Chronological
Chapter 21
Sacrifice for Untraceable Killing.[a] 1 If the body of a dead man is found lying on the ground of the land that the Lord, your God, has given you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, 2 have your elders and judges go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. 3 The elders of the town that is nearest to the body are to take a heifer that has never worked nor worn a yoke. 4 The elders of that town will then lead it down to a valley with a flowing stream that has not been plowed nor planted. In that valley they are to slit the heifer’s throat. 5 The priests, the sons of Levi, will then come forward, for the Lord, your God, has chosen them to minister to him and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all disputes and cases of assault. 6 The elders of the town that is nearest to the body will wash their hands[b] over the heifer whose throat had been slit in the valley, 7 and they will proclaim, “Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it shed. 8 Accept this atonement for your people Israel, O Lord, whom you have redeemed, and do not hold your people responsible for the shedding of innocent blood.” This shall atone for the bloodshed. 9 In this way you will have purged yourself of the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you will have done what is right in the sight of the Lord.
10 Marrying a Female Captive. When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord, your God, delivers them into your hands and you take them captive, 11 if you see a beautiful woman among them and you desire her, you can take her as your wife. 12 Bring her into your house, and have her shave her head and trim her nails 13 and have her throw out the clothes she was wearing when she was taken captive. She is to live in your house for a full month and mourn her father and her mother. Then you may go to her and be her husband and she will be your wife. 14 If you are not pleased with her, you are to let her go wherever she wishes. You are not to sell her or treat her like a slave, for you have already humbled her.
15 Law of the Firstborn.[c] If a man has two wives, and he loves one and dislikes the other, and they both bear him children, both the one who is loved and the one who is disliked, and the son of the one who is disliked is the firstborn, 16 then when he gives his inheritance to his sons, he is not to give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the woman he loves in preference to the true firstborn, the son of the woman he dislikes. 17 He must acknowledge the son of the woman whom he disliked as the firstborn, giving him a double portion of everything that he owned. That son is the first sign of his strength, and the right of firstborn belongs to him.
18 Punishing a Rebellious Son. If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen to his father or his mother, and will not heed them even when he is disciplined, 19 then his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him out to the elders at the town gate. 20 They are to say to the town elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not listen to us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of that town will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from your midst. All of Israel will hear of it and be filled with fear.
22 Burying a Criminal.[d] If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hanging from a tree, 23 you are not to leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that day, for anyone who is hung from a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.
Chapter 22
Helping Your Neighbor. 1 If you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep straying away, do not ignore it, but take it back to your neighbor. 2 If your neighbor does not live nearby or you do not know whose animal it is, take it to your own home and keep it there until your neighbor comes looking for it. Then give it back to him. 3 You are to do the same if you find his donkey or his cloak or anything that your neighbor loses. You are not to ignore it. 4 If you see your neighbor’s donkey or ox fall on the road, do not ignore it. Help him to get it up again.
Incidental Rules. 5 A woman is not to wear a man’s clothing, nor is a man to wear a woman’s clothing. The Lord, your God, detests all who do such things.[e]
6 If you come across a bird’s nest with young ones or eggs along the way, either in a tree or lying on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting upon the young ones or the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. 7 You can take the young ones, but let the mother go, so that things may go well with you and you may live a long life.
8 When you build a new house, place a parapet around your roof so that you do not bring blood guilt upon your house if anyone should fall from it.
9 You should not plant two different types of seed in your vineyard. If you do, the fruit of the seed you planted and the fruit in your vineyard will both be defiled.
10 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
11 Do not wear clothing made of wool and linen woven together.
12 You are to make fringes on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.[f]
13 Rules for Sexual Relationships. If a man takes a woman and has sex with her, but then he grows to hate her 14 and he charges her with shameful deeds and publicly defames her name saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her I discovered that she was not a virgin,” 15 have the father and mother of the young woman give proof of the young woman’s virginity to the elders at the town gate.[g] 16 The young woman’s father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, and he has grown to hate her. 17 Now he has slandered her saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’ Here is proof of my daughter’s virginity.” They will then spread the cloth out before the elders. 18 The elders will take the man and punish him. 19 They will fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman because this man defamed the name of one of the virgins of Israel. She will continue to be his wife, and he cannot divorce her as long as he lives. 20 If, however, the charge is true and there is no proof of the young woman’s virginity, 21 she is to be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of the town will stone her to death. She did a disgraceful thing in Israel, committing fornication in her father’s house. You must purge this evil from your midst.[h]
22 If a man is discovered sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with the woman and the woman must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.
23 If a man encounters a young woman who is betrothed to another man and he sleeps with her, 24 you shall take both of them to the city gate and stone them to death, the young woman because she was inside of the city and did not cry out, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.
25 But if a man encounters a young woman betrothed to another man in the countryside and he overcomes her and has sex with her, then only the man who has done this is to die. 26 Do nothing to the young woman, for she has not committed a sin deserving death. This matter is just like when a man attacks and murders his neighbor, 27 for the man found the young woman in the countryside, and though the betrothed might have screamed out, there was no one there to rescue her.
28 If a man encounters a young woman who is a virgin but she is not betrothed, and he overcomes her and has sex with her and they are discovered, 29 he must pay the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her, and he can never divorce her for as long as he lives.
Chapter 23
1 A man shall not marry his father’s wife; he is not to dishonor his father’s bed.[i]
Membership Exclusions. 2 No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting can enter the assembly of the Lord.[j] 3 No one who is illegitimate[k] can enter the assembly of the Lord, nor can his descendants to the tenth generation enter the assembly of the Lord. 4 No Ammonite or Moabite can enter the assembly of the Lord, even their descendants to the tenth generation cannot enter the assembly of the Lord 5 for they did not greet you with bread and water as you were on your way when you came forth out of Egypt. They hired Balaam, the son of Beor who came from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you. 6 However, the Lord, your God, would not listen to Balaam. The Lord, your God, turned a curse upon you into a blessing, for the Lord, your God, loved you. 7 Do not establish a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.
8 Do not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not detest an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner in his land. 9 The third generation of children born to them can enter the assembly of the Lord.
10 Camp Sanitation. When you are encamped against your enemies, stay away from everything that is impure. 11 If one of your men among you is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, let him move outside of the camp. He is not to enter the camp. 12 When evening arrives, he is to wash himself with water, and he can come back inside of the camp.
13 Designate a place outside of the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 14 You shall have an implement with your equipment so that when you relieve yourself, you can dig a hole and cover over your excrement.
15 The Lord, your God, walks among you in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies up to you, so your camp must be holy, lest he see something unclean among you and turn away from you.
16 Incidental Rules. If a slave has taken refuge from his master with you, you are not to hand him over to his master. 17 Let him live with you wherever he chooses, in whatever town he chooses. You are not to oppress him.
18 No Israelite woman is to become a sacred prostitute, nor is an Israelite man to be a sacred prostitute. 19 You are not to bring the wages of a female prostitute or a male prostitute[l] into the shrine of the Lord, your God, to pay for any vow. Both of these are abominations to the Lord, your God.
20 [m]Do not charge your brother interest, whether it be on money or food or anything else that could earn interest. 21 You can charge a foreigner interest, but you cannot charge a brother interest. For this you will be blessed by the Lord, your God, in everything that you undertake in the land that you are entering to possess.
22 If you make a vow to the Lord, your God, do not be lax in paying it off, for the Lord, your God, will certainly require it of you, and you would be guilty of a sin. 23 But if you fail to make a vow, there is no sin. 24 Whatever your lips utter, you must do, for you have vowed a freewill offering to the Lord, your God, with your own mouth.
25 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you can eat as many grapes as you want, but you are not to put any in a basket. 26 If you enter your neighbor’s grain fields, you can pluck the kernels with your hands, but you are not to take a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.
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