Deuteronomy 22

EasyEnglish Bible

Other rules

22 You may see your neighbour's cow or sheep that has become lost. If so, do not look the other way. You must catch the animal. You must take it back to your neighbour. ² Perhaps the man does not live near you. Perhaps you do not know who the animal belongs to. If so, take the animal to your own home and keep it safe there. When the man comes to look for his animal, give it to him. ³ You must do the same thing if you find someone's donkey or clothes or anything else. You must not refuse to help.

⁴ Perhaps your neighbour's donkey or his cow has fallen on the road. If you see it lying there, do not look the other way. You must help the man to lift the animal so that it can stand.

⁵ A woman must not wear the same clothes that men wear. A man must not wear clothes that make him look like a woman. The Lord your God hates people who do this.

⁶ You may find a bird's nest beside the road. It may be in a tree or on the ground. If the mother bird is sitting on eggs or on young birds, you must not take the mother away from them. ⁷ You may take the young birds for yourself. But you must let the mother bird go free. If you do that, everything will be well with you. You will have a long life.

⁸ If you build a new house, you must make a wall around the edge of the flat roof. Then if someone falls off the roof and dies, you will not be guilty for his death.

⁹ You must not plant any other crops between the vines in your vineyard. If you do that, none of the food or the grapes will belong to you.

¹⁰ You must not tie an ox and a donkey together to pull a plough.

¹¹ You must not mix wool and linen together to make your clothes.

¹² You must fix tassels on the four corners of your coat.

Rules for marriage

¹³ Perhaps a man will marry a woman, and he has sex with her. Later he decides he no longer wants her to be his wife. ¹⁴ He may then tell lies against her to say that she is bad. He may say, ‘I married this woman, and I had sex with her. Then I discovered that she had already had sex before I married her.’

¹⁵ If that happens, the woman's parents must bring the cloth that she slept on with her husband. They must take it to the leaders of the town to show them. ¹⁶ The woman's father must say to the leaders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife. But now he does not like her. ¹⁷ He accuses her that she is bad. He says, “I discovered that your daughter had sex before I married her.” But look at her cloth. This shows that she had never had sex before.’ Then her parents must hold the cloth in front of the leaders of the town. ¹⁸ The leaders must then take hold of the man. They must punish him. ¹⁹ They must make the man pay 100 pieces of silver to the young woman's father. The man has told lies. He has accused a pure Israelite girl to say that she is bad. After that, she will continue to be his wife. He may never send her away as long as he lives.

²⁰ But perhaps the husband has spoken the truth. Perhaps his new wife cannot show that she had not had sex before. ²¹ If so, the leaders must take her to the entrance of her father's house. The men of the town must throw stones at her there, until she dies. She has done a very bad thing that brings shame on Israel. She has had sex like a prostitute while she lived in her father's house. You must remove evil acts like this from among you.

²² You may discover a man who is having sex with another man's wife. If so, you must punish both the man and the woman with death. In this way, you will remove such evil acts from Israel.

²³ Perhaps a man may meet a young woman in a town. She has already promised to marry another man, but the man has sex with her. ²⁴ If so, you must take both of them to the gate of that town. You must throw stones at both of them there, until they die. The young woman is guilty because she did not shout aloud for help. They were in the town, so someone would have heard her. The man is guilty because he had sex with the future wife of another man. In this way, you will remove evil acts from among you.

²⁵ But perhaps a man may meet a young woman in a field in the country. She has already promised to marry another man. But the man is stronger than her and he has sex with her. If that happens, only the man must die. ²⁶ Do not punish the young woman. She does not deserve to die. The man's act is like a man who attacks and murders another person. ²⁷ The man met the young woman in a field. When she shouted for help, nobody heard her because it happened in the country. There was no one there to rescue her.

²⁸ Perhaps a man may meet a girl who has not had sex with anyone before. She has not yet promised to marry anyone. The man may be too strong and he has sex with her. ²⁹ If that happens, the man must pay 50 pieces of silver to the girl's father. He must also marry the girl because he has had sex with her. He may never send her away as long as he lives.

³⁰ A man must not marry a woman who was his father's wife. That would bring shame on his father.