Deuteronomy 20–22

20TH CHAPTER

Laws for Warfare

¹When you go to war against your enemies, you may see horses, chariots, and armies larger than yours. Don’t be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, will be with you. ²Before the battle starts, a priest must come and speak to the troops. ³He should tell them, “Listen, Israel, today you’re going into battle against your enemies. Don’t lose your courage! Don’t be afraid or alarmed or tremble because of them. ⁴The Lord your God is going with you. He will fight for you against your enemies and give you victory.” 

⁵The officers should tell the troops, “If you have built a new house but not dedicated it, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will dedicate it. ⁶If you have planted a vineyard and not enjoyed the grapes, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will enjoy the grapes. ⁷If you are engaged to a woman but have not married her, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will marry her.” 

⁸The officers should also tell the troops, “If you are afraid or have lost your courage, you may go home. Then you won’t ruin the morale of the other Israelites.” ⁹When the officers finish speaking to the troops, they should appoint commanders to lead them. 

¹⁰When you approach a city to attack it, offer its people a peaceful way to surrender. ¹¹If they accept it and open ⸤their gates⸥ to you, then all the people there will be made to do forced labor and serve you. ¹²If they won’t accept your offer of peace but declare war on you, set up a blockade around the city. ¹³When the Lord your God hands the city over to you, kill every man in that city with your swords. ¹⁴But take the women and children, the cattle and everything else in the city, including all its goods, as your loot. You may enjoy your enemies’ goods that the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵This is what you must do to all the cities that are far away which don’t belong to the nations nearby. 

¹⁶However, you must not spare anyone’s life in the cities of these nations that the Lord your God is giving you as your property. ¹⁷You must claim the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites for the Lord and completely destroy them, as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹⁸Otherwise, they will teach you to do all the disgusting things they do for their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God. 

¹⁹This is what you must do whenever you blockade a city for a long time in order to capture it in war. Don’t harm any of its fruit trees with an ax. You can eat the fruit. Never cut those trees down, because the trees of the field are not people you have come to blockade. ²⁰You may destroy trees that you know are not fruit trees. You may cut them down and use them in your blockade until you capture the city. 

21ST CHAPTER

When a Murder Is Committed, but the Murderer Can’t Be Found

¹This is what you must do if you find a murder victim lying in a field in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. If no one knows who committed the murder, ²your leaders and judges must go and measure the distance from the body to each of the neighboring cities. ³When it has been determined which city is nearest the body, the leaders from that city must choose a heifer that has never been put to work and never worn a yoke.^a4The leaders of that city will bring the heifer down to a river, to a location where the land hasn’t been plowed or planted. At the river they must break the heifer’s neck. ⁵The priests, the descendants of Levi, must come forward. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him as priests and to bless people in the Lord’s name. Their decision is final in all cases involving a disagreement or an assault. ⁶All the leaders from the city which was nearest the murder victim must wash their hands over the dead heifer. ⁷Then they must make this formal statement: “We didn’t commit this murder, and we didn’t witness it. ⁸Lord, make peace with your people Israel, whom you freed. Don’t let the guilt of this unsolved murder remain among your people Israel.” Then there will be peace with the Lord despite the murder. ⁹This is how you will get rid of the guilt of an unsolved murder by doing what the Lord considers right. 

Laws about Marriage and Family

¹⁰When you go to war with your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you, you may take them captive. ¹¹If you see a beautiful woman among the captives and have your heart set on her, you may marry her. ¹²Bring her into your home. She must shave her head, cut her nails, ¹³and no longer wear the clothes she was wearing when you captured her. Then she may live in your house and mourn ⸤the loss of⸥ her father and mother for one month. After that, you may sleep with her. Then you will become husband and wife. 

¹⁴But if it happens that you are no longer pleased with her, let her go wherever she wants. You must never sell her or mistreat her as if she were a slave,since you’ve already had sex with her. 

¹⁵A man might have two wives and love one but not the other. Both wives might have children, and the firstborn son might belong to the wife that the man doesn’t love. ¹⁶When the day comes for the father to give his sons their inheritance, he can’t treat the son of the wife he loves as if that son were the firstborn. This would show a total disregard for the real firstborn (the son of the wife he doesn’t love). ¹⁷Instead, he must recognize the son of the wife he doesn’t love as the firstborn. He must give that son a double portion of whatever he owns. That son is the very first son he had. The rights of the firstborn son are his. 

¹⁸Parents might have a stubborn and rebellious son who doesn’t obey them. Even though they punish him, he still won’t listen to them. ¹⁹His father and mother must take him to the leaders of the city at the city gate. ²⁰They will say to the leaders of the city, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He won’t obey us. He eats too much and is a drunk.” ²¹All the men of the city should stone him to death. You must get rid of this evil. When all Israel hears about it, they will be afraid. 

Various Laws

²²When a convicted person is put to death, ²³never leave his dead body hung on a pole overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone whose body is hung on a pole is cursed by God. The land that the Lord your God is giving you must never become unclean.^c

22ND CHAPTER

¹If you see another Israelite’s ox or sheep out where it doesn’t belong, don’t pretend that you don’t see it. Make sure you take it back. ²If the owner doesn’t live near you or you don’t know who owns it, take the animal home with you. Keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then give it back. ³Do the same if you find a donkey, some clothes, or anything else that another Israelite may have lost. Don’t pretend that you don’t know what to do. 

⁴If you see another Israelite’s donkey or ox lying on the road, don’t pretend that you don’t see it. Make sure you help him get it back on its feet. 

⁵A woman must never wear anything men would wear, and a man must never wear women’s clothes. Whoever does this is disgusting to the Lord your God. 

⁶Whenever you’re traveling and find a nest containing chicks or eggs, this is what you must do. If the mother bird is sitting on the nest, never take her with the chicks. ⁷You may take the chicks, but make sure you let the mother go. Then things will go well for you, and you will live for a long time. 

⁸Whenever you build a new house, put a railing around the edge of the roof. Then you won’t be responsible for a death at your home if someone falls off the roof. 

⁹Never plant anything between the rows in your vineyard. Otherwise, you will have to give everything that grows there to the holy place. This includes the crop you planted and the grapes from the vineyard. 

¹⁰Never plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together. 

¹¹Never wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together. 

¹²Make tassels on the four corners of the shawl you wear over your clothes. 

Laws about Sex and Marriage

¹³A man might marry a woman, sleep with her, and decide he doesn’t like her. ¹⁴Then he might make up charges against her and ruin her reputation by saying, “I married this woman. But when I slept with her, I found out she wasn’t a virgin.” ¹⁵The girl’s father and mother must go to the city gate where the leaders of the city are and submit the evidence that their daughter was a virgin. ¹⁶The girl’s father will tell the leaders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he doesn’t like her. ¹⁷Now he has made up charges against her. He says he found out that my daughter wasn’t a virgin. But here’s the evidence!” Then the girl’s parents must spread out the cloth in front of the leaders of the city. ¹⁸The leaders of that city must take the man and punish him. ¹⁹They will fine him 2¼ pounds of silver and give it to the girl’s father. The husband ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives. 

²⁰But if the charge is true, and no evidence that the girl was a virgin can be found, ²¹they must take the girl to the entrance of her father’s house. The men of her city must stone her to death because she has committed such a godless act in Israel: She had sex before marriage, while she was still living in her father’s house. You must get rid of this evil. 

²²If a man is caught having sexual intercourse with a married woman, both that man and the woman must die. You must get rid of this evil in Israel. 

²³This is what you must do when a man has sexual intercourse with a virgin who is engaged to another man. If this happens in a city, ²⁴take them to the gate of the city and stone them to death. The girl must die because she was in a city and didn’t scream for help. The man must die because he had sex with another man’s wife. You must get…