Chronological

Atonement for Unsolved Murder

21 “If a murder victim is found fallen in the open country of the land that the Lord your God is about to give you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, ² then let your elders and judges go out and measure the distance from the dead body to the neighboring cities. ³ Then the elders of the city nearest the body are to take a heifer that hasn’t been put to work or hasn’t pulled a yoke ⁴ and^[a] are to lead the heifer to a flowing stream in a valley that has never been tilled or planted. They are to break the heifer’s neck there. ⁵ Then the priests of the descendants of Levi are to step forward, because the Lord your God chose them to serve and pronounce blessings in his name.^[b] Every case of dispute and assault is to be subject to their ruling. ⁶ All the elders of the city nearest the dead body are to wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷ and they are to make this declaration: ‘Our hands didn’t shed this blood, nor were we witnesses to the crime. ⁸ Make atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and don’t charge the blood of an innocent man against them.’^[c] Then the blood that has been shed will be atoned for. ⁹ This is how you will remove the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right in the sight of the Lord.”

Marriage to a War Captive

¹⁰ “If you go to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your control, you may take some prisoners captive. ¹¹ If you see among the prisoners a beautiful woman and you desire her, then you may take her as your wife. ¹² Bring her to your house, but shave her head and trim her nails. ¹³ Remove her prisoner’s clothing and let her remain for a month in your house, mourning her parents. After that, you may^[d] become her husband and she is to become your wife. ¹⁴ If you aren’t pleased with her and you send her away, you must not sell her for money or mistreat her, since you will have dishonored her.”

Preferential Treatment Prohibited

¹⁵ “If a man has two wives where one is loved but the other is unloved, and both^[e] of them bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife, ¹⁶ then when he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, he must not give preference to the firstborn of the beloved wife over the firstborn of the unloved wife. ¹⁷ Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn of the unloved wife by giving him double of everything he owns, because he is really the first fruit of his father’s^[f] strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.”

Death to a Rebellious Son

¹⁸ “If a man has a stubborn son who does not obey his parents,^[g] and although they try to discipline him, he still refuses to pay attention to them, ¹⁹ then his parents^[h] are to seize him and bring him before the elders at the gate of his city. ²⁰ Then they are to declare to the elders of their city: ‘Our son is stubborn and rebellious. He does not obey us. He lives wildly and is a drunkard.’ ²¹ Then all the men of his city are to stone him with boulders so that he dies. This is how you will remove this evil from among you. Then all Israel will hear of it and will be afraid.”

Burial of the Executed

²² “If a man is guilty of a capital offense, is executed, and then is impaled on a tree, ²³ his body must not remain overnight on the tree. You must bury him that same day, because cursed of God is the one who has been hanged on a tree. Don’t defile your land that the Lord is about to give you as your inheritance.”

Hospitality to Neighbors

22 “When you see the ox or sheep of your fellow countryman^[i] straying, don’t go away and leave it. Instead, be sure to return it to him.^{[j] 2} If your fellow countryman doesn’t live near you or you don’t know who he is, bring the animal^[k] to your house and let it remain with you until he^[l] claims it. Then return it to him. ³ Do the same for his donkey, his garment, and for anything lost that belongs to your fellow countryman. When you find it, you must not ignore it. ⁴ When you see the donkey or the ox of your fellow countryman fallen on the road, don’t ignore it. Instead be sure to help it get up.”

Miscellaneous Laws

⁵ “A woman is not to wear what is appropriate to a man, nor is a man to put on a woman’s garment, because anyone who does this is detestable to the Lord your God.

⁶ “When you encounter a bird’s nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on its chicks^[m] or eggs, don’t take the mother along with its young.^{[n] 7} You may take the young, but be sure to release the mother, so that life will go well for you and that you may have a long life.

⁸ “When you build a new house, install a parapet along your roof so that if someone falls from the roof, you won’t bring guilt of bloodshed on your house.”

Principles of Distinction

⁹ “Don’t plant two kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, the entire crop will have to be forfeited, both the seed that you have sown and the produce from it.

¹⁰ “Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

¹¹ “Don’t wear material made from wool and linen mixed together.

¹² “Sew tassels for yourself on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.”

Integrity in Marriage

¹³ “Suppose a man marries a wife, but after having sexual relations with her, he despises her, ¹⁴ invents charges against her, and defames her by saying, ‘I have married this woman, but when I had sexual relations with her I found that she wasn’t a virgin.’ ¹⁵ Then the father of the young lady, along with her mother, is to bring evidence of the young lady’s virginity to the elders at the gate. ¹⁶ The father of the young lady is to then say to the elders: ‘I have given my daughter to this man as a wife, but he despises her. ¹⁷ Now look, he has invented charges against her by saying, “I haven’t found your daughter to be a virgin.” But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they are to spread the cloth before the elders of the city. ¹⁸ The elders of that city will then take the man, punish him, ¹⁹ fine him 100 shekels of silver, and then give them to the young lady’s father, because he defamed a virgin of Israel. She is to remain his wife and he can’t divorce her as long as he lives. ²⁰ But if this charge is true, and the evidence of the young lady’s virginity wasn’t found, ²¹ they are to bring her to the door of her father’s house. Then the men of the city are to stone her with boulders until she dies for doing a detestable thing in Israel—acting like a prostitute while in her father’s house. By doing this, you will remove this evil from among you.

²² “If a man is caught having sexual relations with a married woman, then both of them must die—the man who had sex with the woman and the woman herself—so that this evil will be removed from Israel.

²³ “If a man meets a young virgin lady in the city who is engaged to be married and has sexual relations with her, ²⁴ then the two must be brought to the city gate and there they must be stoned to death—the girl because she was in a city but did not cry out for help, and the man who abused a woman who was engaged to another man. By doing this you are to remove this evil from among you.

²⁵ “If a man meets a girl in the country who is engaged to be married and then rapes^[o] her, the man alone—the one who had sexual relations with her—must die. ²⁶ As for the young lady, don’t do anything to her. The young lady did nothing worthy of death. This case is similar to when a man attacks his countryman and kills him. ²⁷ Since he found her in the country, the engaged girl may have cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.

²⁸ “However, if a man meets a girl who isn’t engaged to be married, and he seizes her, rapes her, and is later found out, ²⁹ then the man who raped her must give 50 shekels of silver to the girl’s father. Furthermore, he must marry her. Because he violated her, he is to not divorce her as long as he lives.

^30 [p]“A man must not marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s memory.”^[q]

Qualifications for Assembling

23 ^[r]“No man whose testicles have been crushed^[s] or whose penis has been cut off may participate in the assembly of the Lord. ² Furthermore, no one born due to an illicit sexual relationship may participate in the assembly of the Lord, including his descendants to the tenth generation. ³ No Ammonite or Moabite may participate in the assembly of the Lord, and none of their descendants is to be admitted to the assembly of the Lord, to the tenth generation, ⁴ because they didn’t come to meet you with food and water along the way as you were coming out of Egypt. Instead, they hired Beor’s son Balaam from Pethor in Aram-naharaim^[t] to curse you. ⁵ However, the Lord your God didn’t listen to Balaam. The Lord your God turned Balaam’s^[u] curse into a blessing, because the Lord your God loves you. ⁶ Don’t seek a peace treaty with them as long as you live. ⁷ Don’t detest Edomites, since they are related to you. Don’t detest Egyptians, either, because you were strangers in their land. ⁸ Their grandchildren^[v] may participate in the assembly of the Lord.”

Community Sanitation

⁹ “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.”

Treatment of Slaves

¹⁵ “Don’t hand over a slave who escaped from his master when he runs to you. ¹⁶ Let him live among you wherever he chooses in any of your cities that he likes. Don’t mistreat him.”

Cultic Prostitution Prohibited

¹⁷ “There are to be no cultic prostitutes among the daughters or the sons of Israel. ¹⁸ Don’t bring the earnings of a female prostitute nor the income of a male prostitute into the house of the Lord your God as payment for any vow. Both of these are detestable to the Lord your God.”

Fair Dealings

¹⁹ “Don’t charge interest to your relatives, whether for money, food, or for anything that has been loaned at interest. ²⁰ You may charge interest to a foreigner, but don’t charge interest to your relatives, so the Lord your God may bless you in everything you undertake in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

²¹ “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, don’t delay paying it, because the Lord your God will certainly demand payment from you, and then you will be guilty of sin. ²² But if you refrain from making a vow, then you won’t be guilty. ²³ Be sure you do whatever you promise, because you have given your word voluntarily to the Lord your God.

²⁴ “When you enter your countrymen’s vineyard, you may eat the grapes to your satisfaction, but don’t take any in a basket. ²⁵ When you enter your countrymen’s grain fields, you may pluck the grain with your hand, but don’t put a sickle to his standing grain.”