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.

24Suppose a man gets married to a woman. But later he decides he doesn’t like her. He finds something shameful about her. So he gives her a letter of divorce and sends her away from his house. ²Then after she leaves his house she becomes another man’s wife. ³But her second husband doesn’t like her either. So he gives her a letter of divorce and sends her away from his house. Or perhaps he dies. ⁴Then her first husband isn’t allowed to marry her again. The Lord would hate that. When her first husband divorced her, she became “unclean.” Don’t bring sin on the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own.

⁵Suppose a man has just gotten married. Then don’t send him into battle. Don’t give him any other duty either. He’s free to stay home for one year. He needs time to make his new wife happy.

⁶Someone might borrow money from you and give you two millstones to keep until you are paid back. Don’t keep them. Don’t even keep the upper one. That person depends on the millstones to make a living.

⁷Suppose a man is caught kidnapping another Israelite. And he sells or treats that person as a slave. Then the kidnapper must die. Get rid of that evil person.

⁸What about skin diseases? Be very careful to do exactly what the priests, who are Levites, tell you to do. You must be careful to follow the commands I’ve given them. ⁹Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on your way out of Egypt.

¹⁰Suppose your neighbor borrows something from you. And he offers you something to keep until you get paid back. Then don’t go into his house to get it. ¹¹Stay outside. Let the man bring it out to you.

¹²He might be poor. You might be given his coat to keep until you get paid back. Don’t go to sleep while you still have it. ¹³Return it before the sun goes down. He needs it to sleep in and will thank you for returning it. The Lord your God will see it and know that you have done the right thing.

¹⁴Don’t take advantage of any hired worker who is poor and needy. That applies to your own people. It also applies to outsiders who are living in one of your towns. ¹⁵Give them their pay every day. They are poor and are counting on it. If you don’t pay them, they might cry out to the Lord against you. Then you will be guilty of committing a sin.

¹⁶Parents must not be put to death because of what their children do. And children must not be put to death because of what their parents do. People must die because of their own sins.

¹⁷Do what is right and fair for outsiders and for children whose fathers have died. Suppose a widow borrows something from you. And she offers to give you her coat until she pays you back. Don’t take it.

¹⁸Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. Remember that the Lord your God set you free from there. That’s why I’m commanding you to do those things.

¹⁹When you are gathering crops in your field, you might leave some grain behind by mistake. Don’t go back to get it. Leave it for outsiders and widows. Leave it for children whose fathers have died. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

²⁰When you knock olives off your trees, don’t go back over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for outsiders and widows. Leave it for children whose fathers have died. ²¹When you pick grapes in your vineyard, don’t go back over the vines a second time. Leave what remains for outsiders and widows. Leave it for children whose fathers have died.

²²Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That’s why I’m commanding you to do those things.

25Suppose two men don’t agree about something. Then they must take their case to court. The judges will decide the case. They will let the one who isn’t guilty go free. And they will punish the one who is guilty.

²The guilty one might have done something that’s worthy of a beating. Then the judge will make him lie down and be beaten with a whip right there in court. The number of strokes should fit the crime. ³But the judge must not give the guilty man more than 40 strokes. If more than that are used, you will look down on your Israelite neighbor.

⁴Don’t stop an ox from eating while you use it to separate grain from straw.

⁵Suppose two brothers are living near each other. And one of them dies without having a son. Then his widow must not get married to anyone outside the family. Her husband’s brother should marry her. That’s what a brother-in-law is supposed to do. ⁶Her first baby boy will be named after her first husband. Then the dead man’s name will not be wiped out in Israel.

⁷But suppose the man doesn’t want to get married to his brother’s wife. Then she will go to the elders at the gate of the town. She will say, “My husband’s brother refuses to keep his brother’s name alive in Israel. He won’t do for me what a brother-in-law is supposed to do.”

⁸Then the elders in his town will send for him. They will talk to him. But he still might say, “I don’t want to marry her.” ⁹Then his brother’s widow will go up to him in front of the elders. She’ll pull one of his sandals off his foot. She’ll spit in his face. And she’ll say, “That’s what we do to a man who won’t build up his brother’s family line.” ¹⁰That man’s family line will be known in Israel as The Family of the Man Whose Sandal Was Pulled Off.

¹¹Suppose two men are fighting. And the wife of one of them comes to save her husband from his attacker. So she reaches out and grabs hold of his sex organs. ¹²Then you must cut off her hand. Don’t feel sorry for her.

¹³Don’t have two different scales. You must not have one that weighs things heavier than they really are and another that weighs them lighter than they are. ¹⁴And don’t have two different sets of measures. You must not have one set that measures things larger than they really are and another that measures them smaller than they are. ¹⁵You must use weights and measures that are honest and exact. Then you will live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶He hates anyone who cheats.

¹⁷Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way out of Egypt. ¹⁸You were tired and worn out. They met you on your journey. They attacked everyone who was lagging behind. They didn’t have any respect for God. ¹⁹The Lord your God will give you peace and rest from all of the enemies who are around you. He’ll do it in the land he’s giving you to take over as your very own. Then you will wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from the earth. Don’t forget to do it!

Give the Lord His Share

26You will enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own. You will take it over. You will settle down in it. ²When you do, get some of the first share of everything your soil produces. Put it in a basket. It’s from the land the Lord your God is giving…

Read in Logos

This passage has been shortened. Keep reading Deuteronomy 23–26 in Logos