to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones so that they shall die, the young woman because she did not cry out in the town, and the man because[bp] he violated his neighbor’s wife; and so you shall purge the evil from your midst.
25 “But if the man finds the young engaged woman in the field and the man overpowers her and he has sex with her,[bq] then the man only[br] must die who lay[bs] with her. 26 But you shall not do anything[bt] to the young woman, for there is not reckoned against[bu] the young woman a sin deserving death;[bv] it is similar to when[bw] a man rises up against his neighbor and murders him, a fellow human being,[bx] just so is this case,[by] 27 for he found her in the field, the engaged young woman cried out, but there was no[bz] rescuer to help her.[ca]
28 “If a man finds a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, and he seizes her and he has sex with her[cb] and they are caught, 29 then the man who lay with her[cc] shall give to the father of the young woman fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife[cd] because[ce] he violated her, and he is not allowed to divorce her during his lifetime.[cf] 30 [cg] A man may not take the wife of his father, and so he may not dishonor his father.[ch]
23 “No man with crushed testicles[ci] or whose male organ is cut off[cj] may come into the assembly of Yahweh.
2 An illegitimate child may not come into the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants[ck] may come into the assembly of Yahweh.
3 An Ammonite or a Moabite may not come into the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants[cl] may come into the assembly of Yahweh forever,[cm] 4 because[cn] they did not come to meet you with food and with water when you came out of Egypt,[co] and also because[cp] they[cq] hired Balaam, son of Beor, from Pethor, in Aram Naharaim[cr] to act against you to curse you. 5 But Yahweh your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, and Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loved you. 6 You shall not promote their welfare or their prosperity all your days forever.[cs]
7 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, because he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian because you were an alien in his land. 8 The children[ct] that are born to them in the third generation may come representing them[cu] in the assembly of Yahweh.
9 “If[cv] you go out to encamp against your enemies, then you shall guard against doing anything evil.
10 “If there is among you a man that is not clean because of a seminal emission during the night,[cw] he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come within the camp. 11 And then[cx] toward the coming[cy] of the evening, he shall bathe with[cz] water, and at the going down[da] of the sun, he may come to the midst of the camp.
12 “And there shall be for you a designated place outside the camp; and you shall go there to relieve yourself,[db] 13 and a digging tool[dc] shall be included in addition to your other utensils[dd] for yourself; and then[de] when you relieve yourself[df] outside the camp you shall dig with it, and then you shall turn, and you shall cover your excrement. 14 For Yahweh your God is walking about in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to hand your enemies over to you before you,[dg] and so let your camp be holy, so that he shall not see in it anything indecent,[dh] and he shall turn away from going with you.[di]
15 “And you shall not hand over a slave to his master who has escaped and fled to you from his master. 16 He shall reside with you in your midst in the place that he chooses in one of your towns wherever he pleases;[dj] you shall not oppress him.
17 “No woman of Israel[dk] shall be a temple prostitute, and no man of Israel[dl] shall be a male shrine prostitute. 18 You may not bring the hire[dm] of a prostitute or the earnings of a male prostitute[dn] into the house of Yahweh your God, for any vow offerings, because both[do] are a detestable thing to Yahweh your God.
19 “You shall not charge your brother interest on money,[dp] interest on[dq] food, or interest on[dr] anything that one could lend[ds] on interest. 20 You may lend on interest to the foreigner, but to your countryman[dt] you may not lend on interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all your undertakings[du] in the land where you are going,[dv] in order to take possession of it.[dw]
21 “When you make a vow[dx] to Yahweh your God, you shall not postpone fulfillment of it,[dy] for certainly Yahweh your God shall require it from you and if postponed you will incur guilt.[dz] 22 And if you refrain from vowing,[ea] you shall not incur guilt.[eb] 23 The utterance of your lips you must perform diligently[ec] just as you have vowed freely to Yahweh your God whatever it was that you promised[ed] with your mouth.
24 “When[ee] you come into the vineyard of your neighbor, then you may eat grapes as you please[ef] and until you are full,[eg] but you shall not put any into your container.
25 “When[eh] you come into the standing grain of your neighbor, then you may pluck ears with your hand, but you may not swing[ei] a sickle among the standing grain of your neighbor.”
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