Deuteronomy 23

¹No man whose private parts have been wounded or cut off may come into the meeting of the Lord's people.

²One whose father and mother are not married may not come into the meeting of the Lord's people, or any of his family to the tenth generation.

³No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their people to the tenth generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people:

⁴Because they gave you no bread or water on your way, when you came out of Egypt: and they got Balaam, the son of Peor, from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to put curses on you.

⁵But the Lord your God would not give ear to Balaam, but let the curse be changed into a blessing to you, because of his love for you.

⁶Do nothing for their peace or well-being for ever.

⁷But have no hate for an Edomite, because he is your brother, or for an Egyptian, for you were living in his land.

⁸Their children in the third generation may come into the meeting of the Lord's people.

⁹When you go out to war and put your tents in position, keep from every evil thing.

¹⁰If any man among you becomes unclean through anything which has taken place in the night, he is to go out from the tent-circle and keep outside it:

¹¹But when evening comes near, let him take a bath: and after sundown he may come back to the tents.

¹²Let there be a place outside the tent-circle to which you may go;

¹³And have among your arms a spade; and when you have been to that place, let that which comes from you be covered up with earth:

¹⁴For the Lord your God is walking among your tents, to keep you safe and to give up into your hands those who are fighting against you; then let your tents be holy, so that he may see no unclean thing among you, and be turned away from you.

¹⁵Do not give back to his master a servant who has gone in flight from his master and come to you:

¹⁶Let him go on living among you in whatever place is most pleasing to him: do not be hard on him.

¹⁷No daughter of Israel is to let herself be used as a loose woman for a strange god, and no son of Israel is to give himself to a man.

¹⁸Do not take into the house of the Lord your God, as an offering for an oath, the price of a loose woman or the money given to one used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: for these two things are disgusting to the Lord your God.

¹⁹Do not take interest from an Israelite on anything, money or food or any other goods, which you let him have:

²⁰From men of other nations you may take interest, but not from an Israelite: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on everything to which you put your hand, in the land which you are about to take as your heritage.

²¹When you take an oath to the Lord, do not be slow to give effect to it: for without doubt the Lord your God will make you responsible, and will put it to your account as sin.

²²But if you take no oath, there will be no sin.

²³Whatever your lips have said, see that you do it; for you gave your word freely to the Lord your God.

²⁴When you go into your neighbour's vine-garden, you may take of his grapes at your pleasure, but you may not take them away in your vessel.

²⁵When you go into your neighbour's field, you may take the heads of grain with your hand; but you may not put your blade to his grain.

Deuteronomy 23

¹He who is wounded in the stones, or has his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord.

²No one of illegitimate birth shall enter into the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation shall none of his enter into the assembly of the Lord.

³An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of the Lord forever:

⁴because they did not meet you with bread and with water in the way, when you came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.

⁵Nevertheless 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.

⁶You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

⁷You 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.

⁸The children of the third generation who are born to them shall enter into the assembly of the Lord.

⁹When you go forth in camp against your enemies, then you shall keep yourselves from every evil thing.

¹⁰If there is among you any man who is not clean by reason of that which happens him by night, then shall he go outside of the camp. He shall not come within the camp:

¹¹but it shall be, when evening comes on, he shall bathe himself in water; and when the sun is down, he shall come within the camp.

¹²You shall have a place also outside of the camp, where you shall go outside there;

¹³and you shall have a spade among your tools; and it shall be, when you sit down outside, you shall dig therewith, and shall turn and cover that which comes from you:

¹⁴for the Lord your God walks in the midst 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.

¹⁵You shall not deliver to his master a servant who is escaped from his master to you:

¹⁶he shall dwell with you, in the midst of you, in the place which he shall choose within one of your gates, where it pleases him best: you shall not oppress him.

¹⁷There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

¹⁸You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the wages of a dog, into the house of the Lord your God for any vow: for even both these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁹You shall not lend on interest to your brother; interest of money, interest of food, interest of anything that is lent on interest:

²⁰to a foreigner you may lend on interest; but to your brother you shall not lend on 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.

²¹When you shall 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.

²²But if you shall forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in you.

²³That which is gone out of your lips you shall observe and do; according as you have vowed to the Lord your God, a freewill offering, which you have promised with your mouth.

²⁴When you come into your neighbor's vineyard, then you may eat of grapes your fill at your own pleasure; but you shall not put any in your vessel.

²⁵When you come into your neighbor's standing grain, then you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you shall not move a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain.