Study Desk

"^(a)No one who is ^[a]emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord .

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 .

^(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 ,

^(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.

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.

^(g)You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.

"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.

The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord .

"When you go out as ^[d]an army against your enemies, you shall keep yourself from every evil thing.

"^(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.

But it shall be when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may ^[f]reenter the camp.

"You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there,

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.

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.

"^(m)You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has ^[l]escaped from his master to you.

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.

"^(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.

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.

"^(r)You shall not charge interest to your ^[o]countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest.

^(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.

"^(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.

However, if you refrain from vowing, it would not be sin in you.

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.

"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.

"^(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.

"When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens ^[a]that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ^(a)indecency in her, and ^(b)he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house,

and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man's wife,

and if the latter husband ^[b]turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife,

then her ^(c)former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord , and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

"^(d)When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the army nor be charged with any duty; he shall be free at home one year and shall ^(e)give happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

"No one shall take a handmill or an upper millstone in pledge, for he would be taking a life in pledge.

"^(f)If a man is ^[c]caught kidnapping any of his ^[d]countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he deals with him violently or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from among you.

"^(g)Be careful against ^[e]an infection of leprosy, that you diligently observe and do according to all that the Levitical priests teach you; as I have commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.

Remember what the Lord your God did ^(h)to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.

"⁽ⁱ⁾When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge.

You shall remain outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you.

If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.

^(j)When the sun goes down you shall surely return the pledge to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and ^(k)it will be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.

"^(l)You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your ^[f]countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your ^[g]towns.

^(m)You shall give him his wages on his day ^[h]before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his ^[i]heart on it; so that ⁽ⁿ⁾he will not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you.

"^(o)Fathers shall not be put to death ^[j]for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death ^[k]for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.

"^(p)You shall not pervert the justice ^[l]due an alien or ^[m]an orphan, nor ^(q)take a widow's garment in pledge.

But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

"^(r)When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be ^(s)for the alien, for the ^[n]orphan, and for the widow, in order that the Lord your God ^(t)may bless you in all the work of your hands.

^(u)When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs ^[o]again; it shall be ^(v)for the alien, for the ^[p]orphan, and for the widow.

"When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not ^[q]go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the ^[r]orphan, and for the widow.

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.