Deuteronomy 22-25

Deuteronomy 22

¹If you see your brother's ox or his sheep wandering, do not go by without helping, but take them back to your brother.

²If their owner is not near, or if you are not certain who he is, then take the beast to your house and keep it till its owner comes in search of it, and then you are to give it back to him.

³Do the same with his ass or his robe or anything which has gone from your brother's keeping and which you have come across: do not keep it to yourself.

⁴If you see your brother's ox or his ass falling down on the road, do not go by without giving him help in lifting it up again.

⁵It is not right for a woman to be dressed in man's clothing, or for a man to put on a woman's robe: whoever does such things is disgusting to the Lord your God.

⁶If by chance you see a place which a bird has made for itself in a tree or on the earth, with young ones or eggs, and the mother bird seated on the young ones or on the eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young:

⁷See that you let the mother bird go, but the young ones you may take; so it will be well for you and your life will be long.

⁸If you are building a house, make a railing for the roof, so that the blood of any man falling from it will not come on your house.

⁹Do not have your vine-garden planted with two sorts of seed: or all of it may become a loss, the seed you have put in as well as the increase.

¹⁰Do not do your ploughing with an ox and an ass yoked together.

¹¹Do not have clothing made of two sorts of thread, wool and linen together.

¹²On the four edges of your robe, with which your body is covered, put ornaments of twisted threads.

¹³If any man takes a wife, and having had connection with her, has no delight in her,

¹⁴And says evil things about her and gives her a bad name, saying, I took this woman, and when I had connection with her it was clear to me that she was not a virgin:

¹⁵Then let the girl's father and mother put before the responsible men of the town, in the public place, signs that the girl was a virgin:

¹⁶And let the girl's father say to the responsible men, I gave my daughter to this man for his wife, but he has no love for her;

¹⁷And now he has put shame on her, saying that she is not a virgin; but here is the sign that she is a virgin. Then they are to put her clothing before the responsible men of the town.

¹⁸Then the responsible men of the town are to give the man his punishment;

¹⁹They will take from him a hundred shekels of silver, which are to be given to the father of the girl, because he has given an evil name to a virgin of Israel: she will go on being his wife, he may never put her away all his life.

²⁰But if what he has said is true, and she is seen to be not a virgin,

²¹Then they are to make the girl come to the door of her father's house and she will be stoned to death by the men of the town, because she has done evil and put shame on Israel, by acting as a loose woman in her father's house: so you are to put away evil from among you.

²²If a man is taken in the act of going in to a married woman, the two of them, the man as well as the woman, are to be put to death: so you are to put away the evil from Israel.

²³If a young virgin has given her word to be married to a man, and another man meeting her in the town, has connection with her;

²⁴Then you are to take the two of them to the doorway of the town, and have them stoned to death; the young virgin, because she gave no cry for help, though it was in the town, and the man, because he has put shame on his neighbour's wife: so you are to put away evil from among you.

²⁵But if the man, meeting such a virgin in the open country, takes her by force, then only the man is to be put to death;

²⁶Nothing is to be done to the virgin, because there is no cause of death in her: it is the same as if a man made an attack on his neighbour and put him to death:

²⁷For he came across her in the open country, and there was no one to come to the help of the virgin in answer to her cry.

²⁸If a man sees a young virgin, who has not given her word to be married to anyone, and he takes her by force and has connection with her, and discovery is made of it;

²⁹Then the man will have to give the virgin's father fifty shekels of silver and make her his wife, because he has put shame on her; he may never put her away all his life.

³⁰A man may not take his father's wife or have sex relations with a woman who is his father's.

Deuteronomy 23

¹No man whose private parts have been wounded or cut off may come into the meeting of the Lord's people.

²One whose father and mother are not married may not come into the meeting of the Lord's people, or any of his family to the tenth generation.

³No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their people to the tenth generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people:

⁴Because they gave you no bread or water on your way, when you came out of Egypt: and they got Balaam, the son of Peor, from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to put curses on you.

⁵But the Lord your God would not give ear to Balaam, but let the curse be changed into a blessing to you, because of his love for you.

⁶Do nothing for their peace or well-being for ever.

⁷But have no hate for an Edomite, because he is your brother, or for an Egyptian, for you were living in his land.

⁸Their children in the third generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people.

⁹When you go out to war and put your tents in position, keep from every evil thing.

¹⁰If any man among you becomes unclean through anything which has taken place in the night, he is to go out from the tent-circle and keep outside it:

¹¹But when evening comes near, let him take a bath: and after sundown he may come back to the tents.

¹²Let there be a place outside the tent-circle to which you may go;

¹³And have among your arms a spade; and when you have been to that place, let that which comes from you be covered up with earth:

¹⁴For the Lord your God is walking among your tents, to keep you safe and to give up into your hands those who are fighting against you; then let your tents be holy, so that he may see no unclean thing among you, and be turned away from you.

¹⁵Do not give back to his master a servant who has gone in flight from his master and come to you:

¹⁶Let him go on living among you in whatever place is most pleasing to him: do not be hard on him.

¹⁷No daughter of Israel is to let herself be used as a loose woman for a strange god, and no son of Israel is to give himself to a man.

¹⁸Do not take into the house of the Lord your God, as an offering for an oath, the price of a loose woman or the money given to one used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: for these two things are disgusting to the Lord your God.

¹⁹Do not take interest from an Israelite on anything, money or food or any other goods, which you let him have:

²⁰From men of other nations you may take interest, but not from an Israelite: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on everything to which you put your hand, in the land which you are about to take as your heritage.

²¹When you take an oath to the Lord, do not be slow to give effect to it: for without doubt the Lord your God will make you responsible, and will put it to your account as sin.

²²But if you take no oath, there will be no sin.

²³Whatever your lips have said, see that you do it; for you gave your word freely to the Lord your God.

²⁴When you go into your neighbour's vine-garden, you may take of his grapes at your pleasure, but you may not take them away in your vessel.

²⁵When you go into your neighbour's field, you may take the heads of grain with your hand; but you may not put your blade to his grain.

Deuteronomy 24

¹If a man takes a wife, and after they are married she is unpleasing to him because of some bad quality in her, let him give her a statement in writing and send her away from his house.

²And when she has gone away from him, she may become another man's wife.

³And if the second husband has no love for her and, giving her a statement in writing, sends her away; or if death comes to the second husband to whom she was married;

⁴Her first husband, who had sent her away, may not take her back after she has been wife to another; for that is disgusting to the Lord: and you are not to be a cause of sin in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage.

⁵A newly married man will not have to go out with the army or undertake any business, but may be free for one year, living in his house for the comfort of his wife.

⁶No one is to take, on account of a debt, the stones with which grain is crushed: for in doing so he takes a man's living.

⁷If a man takes by force one of his countrymen, the children of Israel, using him as his property or getting a price for him, that thief is to be put to death: so you are to put away evil from among you.

⁸In connection with the leper's disease, take care to keep and do every detail of the teaching of the priests, the Levites: as I gave them orders, so you are to do.

⁹Keep in mind what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way, when you came out of Egypt.

¹⁰If you let your brother have the use of anything which is yours, do not go into his house and take anything of his as a sign of his debt;

¹¹But keep outside till he comes out and gives it to you.

¹²If he is a poor man, do not keep his property all night;

¹³But be certain to give it back to him when the sun goes down, so that he may have his clothing for sleeping in, and will give you his blessing: and this will be put to your account as righteousness before the Lord your God.

¹⁴Do not be hard on a servant who is poor and in need, if he is one of your countrymen or a man from another nation living with you in your land.

¹⁵Give him his payment day by day, not keeping it back over night; for he is poor and his living is dependent on it; and if his cry against you comes to the ears of the Lord, it will be judged as sin in you.

¹⁶Fathers are not to be put to death for their children or children for their fathers: every man is to be put to death for the sin which he himself has done.

¹⁷Be upright in judging the cause of the man from a strange country and of him who has no father; do not take a widow's clothing on account of a debt:

¹⁸But keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God made you free: for this is why I give you orders to do this.

¹⁹When you get in the grain from your field, if some of the grain has been dropped by chance in the field, do not go back and get it, but let it be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on all the work of your hands.

²⁰When you are shaking the fruit from your olive-trees, do not go over the branches a second time: let some be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow.

²¹When you are pulling the grapes from your vines, do not take up those which have been dropped; let them be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow.

²²Keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: for this is why I give you orders to do this.

Deuteronomy 25

¹If there is an argument between men and they go to law with one another, let the judges give their decision for the upright, and against the wrongdoer.

²And if the wrongdoer is to undergo punishment by whipping, the judge will give orders for him to go down on his face and be whipped before him, the number of the blows being in relation to his crime.

³He may be given forty blows, not more; for if more are given, your brother may be shamed before you.

⁴Do not keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it.

⁵If brothers are living together and one of them, at his death, has no son, the wife of the dead man is not to be married outside the family to another man: let her husband's brother go in to her and make her his wife, doing as it is right for a brother-in-law to do.

⁶Then the first male child she has will take the rights of the brother who is dead, so that his name may not come to an end in Israel.

⁷But if the man says he will not take his brother's wife, then let the wife go to the responsible men of the town, and say, My husband's brother will not keep his brother's name living in Israel; he will not do what it is right for a husband's brother to do.

⁸Then the responsible men of the town will send for the man, and have talk with him: and if he still says, I will not take her;

⁹Then his brother's wife is to come to him, before the responsible men of the town, and take his shoe off his foot, and put shame on him, and say, So let it be done to the man who will not take care of his brother's name.

¹⁰And his family will be named in Israel, The house of him whose shoe has been taken off.

¹¹If two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them, coming to the help of her husband, takes the other by the private parts;

¹²Her hand is to be cut off; have no pity on her.

¹³Do not have in your bag different weights, a great and a small;

¹⁴Or in your house different measures, a great and a small.

¹⁵But have a true weight and a true measure: so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁶For all who do such things, and all whose ways are not upright, are disgusting to the Lord your God.

¹⁷Keep in mind what Amalek did to you on your way from Egypt;

¹⁸How, meeting you on the way, he made an attack on you when you were tired and without strength, cutting off all the feeble ones at the end of your line; and the fear of God was not in him.

¹⁹So when the Lord your God has given you rest from all who are against you on every side, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, see to it that the memory of Amalek is cut off from the earth; keep this in mind.