Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies, you might see that they have horses and chariots. They might even have an army stronger than yours. But don’t be afraid of them. The Lord your God will be with you. After all, he brought you up out of Egypt. ² Just before you go into battle, the priest will come forward. He’ll speak to the army. ³ He’ll say, “Men of Israel, listen to me. Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Don’t be scared. Don’t be afraid. Don’t panic or be terrified by them. ⁴ The Lord your God is going with you. He’ll fight for you. He’ll help you win the battle over your enemies.”

⁵ The officers will speak to the army. They will say, “Has anyone built a new house and not started to live in it? Let him go home. If he doesn’t, he might die in battle. Then someone else will live in his house. ⁶ Has anyone planted a vineyard and not started to enjoy it? Let him go home. If he doesn’t, he might die in battle. Then someone else will enjoy his vineyard. ⁷ Has anyone promised to be married to a woman but hasn’t done it yet? Let him go home. If he doesn’t, he might die in battle. Then someone else will marry her.” ⁸ The officers will continue, “Is anyone afraid or scared? Let him go home. Then the other soldiers won’t lose hope too.” ⁹ The officers will finish speaking to the army. When they do, they’ll appoint commanders over it.

¹⁰ Suppose you march up to attack a city. Before you attack it, offer to make peace with its people. ¹¹ Suppose they accept your offer and open their gates. Then force all the people in the city to be your slaves. They will have to work for you. ¹² But suppose they refuse your offer of peace and prepare for battle. Then surround that city. Get ready to attack it. ¹³ The Lord your God will hand it over to you. When he does, kill all the men with your swords. ¹⁴ But you can take the women and children for yourselves. You can also take the livestock and everything else in the city. What you have captured from your enemies you can use for yourselves. The Lord your God has given it to you. ¹⁵ That’s how you must treat all the cities far away from you. Those cities don’t belong to the nations that are nearby.

¹⁶ But what about the cities the Lord your God is giving you as your own? Kill everything that breathes in those cities. ¹⁷ Completely destroy them. Wipe out the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. That’s what the Lord your God commanded you to do. ¹⁸ If you don’t destroy them, they’ll teach you to do all the things the Lord hates. He hates the way they worship their gods. If you do those things, you will sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ Suppose you surround a city and get ready to attack it. And suppose you fight against it for a long time in order to capture it. Then don’t chop down its trees and destroy them. You can eat their fruit. So don’t cut them down. Are the trees people? So why should you attack them? ²⁰ But you can cut down trees that you know aren’t fruit trees. You can build war machines out of their wood. You can use them until you capture the city you are fighting against.

What to Do When You Don’t Know Who Killed Someone

21 Suppose you find someone who has been killed. The body is lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own. But no one knows who the killer was. ² Then your elders and judges will go out to the field. They will measure the distance from the body to the nearby towns. ³ The elders from the town that is nearest to the body will get a young cow. It must never have been used for work. It must never have pulled a load. ⁴ The elders must lead it down into a valley. The valley must not have been farmed. There must be a stream flowing through it. There in the valley the elders must break the cow’s neck. ⁵ The priests, who are sons of Levi, will step forward. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him. He wants them to bless the people in his name. He wants them to decide all cases that have to do with people arguing and attacking others. ⁶ Then all the elders from the town that is nearest to the body will wash their hands. They will wash them over the young cow whose neck they broke in the valley. ⁷ They’ll say to the Lord, “We didn’t kill that person. We didn’t see it happen. ⁸ Accept this payment for the sin of your people Israel. Lord, you have set your people free. Don’t hold them guilty for spilling the blood of someone who hasn’t done anything wrong.” That will pay for the death of that person. ⁹ So you will get rid of the guilt of killing someone who didn’t do anything wrong. That’s because you have done what is right in the Lord’s eyes.

Marrying a Woman Who Is Your Prisoner

¹⁰ Suppose you go to war against your enemies. And the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them as prisoners. ¹¹ Then you notice a beautiful woman among them. If you like her, you may marry her. ¹² Bring her home. Have her shave her head and cut her nails. ¹³ Have her throw away the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. Let her live in your house and mourn the loss of her parents for a full month. Then you can go to her and be her husband. And she will be your wife. ¹⁴ But suppose you aren’t pleased with her. Then let her go where she wants to. You must not sell her. You must not treat her as a slave. You have already brought shame on her.

The Rights of the Oldest Son

¹⁵ Suppose a man has two wives. He loves one but not the other. And both of them have sons by him. But the oldest son is the son of the wife the man doesn’t love. ¹⁶ Someday he’ll leave his property to his sons. When he does, he must not give the rights of the oldest son to the son of the wife he loves. He must give those rights to his oldest son. He must do it even though his oldest son is the son of the wife he doesn’t love. ¹⁷ He must recognize the full rights of the oldest son. He must do it, even though that son is the son of the wife he doesn’t love. He must give that son a double share of everything he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. So the rights of the oldest son belong to him.

A Stubborn Son

¹⁸ Suppose someone has a very stubborn son. He doesn’t obey his father and mother. And he won’t listen to them when they try to correct him. ¹⁹ Then his parents will take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. ²⁰ They will say to the elders, “This son of ours is very stubborn. He won’t obey us. He eats too much. He’s always getting drunk.” ²¹ Then all the people in his town will put him to death by throwing stones at him. Get rid of that evil person. All the Israelites will hear about it. And they will be afraid to disobey their parents.

Several Other Laws

²² Suppose someone is put to death for a crime worthy of death. And a pole is stuck through their body and set up where people can see it. ²³ Then you must not leave the body on the pole all night. Make sure you bury it that same day. Everyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not make the land “unclean.” The Lord your God is giving it to you as your own.

22 Suppose you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep wandering away. Then don’t act as if you didn’t see it. Instead, make sure you take it back to its owner. ² Its owner might not live near you. Or you might not know who owns it. So take the animal home with you. Keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then give it back to them. ³ Do the same thing if you find their donkey, coat or anything they have lost. Don’t act as if you didn’t see it.

⁴ Suppose 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 the owner get it up on its feet again.

⁵ A 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 this.

⁶ Suppose 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. ⁷ You 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Breaking Marriage Laws

¹³ Suppose a man marries a woman and sleeps with her. But then he doesn’t like her. ¹⁴ So he tells lies about her and says she’s a bad woman. He says, “I married this woman. But when I slept with her, I discovered she wasn’t a virgin.” ¹⁵ Then the young 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. ¹⁶ Her 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. ¹⁷ So 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. ¹⁸ The elders will punish the man. ¹⁹ They’ll make him weigh out two and a half pounds of silver. They’ll give it to the young 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.

²⁰ But suppose the charge is true. And there isn’t any proof that the young woman was a virgin. ²¹ Then 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 slept with a man before she was married. Get rid of that evil person.

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

²³ Suppose a man happens to see a virgin in a town. And she has promised to marry another man. But the man who happens to see her sleeps with her. ²⁴ Then 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 young woman because she was in a town and didn’t scream for help. And you must kill the man because he slept with another man’s wife. Get rid of those evil people.

²⁵ But suppose a man happens to see a young 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. ²⁶ Don’t do anything to the woman. She hasn’t committed a sin worthy of death. That case is like the case of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor. ²⁷ The man found the young woman out in the country. And she screamed for help. But there wasn’t anyone around who could save her.

²⁸ Suppose 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. ²⁹ Then the man must weigh out 20 ounces of silver. He must give it to her father. The man must marry the young woman, because he raped her. And he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

³⁰ A man must not marry his stepmother. He must not bring shame on his father by sleeping with her.