Chronological
Chapter 21
Absolution of Untraced Murder.[a] 1 If the corpse of someone who has been slain is found lying in the open, in the land the Lord, your God, is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed the person, 2 your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distances to the cities that are in the neighborhood of the corpse. 3 (A)When it is established which city is nearest the corpse, the elders of that city shall take a heifer that has never been put to work or worn a yoke; 4 the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a wadi with an everflowing stream at a place that has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the wadi. 5 The priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come forward, for the Lord, your God, has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and every case of dispute or assault shall be for them to decide. 6 Then all the elders of that city nearest the corpse shall wash their hands[b] over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi, 7 and shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood,[c] and our eyes did not see the deed. 8 Absolve, O Lord, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not let the guilt of shedding innocent blood remain in the midst of your people Israel.” Thus they shall be absolved from the guilt of bloodshed, 9 and you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.(B)
Marriage with a Female Captive. 10 (C)When you go out to war against your enemies and the Lord, your God, delivers them into your power, so that you take captives, 11 if you see a beautiful woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as a wife, 12 and so you take her home to your house, she must shave her head,[d] cut her nails, 13 lay aside her captive’s garb, and stay in your house, mourning her father and mother for a full month. After that, you may come to her, and you shall be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14 If later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; you must not sell her for money. Do not enslave her, since you have violated her.(D)
Rights of the Firstborn. 15 (E)If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and if both the loved and the unloved bear him sons, but the firstborn is the son of the unloved wife: 16 when he comes to bequeath his property to his sons he may not consider as his firstborn the son of the wife he loves, in preference to the son of the wife he does not love, the firstborn. 17 On the contrary, he shall recognize as his firstborn the son of the unloved wife, giving him a double share of whatever he happens to own, since he is the first fruits of his manhood, and to him belong the rights of the firstborn.(F)
The Stubborn and Rebellious Son. 18 (G)If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not listen to his father or mother, and will not listen to them even though they discipline him,(H) 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders at the gate[e] of his home city, 20 where they shall say to the elders of the city, “This son of ours is a stubborn and rebellious fellow who will not listen to us; he is a glutton and a drunkard.”(I) 21 Then all his fellow citizens shall stone him to death. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear and be afraid.(J)
Corpse of a Criminal. 22 (K)If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and you hang him on a tree,[f] 23 his corpse shall not remain on the tree overnight.(L) You must bury it the same day; anyone who is hanged is a curse of God.[g] You shall not defile the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you as a heritage.
Chapter 22
Concern for the Neighbor. 1 (M)You shall not see your neighbor’s ox or sheep going astray and ignore it; you must bring it back. 2 If this neighbor does not live near you, or you do not know who the owner may be, take it to your own house and keep it with you until your neighbor claims it; then return it. 3 You shall do the same with a donkey; you shall do the same with a garment; and you shall do the same with anything else which your neighbor loses and you happen to find. You may not ignore them.
4 You shall not see your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen on the road and ignore it; you must help in lifting it up.
Various Precepts. 5 A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for anyone who does such things is an abomination to the Lord, your God.(N)
6 (O)If, while walking along, you come across a bird’s nest with young birds or eggs in it, in any tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on them, you shall not take away the mother bird along with her brood. 7 You must let the mother go, taking only her brood, in order that you shall prosper and have a long life.
8 When you build a new house, put a parapet around the roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt upon your house if someone falls off.(P)
9 [h](Q)You shall not sow your vineyard with two different kinds of seed, or else its produce shall become forfeit, both the crop you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. 10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together. 11 You shall not wear cloth made from wool and linen woven together.
12 You shall put tassels on the four corners of the cloak that you wrap around yourself.(R)
Marriage Legislation. 13 If a man, after marrying a woman and having relations with her, comes to dislike her,(S) 14 and accuses her of misconduct and slanders her by saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her I did not find evidence of her virginity,” 15 the father and mother of the young woman shall take the evidence of her virginity[i] and bring it to the elders at the city gate. 16 There the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, “I gave my daughter to this man in marriage, but he has come to dislike her, 17 and now accuses her of misconduct, saying: ‘I did not find evidence of your daughter’s virginity.’ But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!” And they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 Then these city elders shall take the man and discipline him,[j] 19 and fine him one hundred silver shekels, which they shall give to the young woman’s father, because the man slandered a virgin in Israel. She shall remain his wife, and he may not divorce her as long as he lives. 20 But if this charge is true, and evidence of the young woman’s virginity is not found, 21 they shall bring the young woman to the entrance of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death, because she committed a shameful crime in Israel by prostituting herself in her father’s house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.(T)
22 If a man is discovered lying with a woman who is married to another, they both shall die, the man who was lying with the woman as well as the woman.(U) Thus shall you purge the evil from Israel.
23 If there is a young woman, a virgin who is betrothed,[k] and a man comes upon her in the city and lies with her, 24 you shall bring them both out to the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the young woman because she did not cry out though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. 25 But if it is in the open fields that a man comes upon the betrothed young woman, seizes her and lies with her, only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 You shall do nothing to the young woman, since the young woman is not guilty of a capital offense. As when a man rises up against his neighbor and murders him, so in this case:[l](V) 27 it was in the open fields that he came upon her, and though the betrothed young woman may have cried out, there was no one to save her.
28 (W)If a man comes upon a young woman, a virgin who is not betrothed, seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, 29 the man who lay with her shall give the young woman’s father fifty silver shekels and she will be his wife, because he has violated her. He may not divorce her as long as he lives.
Chapter 23
1 A man shall not marry his father’s wife,[m] nor shall he dishonor his father’s bed.(X)
Membership in the Assembly. 2 [n]No one whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may come into the assembly of the Lord.(Y) 3 No one born of an illicit union may come into the assembly of the Lord, nor any descendant of such even to the tenth generation may come into the assembly of the Lord.(Z) 4 (AA)No Ammonite or Moabite may ever come into the assembly of the Lord, nor may any of their descendants even to the tenth generation come into the assembly of the Lord, 5 because they would not come to meet you with food and water on your journey after you left Egypt, and because they hired Balaam, son of Beor, from Pethor in Aram Naharaim, to curse you. 6 The Lord, your God, would not listen to Balaam but turned his curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord, your God, loves you. 7 Never seek their welfare or prosperity as long as you live.(AB) 8 (AC)Do not abhor the Edomite: he is your brother. Do not abhor the Egyptian: you were a resident alien in his country. 9 Children born to them may come into the assembly of the Lord in the third generation.
Cleanliness in Camp. 10 When in camp during an expedition against your enemies, you shall keep yourselves from anything bad. 11 (AD)If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come back into the camp. 12 Toward evening, he shall bathe in water; then, when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp. 13 Outside the camp you shall have a place set aside where you shall go. 14 You shall keep a trowel in your equipment and, when you go outside to relieve yourself, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement. 15 Since the Lord, your God, journeys along in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to give your enemies over to you, your camp must be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent in your midst and turn away from you.(AE)
Various Precepts. 16 (AF)You shall not hand over to their master any slaves who have taken refuge with you from their master. 17 Let them live among you in any place they choose, in any one of your communities[o] that seems good to them. Do not oppress them.
18 There shall be no temple prostitute[p] among the Israelite women, nor a temple prostitute among the Israelite men.(AG) 19 You shall not offer a prostitute’s fee or a dog’s pay[q] as any kind of votive offering in the house of the Lord, your God; both these things are an abomination to the Lord, your God.(AH)
20 (AI)You shall not demand interest from your kindred on a loan of money or of food or of anything else which is loaned. 21 From a foreigner you may demand interest, but you may not demand interest from your kindred, so that the Lord, your God, may bless you in all your undertakings on the land you are to enter and possess.
22 (AJ)When you make a vow to the Lord, your God, you shall not delay in fulfilling it; for the Lord, your God, will surely require it of you and you will be held guilty. 23 Should you refrain from making a vow, you will not be held guilty. 24 But whatever your tongue utters you must be careful to do, just as you freely vowed to the Lord, your God, with your own mouth.
25 When you go through your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you wish, until you are satisfied, but do not put them in your basket. 26 When you go through your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck some of the ears with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.