Deuteronomy 23–25

23 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. 2 aA bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord. 3 bAn Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever: 4 cBecause they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they dhired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. 5 Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the Lord thy God turned ethe curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee. 6 fThou shalt not seek their peace nor their †prosperity all thy days for ever. 7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; gfor he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because hthou wast a stranger in his land. 8 The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation.

9 When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing. 10 If there be among you any man, that is not clean iby reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp: 11 But it shall be, when evening †cometh on, he shall kwash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. 12 Thou shalt have la place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: 13 And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou †wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: 14 For the Lord thy God mwalketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and nto give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no †unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

15 oThou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee: 16 He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it †liketh him best: pthou shalt not oppress him. 17 There shall be no ||whore qof the daughters of Israel, nor ra sodomite of the sons of Israel. 18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God. 19 sThou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury: 20 tUnto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: uthat the Lord thy God may bless thee in all wthat thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 21 xWhen thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. 22 But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. 23 That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth. 24 When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. 25 When thou comest into the ystanding corn of thy neighbour, zthen thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s ystanding corn.

24 When a aman hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found †some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of †divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4 bHer former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. 5 cWhen a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, †neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall dcheer up his wife which he hath taken.

6 No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh ea man’s life to pledge. 7 fIf a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and gmaketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; hand thou shalt put evil away from among you. 8 Take heed in ithe plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do. 9 Remember what the Lord thy God did junto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt. 10 When thou dost †lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. 11 Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. 12 And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge: 13 kIn any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and lbless thee: and mit shall be righteousness unto thee before the Lord thy God. 14 Thou shalt not noppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: 15 At his day othou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and †setteth his heart upon it: plest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee. 16 qThe fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 17 rThou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; snor take a widow’s raiment to pledge: 18 But tthou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing. 19 uWhen thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot wa sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may xbless thee in all the work of thine hands. 20 When thou beatest thine olive tree, †thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21 When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not yglean it †afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 22 And zthou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.

25 If there be a acontroversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they bshall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. 2 And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. 3 cForty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee. 4 dThou shalt not muzzle the ox when he †treadeth out the corn. 5 eIf brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her ||husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and ||perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. 6 And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth fshall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that ghis name be not put out of Israel. 7 And if the man like not to take his ||brother’s wife, then let his ||brother’s wife go up to the hgate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name 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 unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, iI like not to take her; 9 Then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and kloose his shoe from off his foot, and lspit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not mbuild up his brother’s house. 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.

11 When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: 12 Then thou shalt cut off her hand, nthine eye shall not pity her. 13 Thou shalt not have in thy obag †divers pweights, a great and a small. 14 Thou shalt not have in thine house †divers pmeasures, a great and a small. 15 But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: qthat thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 16 For rall that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.

17 sRemember what Amalek did unto thee tby the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; 18 How he met thee by the way, and usmote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast xfaint and weary; and he feared not God. 19 Therefore it shall be, ywhen the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round …