Deuteronomy 22-26

New International Version

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.^{(A) 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^(B) or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.^(C)

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.^{(D) 7} You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go,^(E) so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.^(F)

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.^(G)

⁹ Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard;^(H) 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.^(I)

¹¹ Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.^(J)

¹² Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.^(K)

Marriage Violations

¹³ If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her^(L), 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^(M) 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^(N) 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^(O) 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^(P) 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^(Q) with her and the woman must die.^(R) 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.^(S)

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,^(T) 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,^{(U) 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](V)

Exclusion From the Assembly

23 ^[e]No one who has been emasculated^(W) 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^(X) or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.^{(Y) 4} For they did not come to meet you with bread and water^(Z) on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam^(AA) son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim^[g](AB) to pronounce a curse on you.^{(AC) 5} However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse^(AD) into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves^(AE) you. ⁶ Do not seek a treaty^(AF) of friendship with them as long as you live.^(AG)

⁷ Do not despise an Edomite,^(AH) for the Edomites are related to you.^(AI) Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country.^{(AJ) 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.^{(AK) 10} If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.^{(AL) 11} But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset^(AM) he may return to the camp.^(AN)

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^(AO) about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy,^(AP) so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

Miscellaneous Laws

¹⁵ If a slave has taken refuge^(AQ) with you, do not hand them over to their master.^{(AR) 16} Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress^(AS) them.

¹⁷ No Israelite man^(AT) or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.^{(AU) 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.^(AV)

¹⁹ Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest.^{(AW) 20} You may charge a foreigner^(AX) interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless^(AY) 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,^(AZ) for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.^{(BA) 22} But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.^{(BB) 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.^(BC)

24 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him^(BD) because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce,^(BE) 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^(BF) 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.^(BG)

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.^(BH)

⁷ If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die.^(BI) You must purge the evil from among you.^(BJ)

⁸ In cases of defiling skin diseases,^[i] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical^(BK) priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.^{(BL) 9} Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.^(BM)

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.^{(BN) 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^(BO) in your possession. ¹³ Return their cloak by sunset^(BP) so that your neighbor may sleep in it.^(BQ) Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.^(BR)

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.^{(BS) 15} Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor^(BT) and are counting on it.^(BU) Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.^(BV)

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.^(BW)

¹⁷ Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless^(BX) of justice,^(BY) or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. ¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt^(BZ) 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.^(CA) Leave it for the foreigner,^(CB) the fatherless and the widow,^(CC) so that the Lord your God may bless^(CD) 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.^(CE) 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.^(CF)

25 When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges^(CG) will decide the case,^(CH) acquitting^(CI) the innocent and condemning the guilty.^{(CJ) 2} If the guilty person deserves to be beaten,^(CK) 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.^(CL) If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.^(CM)

⁴ Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.^(CN)

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.^{(CO) 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.^(CP)

⁷ However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife,^(CQ) she shall go to the elders at the town gate^(CR) 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.”^{(CS) 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,^(CT) spit in his face^(CU) 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.^(CV)

¹³ Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light.^{(CW) 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^(CX) 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.^(CY)

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites^(CZ) 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.^{(DA) 19} When the Lord your God gives you rest^(DB) from all the enemies^(DC) around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek^(DD) from under heaven. Do not forget!

Firstfruits and Tithes

26 When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, ² take some of the firstfruits^(DE) of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name^{(DF) 3} and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” ⁴ The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵ Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering^(DG) Aramean,^(DH) and he went down into Egypt with a few people^(DI) and lived there and became a great nation,^(DJ) powerful and numerous. ⁶ But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer,^(DK) subjecting us to harsh labor.^{(DL) 7} Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice^(DM) and saw^(DN) our misery,^(DO) toil and oppression.^{(DP) 8} So the Lord brought us out of Egypt^(DQ) with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,^(DR) with great terror and with signs and wonders.^{(DS) 9} He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey;^{(DT) 10} and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.^(DU)” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. ¹¹ Then you and the Levites^(DV) and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice^(DW) in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.

¹² When you have finished setting aside a tenth^(DX) of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe,^(DY) you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. ¹³ Then say to the Lord your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.^{(DZ) 14} I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean,^(EA) nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me. ¹⁵ Look down from heaven,^(EB) your holy dwelling place, and bless^(EC) your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Follow the Lord’s Commands

¹⁶ The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.^{(ED) 17} You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him.^{(EE) 18} And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession^(EF) as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. ¹⁹ He has declared that he will set you in praise,^(EG) fame and honor high above all the nations^(EH) he has made and that you will be a people holy^(EI) to the Lord your God, as he promised.