Persons Excluded from the Assembly
23 “(A)No one who is [a]emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord. 2 No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall enter the assembly of the Lord. 3 (B)No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord, 4 (C)because they did not meet you with [b]food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you (D)Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of [c]Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5 Nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God (E)turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God (F)loves you. 6 (G)You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.
7 “You shall not detest an Edomite, for (H)he is your brother; you shall not detest an Egyptian, (I)because you were an alien in his land. 8 The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
9 “When you go out as [d]an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.
10 “(J)If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not [e]reenter the camp. 11 But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may [f]reenter the camp.
12 “You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, 13 and you shall have a [g]spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn [h]to cover up your excrement. 14 Since (K)the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to [i]defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be (L)holy; and He must not see [j]anything indecent among you [k]or He will turn away from you.
15 “(M)You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has [l]escaped from his master to you. 16 He shall live with you in your midst, in the place which he shall choose in one of your [m]towns where it pleases him; (N)you shall not mistreat him.
17 “(O)None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, (P)nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute. 18 You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a [n](Q)dog into the house of the Lord your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.
19 “(R)You shall not charge interest to your [o]countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest. 20 (S)You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your [p]countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that (T)the Lord your God may bless you in all [q]that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to [r]possess.
21 “(U)When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for it would be sin in you, [s]and the Lord your God will surely require it of you. 22 However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you. 23 You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have [t]promised.
24 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat grapes [u]until you are fully satisfied, but you shall not put any in your [v]basket.
25 “(V)When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 23:1 Lit wounded by crushing of testicles
- Deuteronomy 23:4 Lit bread
- Deuteronomy 23:4 Heb Aram-naharaim
- Deuteronomy 23:9 Or a camp
- Deuteronomy 23:10 Lit come to the midst of
- Deuteronomy 23:11 Lit come to the midst of
- Deuteronomy 23:13 Lit peg
- Deuteronomy 23:13 Lit and
- Deuteronomy 23:14 Lit give
- Deuteronomy 23:14 Lit nakedness of anything
- Deuteronomy 23:14 Lit and
- Deuteronomy 23:15 Lit delivered himself
- Deuteronomy 23:16 Lit gates
- Deuteronomy 23:18 I.e. male prostitute, sodomite
- Deuteronomy 23:19 Lit brother
- Deuteronomy 23:20 Lit brother
- Deuteronomy 23:20 Lit the putting forth of your hand
- Deuteronomy 23:20 Lit possess it
- Deuteronomy 23:21 Lit for
- Deuteronomy 23:23 Lit spoken with your mouth
- Deuteronomy 23:24 Lit according to your satisfaction of your soul
- Deuteronomy 23:24 Or vessel
Cross references
- Deuteronomy 23:1 : Lev 21:20; 22:24
- Deuteronomy 23:3 : Neh 13:1, 2
- Deuteronomy 23:4 : Neh 13:2
- Deuteronomy 23:4 : Num 22:5; 23:7; Josh 24:9; 2 Pet 2:15; Jude 11
- Deuteronomy 23:5 : Prov 26:2
- Deuteronomy 23:5 : Deut 4:37
- Deuteronomy 23:6 : Ezra 9:12
- Deuteronomy 23:7 : Gen 25:24-26; Obad 10, 12
- Deuteronomy 23:7 : Ex 22:21; 23:9; Lev 19:34; Deut 10:19
- Deuteronomy 23:10 : Lev 15:16
- Deuteronomy 23:14 : Lev 26:12
- Deuteronomy 23:14 : Ex 3:5
- Deuteronomy 23:15 : 1 Sam 30:15
- Deuteronomy 23:16 : Ex 22:21; Prov 22:22
- Deuteronomy 23:17 : Lev 19:29; Deut 22:21
- Deuteronomy 23:17 : Gen 19:5; 2 Kin 23:7
- Deuteronomy 23:18 : Lev 18:22; 20:13
- Deuteronomy 23:19 : Ex 22:25; Lev 25:35-37; Neh 5:2-7; Ps 15:5
- Deuteronomy 23:20 : Deut 28:12
- Deuteronomy 23:20 : Deut 15:10
- Deuteronomy 23:21 : Num 30:1, 2; Job 22:27; Ps 61:8; Eccl 5:4, 5; Matt 5:33
- Deuteronomy 23:25 : Matt 12:1; Mark 2:23; Luke 6:1