Deuteronomy 23

Chapter 23

Persons Excluded from the Assembly

¹“^aNo one who is ¹emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

²“No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

³“^aNo Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord,

^4abecause they did not meet you with ¹food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you ^bBalaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ²Mesopotamia, to curse you.

⁵“Nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God ^aturned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God ^bloves you.

⁶“^aYou shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.

⁷“You shall not detest an Edomite, for ^ahe is your brother; you shall not detest an Egyptian, ^bbecause you were an alien in his land.

⁸“The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

⁹“When you go out as ¹an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

¹⁰“^aIf there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not ¹reenter the camp.

¹¹“But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may ¹reenter the camp.

¹²“You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there,

¹³and you shall have a ¹spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn ²to cover up your excrement.

¹⁴“Since ^athe Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to ¹defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be ^bholy; and He must not see ²anything indecent among you ³or He will turn away from you.

¹⁵“^aYou shall not hand over to his master a slave who has ¹escaped from his master to you.

¹⁶“He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which he shall choose in one of your ¹towns where it pleases him; ^ayou shall not mistreat him.

¹⁷“^aNone of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, ^bnor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.

¹⁸“You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a ^1adog into the house of the Lord your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁹“^aYou shall not charge interest to your ¹countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest.

²⁰“^aYou may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your ¹countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that ^bthe Lord your God may bless you in all ²that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to ³possess.

²¹“^aWhen you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, ¹and the Lord your God will surely require it of you.

²²“However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you.

²³“You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have ¹promised.

²⁴“When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes ¹until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your ²basket.

²⁵“^aWhen you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.