23
1 He
who is emasculated
by crushing or cutting
shall not enter
into the LORD’s
assembly.
2 A person
born of a forbidden
union shall not enter
into the LORD’s
assembly; even to
the tenth generation shall
no one of
his enter into the
LORD’s assembly.
3 An Ammonite
or a Moabite shall
not enter into the
LORD’s assembly;
even to the
tenth generation
shall no
one belonging to
them enter into
the LORD’s
assembly forever,
4 because
they didn’t meet you
with bread and
with water on the
way when you
came out of Egypt,
and because
they hired against
you Balaam the son
of Beor from Pethor
of Mesopotamia, to curse
you.
5 Nevertheless
the LORD your
God wouldn’t listen to
Balaam, but the
LORD your
God turned the
curse into
a blessing to you,
because the LORD
your God loved you.
6 You
shall not seek
their peace nor
their prosperity all
your days forever.
7 You
shall not abhor an Edomite,
for he is
your brother. You
shall not abhor an Egyptian,
because you lived
as a foreigner in
his land.
8 The children
of the third generation
who are born
to them may enter
into the LORD’s
assembly.
9 When
you go out and camp
against your enemies,
then you shall keep
yourselves from
every evil thing.
10 If
there is among
you any man
who is not clean
by reason of
that which happens
to him by night,
then shall he
go outside of
the camp. He
shall not come
within the camp;
11 but
it shall be,
when evening comes,
he shall bathe
himself in water.
When the sun is
down, he shall
come within the
camp.
12 You
shall have a
place also outside
of the camp where
you go relieve yourself.
13 You
shall have a trowel
among your weapons.
It shall be,
when you relieve
yourself, you
shall dig with it,
and shall turn
back and cover
your excrement;
14 for
the LORD your God
walks in the middle
of your camp, to
deliver you, and
to give up
your enemies before
you. Therefore
your camp shall
be holy, that he
may not see
an unclean thing in
you, and turn
away from you.
15 You
shall not deliver
to his master
a servant who has
escaped from his
master to you.
16 He
shall dwell with
you, among you,
in the place which
he shall choose
within one of
your gates, where
it pleases him best.
You shall
not oppress him.
17 There
shall be
no prostitute of
the daughters of Israel,
neither shall
there be a sodomite
of the sons
of Israel.
18 You
shall not bring
the hire of a
prostitute, or
the wages of a
male prostitute,
into the house of
the LORD your
God for any vow;
for both of these
are an abomination
to the LORD
your God.
19 You
shall not lend
on interest to
your brother: interest of money,
interest of food, interest
of anything that
is lent on interest.
20 You
may charge
a foreigner interest;
but you shall
not charge
your brother interest,
that the LORD
your God may bless
you in all
that you put
your hand to, in
the land where
you go in
to possess it.
21 When
you vow a
vow to the
LORD your God,
you shall not
be slack to pay it,
for the LORD
your God will
surely require it
of you; and
it would be sin
in you.
22 But
if you refrain
from making a
vow, it shall
be no sin
in you.
23 You
shall observe and do
that which has
gone out of
your lips. Whatever you
have vowed to
the LORD your
God as a free
will offering, which
you have promised
with your mouth,
you must do.
24 When
you come into
your neighbor’s vineyard, then
you may eat
your fill of grapes
at your own pleasure;
but you shall
not put any
in your container.
25 When
you come into your
neighbor’s standing grain,
then you may pluck
the ears with your
hand; but you
shall not use
a sickle on your
neighbor’s standing grain.