Deuteronomy 22–23

CARING FOR YOUR BROTHER’S PROPERTY

22“If you see your brother Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it; make sure you return it to your brother. ²If your brother does not live near you or you don’t know him, you are to bring the animal to your home to remain with you until your brother comes looking for it; then you can return it to him. ³Do the same for his donkey, his garment, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it.^{a 4}If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen down on the road, do not ignore it; help him lift it up.

PRESERVING NATURAL DISTINCTIONS

⁵“A woman is not to wear male clothing, and a man is not to put on a woman’s garment, for everyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord your God.

⁶“If you come across a bird’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, do not take the mother along with the young. ⁷You may take the young for yourself, but be sure to let the mother go free, so that you may prosper and live long. ⁸If you build a new house, make a railing around your roof, so that you don’t bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it. ⁹Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; otherwise, the entire harvest, both the crop you plant and the produce of the vineyard, will be defiled. ¹⁰Do not plow with an ox and a donkey together. ¹¹Do not wear clothes made of both wool and linen.^{b 12}Make tassels on the four corners of the outer garment you wear.^c

VIOLATIONS OF PROPER SEXUAL CONDUCT

¹³“If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her, and comes to hate her, ¹⁴and accuses her of shameful conduct, and gives her a bad name, saying, ‘I married this woman and was intimate with her, but I didn’t find any evidence of her virginity,’ ¹⁵the young woman’s father and mother will take the evidence of her virginity and bring it to the city elders at the city gate.^{d 16}The young woman’s father will say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, but he hates her. ¹⁷He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, “I didn’t find any evidence of your daughter’s virginity,” but here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ They will spread out the cloth before the city elders. ¹⁸Then the elders of that city will take the man and punish him.^{e 19}They will also fine him a hundred silver shekels and give them to the young woman’s father, because that man gave an Israelite virgin a bad name. She will remain his wife; he cannot divorce her as long as he lives. ²⁰But if this accusation is true and no evidence of the young woman’s virginity is found, ²¹they will bring the woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous while living in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from you.

²²“If a man is discovered having sexual relations with another man’s wife, both the man who had sex with the woman and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel. ²³If there is a young woman who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man encounters her in the city and sleeps with her, ²⁴take the two of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death—the young woman because she did not cry out in the city and the man because he has violated his neighbor’s fiancée. You must purge the evil from you. ²⁵But if the man encounters an engaged woman in the open country, and he seizes and rapes her, only the man who raped her must die. ²⁶Do nothing to the young woman, because she is not guilty of an offense deserving death. This case is just like one in which a man attacks his neighbor and murders him. ²⁷When he found her in the field, the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her. ²⁸If a man encounters a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, takes hold of her and rapes her, and they are discovered, ²⁹the man who raped her is to give the young woman’s father fifty silver shekels, and she will become his wife because he violated her.^f He cannot divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰“A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not violate his father’s marriage bed.^g

EXCLUSION AND INCLUSION

23“No man whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may enter the Lord’s assembly. ²No one of illegitimate birth may enter the Lord’s assembly; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the Lord’s assembly. ³No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the Lord’s assembly;^a none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the Lord’s assembly. ⁴This is because they did not meet you with food and water on the journey after you came out of Egypt, and because Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim was hired to curse you.^{b 5}Yet the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but he turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves^c you.^{d 6}Never pursue their welfare or prosperity as long as you live. ⁷Do not despise an Edomite, because he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you were a resident alien in his land. ⁸The children born to them in the third generation may enter the Lord’s assembly.

CLEANLINESS OF THE CAMP

⁹“When you are encamped against your enemies, be careful to avoid anything offensive. ¹⁰If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a bodily emission during the night, he must go outside the camp; he may not come anywhere inside the camp. ¹¹When evening approaches, he is to wash with water, and when the sun sets he may come inside the camp.^{e 12}You are to have a place outside the camp and go there to relieve yourself. ¹³You are to have a digging tool in your equipment; when you relieve yourself, dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴For the Lord your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you; so your encampments must be holy. He must not see anything indecent among you or he will turn away from you.

FUGITIVE SLAVES

¹⁵“Do not return a slave to his master when he has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶Let him live among you wherever he wants within your city gates. Do not mistreat him.

CULT PROSTITUTION FORBIDDEN

¹⁷“No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute. ¹⁸Do not bring a female prostitute’s wages or a male prostitute’s^A earnings into the house of the Lord your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the Lord your God.

INTEREST ON LOANS

¹⁹“Do not charge your brother interest on silver, food, or anything that can earn interest. ²⁰You may charge a foreigner interest, but you must not charge your brother Israelite interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you do^B in the land you are entering to possess.^f

KEEPING VOWS

²¹“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to keep it, because he will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as sin. ²²But if you refrain from making a vow, it will not be counted against you as sin. ²³Be careful to do whatever comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed what you promised to the Lord your God.^g

NEIGHBOR’S CROPS

²⁴“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want until you are full, but do not put any in your container. ²⁵When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck heads of grain with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.