Chapter 23
1 A man shall not marry his father’s wife; he is not to dishonor his father’s bed.[a]
Membership Exclusions. 2 No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting can enter the assembly of the Lord.[b] 3 No one who is illegitimate[c] can enter the assembly of the Lord, nor can his descendants to the tenth generation enter the assembly of the Lord. 4 No Ammonite or Moabite can enter the assembly of the Lord, even their descendants to the tenth generation cannot enter the assembly of the Lord 5 for they did not greet you with bread and water as you were on your way when you came forth out of Egypt. They hired Balaam, the son of Beor who came from Pethor in Mesopotamia to curse you. 6 However, the Lord, your God, would not listen to Balaam. The Lord, your God, turned a curse upon you into a blessing, for the Lord, your God, loved you. 7 Do not establish a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.
8 Do not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not detest an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner in his land. 9 The third generation of children born to them can enter the assembly of the Lord.
10 Camp Sanitation. When you are encamped against your enemies, stay away from everything that is impure. 11 If one of your men among you is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, let him move outside of the camp. He is not to enter the camp. 12 When evening arrives, he is to wash himself with water, and he can come back inside of the camp.
13 Designate a place outside of the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 14 You shall have an implement with your equipment so that when you relieve yourself, you can dig a hole and cover over your excrement.
15 The Lord, your God, walks among you in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies up to you, so your camp must be holy, lest he see something unclean among you and turn away from you.
16 Incidental Rules. If a slave has taken refuge from his master with you, you are not to hand him over to his master. 17 Let him live with you wherever he chooses, in whatever town he chooses. You are not to oppress him.
18 No Israelite woman is to become a sacred prostitute, nor is an Israelite man to be a sacred prostitute. 19 You are not to bring the wages of a female prostitute or a male prostitute[d] into the shrine of the Lord, your God, to pay for any vow. Both of these are abominations to the Lord, your God.
20 [e]Do not charge your brother interest, whether it be on money or food or anything else that could earn interest. 21 You can charge a foreigner interest, but you cannot charge a brother interest. For this you will be blessed by the Lord, your God, in everything that you undertake in the land that you are entering to possess.
22 If you make a vow to the Lord, your God, do not be lax in paying it off, for the Lord, your God, will certainly require it of you, and you would be guilty of a sin. 23 But if you fail to make a vow, there is no sin. 24 Whatever your lips utter, you must do, for you have vowed a freewill offering to the Lord, your God, with your own mouth.
25 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you can eat as many grapes as you want, but you are not to put any in a basket. 26 If you enter your neighbor’s grain fields, you can pluck the kernels with your hands, but you are not to take a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 23:1 Dishonor his father’s bed: literally, “lift the hem of his father’s blanket.” “To stretch the hem (of a blanket)” over a woman meant to marry her; “to lift the hem (of the blanket)” meant to attack the conjugal rights of another over a woman.
- Deuteronomy 23:2 According to some scholars, this mutilation may have indicated that person now belonged to a Canaanite divinity.
- Deuteronomy 23:3 One who is illegitimate: a person who had a foreigner for one of his parents.
- Deuteronomy 23:19 Male prostitute: probably in a pagan temple.
- Deuteronomy 23:20 Charging interest on a loan was regarded as usury down to modern times.