Chronological
21 “If, when you arrive in the Promised Land, a murder victim is found lying in a field and no one has seen the murder, 2 the elders and judges shall measure from the body to the nearest city. 3 Then the elders of that city shall take a heifer that has never been yoked, 4 and lead it to a valley where there is running water—a valley neither plowed nor sowed—and there break its neck.
5 “Then the priests shall come (for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce his blessings and decide lawsuits and punishments), 6 and shall wash their hands over the heifer, 7 and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. 8 O Lord, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed, and do not charge them with murdering an innocent man. Forgive us the guilt of this man’s blood.’ 9 In this way you will put away the guilt from among you by following the Lord’s directions.
10 “When you go to war and the Lord your God delivers your enemies to you, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful girl you want as your wife, 12 take her home with you. She must shave her head and pare her nails 13 and change her clothing, laying aside that which she was wearing when she was captured, then remain in your home in mourning for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may marry her. 14 However, if after marrying her you decide you don’t like her, you must let her go free—you may not sell her or treat her as a slave, for you have humiliated her.
15 “If a man has two wives but loves one and not the other, and both have borne him children, and the mother of his oldest son is the wife he doesn’t love, 16 he may not give a larger inheritance to his younger son, the son of the wife he loves. 17 He must give the customary double portion to his oldest son, who is the beginning of his strength and who owns the rights of a firstborn son, even though he is the son of the wife his father doesn’t love.
18 “If a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they punish him, 19 then his father and mother shall take him before the elders of the city 20 and declare, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and won’t obey; he is a worthless drunkard.’ 21 Then the men of the city shall stone him to death. In this way you shall put away this evil from among you, and all the young men of Israel will hear about what happened and will be afraid.
22 “If a man has committed a crime worthy of death, and is executed and then hanged on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain on the tree overnight. You must bury him the same day, for anyone hanging on a tree is cursed of God. Don’t defile the land the Lord your God has given you.
22 “If you see someone’s ox or sheep wandering away, don’t pretend you didn’t see it; take it back to its owner. 2 If you don’t know who the owner is, take it to your farm and keep it there until the owner comes looking for it, and then give it to him. 3 The same applies to donkeys, clothing, or anything else you find. Keep it for its owner.
4 “If you see someone trying to get an ox or donkey onto its feet when it has slipped beneath its load,[a] don’t look the other way. Go and help!
5 “A woman must not wear men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing. This is abhorrent to the Lord your God.
6 “If a bird’s nest is lying on the ground, or if you spy one in a tree, and there are young ones or eggs in it with the mother sitting in the nest, don’t take the mother with the young. 7 Let her go, and take only the young. The Lord will bless you for it.
8 “Every new house must have a guardrail around the edge of the flat rooftop to prevent anyone from falling off and bringing guilt to both the house and its owner.
9 “Do not sow other crops in the rows of your vineyard. If you do, both the crops and the grapes shall be confiscated by the priests.[b]
10 “Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together.
11 “Don’t wear clothing woven from two kinds of thread: for instance, wool and linen.
12 “You must sew tassels on the four corners of your cloaks.
13-14 “If a man marries a girl, then after sleeping with her accuses her of having had premarital intercourse with another man, saying, ‘She was not a virgin when I married her,’ 15 then the girl’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city judges.
16 “Her father shall tell them, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, and now he despises her 17-18 and has accused her of shameful things, claiming that she was not a virgin when she married; yet here is the proof.’ And they shall spread before the judges the blood-stained sheet from her marriage bed. The judges shall sentence the man to be whipped, 19 and fine him one hundred dollars[c] to be given to the girl’s father, for he has falsely accused a virgin of Israel. She shall remain his wife and he may never divorce her. 20 But if the man’s accusations are true, and she was not a virgin, 21 the judges shall take the girl to the door of her father’s home where the men of the city shall stone her to death. She has defiled Israel by flagrant crime, being a prostitute while living at home with her parents; and such evil must be cleansed from among you.
22 “If a man is discovered committing adultery, both he and the other man’s wife must be killed; in this way evil will be cleansed from Israel. 23-24 If a girl who is engaged is seduced within the walls of a city, both she and the man who seduced her shall be taken outside the gates and stoned to death—the girl because she didn’t scream for help, and the man because he has violated the virginity of another man’s fiancée. 25-27 In this way you will reduce crime among you. But if this deed takes place out in the country, only the man shall die. The girl is as innocent as a murder victim; for it must be assumed that she screamed, but there was no one to hear and rescue her out in the field. 28-29 If a man rapes a girl who is not engaged and is caught in the act, he must pay a fine[d] to the girl’s father and marry her; he may never divorce her. 30 A man shall not sleep with his father’s widow[e] since she belonged to his father.
23 “If a man’s testicles are crushed or his penis cut off, he shall not enter the sanctuary. 2 A bastard may not enter the sanctuary, nor any of his descendants for ten generations.
3 “No Ammonite or Moabite may ever enter the sanctuary, even after the tenth generation. 4 The reason for this law is that these nations did not welcome you with food and water when you came out of Egypt; they even tried to hire Balaam, the son of Beor from Pethor, Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 But the Lord wouldn’t listen to Balaam; instead, he turned the intended curse into a blessing for you because the Lord loves you. 6 You must never, as long as you live, try to help the Ammonites or the Moabites in any way. 7 But don’t look down on the Edomites and the Egyptians; the Edomites are your brothers and you lived among the Egyptians. 8 The grandchildren of the Egyptians who came with you from Egypt may enter the sanctuary of the Lord.
9-10 “When you are at war, the men in the camps must stay away from all evil. Any man who becomes ceremonially defiled because of a seminal emission during the night must leave the camp 11 and stay outside until the evening; then he shall bathe himself and return at sunset. 12 The toilet area shall be outside the camp. 13 Each man must have a spade as part of his equipment; after every bowel movement he must dig a hole with the spade and cover the excrement. 14 The camp must be holy, for the Lord walks among you to protect you and to cause your enemies to fall before you; and the Lord does not want to see anything indecent lest he turn away from you.
15-16 “If a slave escapes from his master, you must not force him to return; let him live among you in whatever town he shall choose, and do not oppress him.
17-18 “No prostitutes are permitted in Israel, either men or women; you must not bring to the Lord any offering from the earnings of a prostitute or a homosexual, for both are detestable to the Lord your God.
19 “Don’t demand interest on loans you make to a brother Israelite, whether it is in the form of money, food, or anything else. 20 You may take interest from a foreigner, but not from an Israeli. For if you take interest from a brother, an Israeli, the Lord your God won’t bless you when you arrive in the Promised Land.
21 “When you make a vow to the Lord, be prompt in doing whatever it is you promised him, for the Lord demands that you promptly fulfill your vows; it is a sin if you don’t. 22 (But it is not a sin if you refrain from vowing!) 23 Once you make the vow, you must be careful to do as you have said, for it was your own choice, and you have vowed to the Lord your God.
24 “You may eat your fill of the grapes from another man’s vineyard, but do not take any away in a container. 25 It is the same with someone else’s grain—you may eat a few handfuls of it, but don’t use a sickle.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.