²Your neighbor might not live near you. Or you might not know who he is. Then take the animal home with you. Keep it until he comes looking for it. Then give it back.

³Do the same thing if you find his donkey, coat or anything he loses. Don’t act as if you didn’t see it.

⁴Suppose you see your neighbor’s donkey or ox that has fallen down on the road. Then don’t act as if you didn’t see it. Help him get it up on its feet again.

⁵A woman must not wear men’s clothes. And a man must not wear women’s clothes. The Lord your God hates it when anyone does that.

⁶Suppose you happen to find a bird’s nest beside the road. It might be in a tree or on the ground. And suppose the mother bird is sitting on her little birds or on the eggs. Then don’t take the mother along with the little ones. ⁷You can take the little ones. But make sure you let the mother go. Then things will go well with you. You will live for a long time.

⁸If you build a new house, put a low wall around the edge of your roof. Then you won’t be held accountable if someone falls off your roof and dies.

⁹Don’t plant two kinds of seeds in your vineyard. If you do, the crops you grow there will be polluted. Your grapes will also be polluted.

¹⁰Don’t let an ox and a donkey pull the same plow together.

¹¹Don’t wear clothes made of wool and linen that are woven together.

¹²Make tassels on the four corners of the coat you wear.

Breaking Marriage Laws

¹³Suppose a man gets married to a woman and makes love to her. But then he doesn’t like her. ¹⁴So he tells lies about her and says she’s a bad woman. He says, “I got married to this woman. But when I made love to her, I discovered she wasn’t a virgin.” ¹⁵Then the woman’s parents must bring proof that she was a virgin. They must give the proof to the elders at the gate of the town.

¹⁶The woman’s father will speak to the elders. He’ll say, “I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife. But he doesn’t like her. ¹⁷So now he has told lies about her. He has said, ‘I discovered that your daughter wasn’t a virgin.’ But here’s the proof that my daughter was a virgin.” Then her parents will show the elders of the town the cloth that has her blood on it.

¹⁸The elders will punish the man. ¹⁹They’ll make him weigh out two and a half pounds of silver. They’ll give it to the woman’s father. That’s because the man has said an Israelite virgin is a bad woman. She will continue to be his wife. He must not divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰But suppose the charge is true. And there isn’t any proof that the woman was a virgin. ²¹Then she must be brought to the door of her father’s house. There the people of her town will put her to death by throwing stones at her. She has done a very terrible thing in Israel. She has had sex before she got married. Get rid of that evil person.

²²Suppose a man is seen having sex with another man’s wife. Then the man and the woman must both die. Get rid of those evil people.

²³Suppose a man happens to see a virgin in a town. And she has promised to get married to another man. But the man who happens to see her has sex with her. ²⁴Then you must take both of them to the gate of that town. You must put them to death by throwing stones at them. You must kill the woman because she was in a town and didn’t scream for help. And you must kill the man because he had sex with another man’s wife. Get rid of those evil people.

²⁵But suppose a man happens to see a woman out in the country. And she has promised to marry another man. But the man who happens to see her rapes her. Then only the man who has done that will die. ²⁶Don’t do anything to the woman. She hasn’t committed a sin that is worthy of death. That case is like the case of someone who attacks and murders his neighbor. ²⁷The man found the woman out in the country. And she screamed. But there wasn’t anyone around who could save her.

²⁸Suppose a man happens to see a virgin who hasn’t promised to marry another man. And the man who happens to see her rapes her. But someone discovers them. ²⁹Then the man must weigh out 20 ounces of silver. He must give it to the woman’s father. The man must marry the woman, because he raped her. And he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰A man must not get married to his stepmother. He must not bring shame on his father by having sex with her.

Who Can Worship With the Lord’s People?

23No man whose sex organs have been crushed or cut can join in worship with the Lord’s people.

²No one who was born to a woman who wasn’t married can join in worship with the Lord’s people. That also applies to the person’s children for all time to come.

³The people of Ammon and Moab can’t join in worship with the Lord’s people. That also applies to their children after them for all time to come. ⁴The Ammonites and Moabites didn’t come to meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt. They even hired Balaam from Pethor in Aram Naharaim to call down a curse on you. Balaam was the son of Beor. ⁵The Lord your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam. Instead, he turned the curse into a blessing for you. He did it because he loves you. ⁶So don’t make a peace treaty with the Ammonites and Moabites as long as you live.

⁷Don’t hate the people of Edom. They are your relatives. Don’t hate the people of Egypt. After all, you lived as outsiders in their country. ⁸The great-grandchildren of the Edomites and Egyptians can join in worship with the Lord’s people.

Keep the Camp of the Soldiers Pure and Clean

⁹There will be times when you are at war with your enemies. And your soldiers will be in camp. Then keep away from anything that isn’t pure and clean.

¹⁰Suppose semen flows from the body of one of your soldiers during the night. Then that will make him “unclean.” He must go outside the camp and stay there. ¹¹But as evening approaches, he must wash himself. When the sun goes down, he can return to the camp.

¹²Choose a place outside the camp where you can go to the toilet. ¹³Keep a shovel among your tools. When you go to the toilet, dig a hole. Then cover up your waste.

¹⁴The Lord your God walks around in your camp. He’s there to keep you safe. He’s also there to hand your enemies over to you. So your camp must be holy. Then he won’t see anything among you that is shameful. He won’t turn away from you.

Several Other Laws

¹⁵If a slave comes to you for safety, don’t hand him over to his master. ¹⁶Let him live among you anywhere he wants to. Let him live in any town he chooses. Don’t crush him.

¹⁷A man or woman in Israel must not become a temple prostitute. ¹⁸The Lord your God hates the money that men and women get for being prostitutes. So don’t take that money into the house of the Lord to pay what you promised to give.

¹⁹Don’t charge your own people any interest. Don’t charge them when they borrow money, food or anything else. ²⁰You can charge interest to people from another country. But don’t charge your own people. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. He will bless you in the land you are entering to take as your own.

²¹Don’t put off giving to the Lord your God everything you promise him. He will certainly require it from you. And you will be guilty of committing a sin. ²²But if you don’t make a promise, you won’t be guilty. ²³Make sure you do what you promised to do. With your own mouth you made the promise to the Lord your God. No one forced you to do it.

²⁴When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you can eat all of the grapes you want. But don’t put any of them in your basket. ²⁵When you enter your neighbor’s field, you can pick heads of grain. But don’t cut down his standing grain.

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