Deuteronomy 23-27

New King James Version

Those Excluded from the Congregation

23 “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall ^(A)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^(B)“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^(C)because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and ^(D)because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ^[a]Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵Nevertheless 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 ^(E)loves you. ⁶^(F)You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

⁷“You shall not abhor an Edomite, ^(G)for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because ^(H)you were an alien in his land. ⁸The 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^(I)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. ¹¹But it shall be, when evening comes, that ^(J)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; ¹³and 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. ¹⁴For the Lord your God ^(K)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^(L)“You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it ^[b]seems best to him; ^(M)you shall not oppress him.

¹⁷“There shall be no ritual ^[c]harlot ^(N)of the daughters of Israel, or a ^(O)perverted^[d] one of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸You 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 ^[e]an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁹^(P)“You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. ²⁰^(Q)To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, ^(R)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^(S)“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. ²²But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. ²³^(T)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. ²⁵When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, ^(U)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 ^(V)man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ^[f]uncleanness in her, and he writes her a ^(W)certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, ²when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³if 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^(X)then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is ^[g]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^(Y)“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 ^(Z)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 ^[h]one’s living in pledge.

⁷“If a man is ^(AA)found ^[i]kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; ^(AB)and you shall put away the evil from among you.

⁸“Take heed in ^(AC)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^(AD)Remember what the Lord your God did ^(AE)to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!

¹⁰“When you ^(AF)lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. ¹¹You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. ¹²And if the man is poor, you shall not ^[j]keep his pledge overnight. ¹³^(AG)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 ^(AH)bless you; and ^(AI)it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴“You shall not ^(AJ)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. ¹⁵Each day ^(AK)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; ^(AL)lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.

¹⁶^(AM)“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^(AN)“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, ^(AO)nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. ¹⁸But ^(AP)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^(AQ)“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 ^(AR)bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²²And 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 ^(AS)dispute between men, and they come to ^[k]court, that the judges may judge them, and they ^(AT)justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, ²then it shall be, if the wicked man ^(AU)deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down ^(AV)and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. ³^(AW)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 ^(AX)be humiliated in your sight.

⁴^(AY)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it ^[l]treads out the grain.

Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother

⁵^(AZ)“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. ⁶And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears ^(BA)will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ^(BB)his name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the ^(BC)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.’ ⁸Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, ^(BD)‘I do not want to take her,’ ⁹then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, ^(BE)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 ^(BF)build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰And 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, ¹²then you shall cut off her hand; ^(BG)your eye shall not pity her.

¹³^(BH)“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. ¹⁴You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. ¹⁵You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, ^(BI)that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶For ^(BJ)all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are ^[m]an abomination to the Lord your God.

Destroy the Amalekites

¹⁷^(BK)“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, ¹⁸how 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 ^(BL)did not fear God. ¹⁹Therefore it shall be, ^(BM)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 ^(BN)blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.

Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes

26 “And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, ²^(BO)that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and ^(BP)go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. ³And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord ^[n]your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

⁴“Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was ^(BQ)a ^[o]Syrian, ^(BR)about to perish, and ^(BS)he went down to Egypt and ^[p]dwelt there, ^(BT)few in number; and there he became a nation, ^(BU)great, mighty, and populous. ⁶But the ^(BV)Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. ⁷^(BW)Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. ⁸So ^(BX)the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, ^(BY)with great terror and with signs and wonders. ⁹He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, ^(BZ)“a land flowing with milk and honey”; ¹⁰and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’

“Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. ¹¹So ^(CA)you shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.

¹²“When you have finished laying aside all the ^(CB)tithe of your increase in the third year—^(CC)the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, ¹³then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the ^[q]holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, ^(CD)nor have I forgotten them. ¹⁴^(CE)I have not eaten any of it ^[r]when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it ^[s]for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. ¹⁵^(CF)Look down from Your holy ^[t]habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, ^(CG)“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

A Special People of God

¹⁶“This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷Today you have ^(CH)proclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will ^(CI)obey His voice. ¹⁸Also today ^(CJ)the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, ¹⁹and that He will set you ^(CK)high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be ^(CL)a ^[u]holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”

The Law Inscribed on Stones

27 Now Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying: “Keep all the commandments which I command you today. ²And it shall be, on the day ^(CM)when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, that ^(CN)you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. ³You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(CO)‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ just as the Lord God of your fathers promised you. ⁴Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that ^(CP)on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime. ⁵And there you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; ^(CQ)you shall not use an iron tool on them. ⁶You shall build with ^[v]whole stones the altar of the Lord your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. ⁷You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and ^(CR)rejoice before the Lord your God. ⁸And you shall ^(CS)write very plainly on the stones all the words of this law.”

⁹Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, “Take heed and listen, O Israel: ^(CT)This day you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰Therefore you shall obey the voice of the Lord your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.”

Curses Pronounced from Mount Ebal

¹¹And Moses commanded the people on the same day, saying, ¹²“These shall stand ^(CU)on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; ¹³and ^(CV)these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

¹⁴“And ^(CW)the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel: ¹⁵^(CX)‘Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, ^[w]an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’