Deuteronomy 23:1–26:19
Those Excluded from the Congregation
23 “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall anot enter the assembly of the Lord.
2 “One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord.
3 b“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, 4 cbecause they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and dbecause they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of 1Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God eloves you. 6 fYou shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.
7 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, gfor he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because hyou were an alien in his land. 8 The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
9 “When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. 10 iIf there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp. 11 But it shall be, when evening comes, that jhe shall wash with water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.
12 “Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; 13 and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. 14 For the Lord your God kwalks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.
15 l“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it 2seems best to him; myou shall not oppress him.
17 “There shall be no ritual 3harlot nof the daughters of Israel, or a operverted 4one of the sons of Israel. 18 You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are 5an abomination to the Lord your God.
19 p“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. 20 qTo a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, rthat the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.
21 s“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. 22 But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. 23 tThat which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
24 “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. 25 When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, uyou may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.
24 “When a aman takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some 1uncleanness in her, and he writes her a bcertificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2 when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, 4 cthen her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is 2an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
5 d“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and ebring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.
6 “No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes 3one’s living in pledge.
7 “If a man is ffound 4kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; gand you shall put away the evil from among you.
8 “Take heed in han outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. 9 iRemember what the Lord your God did jto Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!
10 “When you klend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. 12 And if the man is poor, you shall not 5keep his pledge overnight. 13 lYou shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and mbless you; and nit shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.
14 “You shall not ooppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. 15 Each day pyou shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; qlest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.
16 r“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
17 s“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, tnor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. 18 But uyou shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.
19 v“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may wbless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.
25 “If there is a adispute between men, and they come to 1court, that the judges may judge them, and they bjustify the righteous and condemn the wicked, 2 then it shall be, if the wicked man cdeserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down dand be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. 3 eForty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother fbe humiliated in your sight.
4 g“You shall not muzzle an ox while it 2treads out the grain.
Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother
5 h“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears iwill succeed to the name of his dead brother, that jhis name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the kgate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, l‘I do not want to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, mremove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not nbuild up his brother’s house.’ 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’
11 “If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; oyour eye shall not pity her.
13 p“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, qthat your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For rall who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are 3an abomination to the Lord your God.
17 s“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he tdid not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall be, uwhen the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will vblot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.
Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes
26 “And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in