Deuteronomy 22–23

If you see someone else’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner.^f If the owner does not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then give it back. Do the same if you find someone’s donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.

If you see someone’s donkey^g or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.^h

A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.ⁱ You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go,^j so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.^k

When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.^l

Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard;^m if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.

Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.ⁿ

Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.^o

Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.^p

Marriage Violations

If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her^a, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate^b proof that she was a virgin. Her father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, and the elders^c shall take the man and punish him. They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the young woman’s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives.

If, however, the charge is true^d and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing^e in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept^f with her and the woman must die.^g You must purge the evil from Israel.

If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the young woman because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.^h

But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed,ⁱ there was no one to rescue her.

If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered,^j he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

^*A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.^k

Exclusion From the Assembly

^*No one who has been emasculated^a by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.

No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any offspring from such a marriage may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.

No Ammonite^b or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.^c For they did not come to meet you with bread and water^d on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam^e son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim^f to pronounce a curse on you.^g However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse^h into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God lovesⁱ you. Do not seek a treaty^j of friendship with them as long as you live.^k

Do not despise an Edomite,^l for the Edomites are related to you.^m Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country.ⁿ The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

Uncleanness in the Camp

When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure.^a If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.^b But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset^c he may return to the camp.^d

Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the Lord your God moves^e about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy,^f so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

If a slave has taken refuge^a with you, do not hand them over to their master.^b Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress^c them.

No Israelite man^d or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.^e You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both.^f

Do not charge an Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.^g You may charge a foreigner^h interest, but not another Israelite, so that the Lord your God may blessⁱ you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.

If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it,^j for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.^k But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.^l Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.

If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to the standing grain.^m