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Deuteronomy 21-25
New King James Version
Deuteronomy 21-25
New King James Version
The Law Concerning Unsolved Murder
21 “If anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, 2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man to the surrounding cities. 3 And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer which has not been worked and which has not pulled with a (A)yoke. 4 The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with flowing water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and they shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for (B)the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; (C)by their word every controversy and every [a]assault shall be settled. 6 And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man (D)shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. 7 Then they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. 8 Provide atonement, O Lord, for Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, (E)and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel.’ And atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood. 9 So (F)you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
Female Captives
10 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, 11 and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her and would take her for your (G)wife, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall (H)shave her head and trim her nails. 13 She shall put off the clothes of her captivity, remain in your house, and (I)mourn her father and her mother a full month; after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. 14 And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money; you shall not treat her brutally, because you have (J)humbled her.
Firstborn Inheritance Rights
15 “If a man has two wives, one loved (K)and the other unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved, 16 then it shall be, (L)on the day he bequeaths his possessions to his sons, that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn. 17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn (M)by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he (N)is the beginning of his strength; (O)the right of the firstborn is his.
The Rebellious Son
18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; (P)so you shall put away the evil from among you, (Q)and all Israel shall hear and fear.
Miscellaneous Laws
22 “If a man has committed a sin (R)deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 (S)his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that (T)you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for (U)he who is hanged is accursed of God.
Various Laws of Morality
22 “You (V)shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and [b]hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. 2 And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. 3 You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you [c]must not hide yourself.
4 (W)“You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely help him lift them up again.
5 “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are [d]an abomination to the Lord your God.
6 “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, (X)you shall not take the mother with the young; 7 you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, (Y)that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
8 “When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it.
9 (Z)“You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled.
10 (AA)“You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
11 (AB)“You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together.
12 “You shall make (AC)tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself.
Laws of Sexual Morality
13 “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and (AD)detests her, 14 and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin,’ 15 then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 And the young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her. 17 Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, “I found your daughter was not a virgin,” and yet these are the evidences of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him; 19 and they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days.
20 “But if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, 21 then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with (AE)stones, because she has (AF)done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. (AG)So you shall [e]put away the evil from among you.
22 (AH)“If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.
23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is (AI)betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he (AJ)humbled his neighbor’s wife; (AK)so you shall put away the evil from among you.
25 “But if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 But you shall do nothing to the young woman; there is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. 27 For he found her in the countryside, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.
28 (AL)“If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are found out, 29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father (AM)fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife (AN)because he has humbled her; he shall not be permitted to divorce her all his days.
30 (AO)“A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor (AP)uncover his father’s bed.
Those Excluded from the Congregation
23 “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall (AQ)not enter the assembly of the Lord.
2 “One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord.
3 (AR)“An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever, 4 (AS)because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and (AT)because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of [f]Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God (AU)loves you. 6 (AV)You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.
7 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, (AW)for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because (AX)you were an alien in his land. 8 The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
Cleanliness of the Campsite
9 “When the army goes out against your enemies, then keep yourself from every wicked thing. 10 (AY)If there is any man among you who becomes unclean by some occurrence in the night, then he shall go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp. 11 But it shall be, when evening comes, that (AZ)he shall wash with water; and when the sun sets, he may come into the camp.
12 “Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; 13 and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. 14 For the Lord your God (BA)walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.
Miscellaneous Laws
15 (BB)“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. 16 He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it [g]seems best to him; (BC)you shall not oppress him.
17 “There shall be no ritual [h]harlot (BD)of the daughters of Israel, or a (BE)perverted[i] one of the sons of Israel. 18 You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are [j]an abomination to the Lord your God.
19 (BF)“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. 20 (BG)To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, (BH)that the Lord your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess.
21 (BI)“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. 22 But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. 23 (BJ)That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.
24 “When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container. 25 When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, (BK)you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.
Law Concerning Divorce
24 “When a (BL)man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some [k]uncleanness in her, and he writes her a (BM)certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2 when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, 4 (BN)then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is [l]an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Miscellaneous Laws
5 (BO)“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and (BP)bring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.
6 “No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes [m]one’s living in pledge.
7 “If a man is (BQ)found [n]kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; (BR)and you shall put away the evil from among you.
8 “Take heed in (BS)an outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. 9 (BT)Remember what the Lord your God did (BU)to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!
10 “When you (BV)lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. 12 And if the man is poor, you shall not [o]keep his pledge overnight. 13 (BW)You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and (BX)bless you; and (BY)it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.
14 “You shall not (BZ)oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. 15 Each day (CA)you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; (CB)lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.
16 (CC)“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
17 (CD)“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, (CE)nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. 18 But (CF)you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.
19 (CG)“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may (CH)bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.
Laws of Social Responsibility
25 “If there is a (CI)dispute between men, and they come to [p]court, that the judges may judge them, and they (CJ)justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, 2 then it shall be, if the wicked man (CK)deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down (CL)and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. 3 (CM)Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother (CN)be humiliated in your sight.
4 (CO)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it [q]treads out the grain.
Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother
5 (CP)“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears (CQ)will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that (CR)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the (CS)gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, (CT)‘I do not want to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, (CU)remove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not (CV)build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’
Miscellaneous Laws
11 “If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; (CW)your eye shall not pity her.
13 (CX)“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. 14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, (CY)that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For (CZ)all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are [r]an abomination to the Lord your God.
Destroy the Amalekites
17 (DA)“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he (DB)did not fear God. 19 Therefore it shall be, (DC)when the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will (DD)blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 21:5 Lit. stroke
- Deuteronomy 22:1 ignore them
- Deuteronomy 22:3 may not avoid responsibility
- Deuteronomy 22:5 detestable
- Deuteronomy 22:21 purge the evil person
- Deuteronomy 23:4 Heb. Aram Naharaim
- Deuteronomy 23:16 pleases him best
- Deuteronomy 23:17 Heb. qedeshah, fem. of qadesh (next note)
- Deuteronomy 23:17 Heb. qadesh, one practicing sodomy and prostitution in religious rituals
- Deuteronomy 23:18 detestable
- Deuteronomy 24:1 indecency, lit. nakedness of a thing
- Deuteronomy 24:4 a detestable thing
- Deuteronomy 24:6 life
- Deuteronomy 24:7 Lit. stealing
- Deuteronomy 24:12 Lit. sleep with his pledge
- Deuteronomy 25:1 Lit. the judgment
- Deuteronomy 25:4 threshes
- Deuteronomy 25:16 detestable
Deuteronomy 21-25
New International Version
Deuteronomy 21-25
New International Version
Atonement for an Unsolved Murder
21 If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was,(A) 2 your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. 3 Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke(B) 4 and lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. 5 The Levitical priests shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings(C) in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault.(D) 6 Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands(E) over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7 and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. 8 Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for,(F) 9 and you will have purged(G) from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
Marrying a Captive Woman
10 When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands(H) and you take captives,(I) 11 if you notice among the captives a beautiful(J) woman and are attracted to her,(K) you may take her as your wife. 12 Bring her into your home and have her shave her head,(L) trim her nails 13 and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month,(M) then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14 If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.(N)
The Right of the Firstborn
15 If a man has two wives,(O) and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love,(P) 16 when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.(Q) 17 He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double(R) share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength.(S) The right of the firstborn belongs to him.(T)
A Rebellious Son
18 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious(U) son(V) who does not obey his father and mother(W) and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death.(X) You must purge the evil(Y) from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.(Z)
Various Laws
22 If someone guilty of a capital offense(AA) is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, 23 you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight.(AB) Be sure to bury(AC) it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.(AD) You must not desecrate(AE) the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22 If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner.(AF) 2 If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. 3 Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.
4 If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey(AG) or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.(AH)
5 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.
6 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.(AI) 7 You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go,(AJ) so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.(AK)
8 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.(AL)
9 Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard;(AM) if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.[a]
10 Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.(AN)
11 Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.(AO)
12 Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.(AP)
Marriage Violations
13 If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her(AQ), dislikes her 14 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,” 15 then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate(AR) proof that she was a virgin. 16 Her father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. 17 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, 18 and the elders(AS) shall take the man and punish him. 19 They shall fine him a hundred shekels[b] 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.
20 If, however, the charge is true(AT) and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, 21 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(AU) in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.
22 If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept(AV) with her and the woman must die.(AW) You must purge the evil from Israel.
23 If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, 24 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.(AX)
25 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. 26 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, 27 for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed,(AY) there was no one to rescue her.
28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered,(AZ) 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels[c] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.
30 A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.[d](BA)
Exclusion From the Assembly
23 [e]No one who has been emasculated(BB) by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.
2 No one born of a forbidden marriage[f] nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.
3 No Ammonite(BC) or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.(BD) 4 For they did not come to meet you with bread and water(BE) on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam(BF) son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim[g](BG) to pronounce a curse on you.(BH) 5 However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse(BI) into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves(BJ) you. 6 Do not seek a treaty(BK) of friendship with them as long as you live.(BL)
7 Do not despise an Edomite,(BM) for the Edomites are related to you.(BN) Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country.(BO) 8 The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
Uncleanness in the Camp
9 When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure.(BP) 10 If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.(BQ) 11 But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset(BR) he may return to the camp.(BS)
12 Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God moves(BT) about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy,(BU) so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.
Miscellaneous Laws
15 If a slave has taken refuge(BV) with you, do not hand them over to their master.(BW) 16 Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress(BX) them.
17 No Israelite man(BY) or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.(BZ) 18 You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute[h] into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both.(CA)
19 Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.(CB) 20 You may charge a foreigner(CC) interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless(CD) you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.
21 If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it,(CE) for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.(CF) 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.(CG) 23 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.
24 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. 25 If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.(CH)
24 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him(CI) because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce,(CJ) gives it to her and sends her from his house, 2 and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, 4 then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord(CK) your God is giving you as an inheritance.
5 If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.(CL)
6 Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.(CM)
7 If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die.(CN) You must purge the evil from among you.(CO)
8 In cases of defiling skin diseases,[i] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical(CP) priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.(CQ) 9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.(CR)
10 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge.(CS) 11 Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. 12 If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge(CT) in your possession. 13 Return their cloak by sunset(CU) so that your neighbor may sleep in it.(CV) Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.(CW)
14 Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.(CX) 15 Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor(CY) and are counting on it.(CZ) Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.(DA)
16 Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.(DB)
17 Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless(DC) of justice,(DD) or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt(DE) and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.
19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.(DF) Leave it for the foreigner,(DG) the fatherless and the widow,(DH) so that the Lord your God may bless(DI) you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time.(DJ) Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.(DK)
25 When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges(DL) will decide the case,(DM) acquitting(DN) the innocent and condemning the guilty.(DO) 2 If the guilty person deserves to be beaten,(DP) the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, 3 but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes.(DQ) If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.(DR)
4 Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.(DS)
5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.(DT) 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.(DU)
7 However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife,(DV) she shall go to the elders at the town gate(DW) and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.”(DX) 8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” 9 his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals,(DY) spit in his face(DZ) and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” 10 That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.
11 If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, 12 you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.(EA)
13 Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light.(EB) 14 Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. 15 You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long(EC) in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.(ED)
17 Remember what the Amalekites(EE) did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. 18 When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.(EF) 19 When the Lord your God gives you rest(EG) from all the enemies(EH) around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek(EI) from under heaven. Do not forget!
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 22:9 Or be forfeited to the sanctuary
- Deuteronomy 22:19 That is, about 2 1/2 pounds or about 1.2 kilograms
- Deuteronomy 22:29 That is, about 1 1/4 pounds or about 575 grams
- Deuteronomy 22:30 In Hebrew texts this verse (22:30) is numbered 23:1.
- Deuteronomy 23:1 In Hebrew texts 23:1-25 is numbered 23:2-26.
- Deuteronomy 23:2 Or one of illegitimate birth
- Deuteronomy 23:4 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
- Deuteronomy 23:18 Hebrew of a dog
- Deuteronomy 24:8 The Hebrew word for defiling skin diseases, traditionally translated “leprosy,” was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.