God's New Bible

The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy

Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic

- Chapter 23 -

1
Any male person whose reproductive organs have been destroyed may not be included as one of Yahweh’s people.
2
No illegitimate person or descendant of an illegitimate person, extending to the tenth generation, shall be included as one of Yahweh’s people.
3
No one from the Ammon or Moab people groups shall be included as one of Yahweh’s people, extending to the tenth generation.
4
One reason for this is that their leaders refused to give your ancestors food and water when they were traveling from Egypt to Canaan. Another reason is that they paid Balaam son of Beor from the town of Pethor in Mesopotamia, to curse you Israelites.
5
But Yahweh our God did not pay attention to Balaam; instead, he caused Balaam to bless your ancestors, because Yahweh loved them.
6
As long as Israel is a nation, you must not do anything to cause things to go well for those two people groups to enable them to prosper.
7
But do not despise anyone from the Edom people group, because they are descendants of your ancestor Isaac, just like you are. And do not despise people from Egypt, because they treated your ancestors well when they first lived in Egypt.
8
The grandchildren of people from Edom and Egypt who live among you now may be included among Yahweh’s people.

Uncleanness in the Camp

(Leviticus 15:1–12)
9
When your soldiers are living in camp in time of war, they must avoid doing things that would make them unacceptable to God.
10
If any soldier becomes unacceptable to God because semen comes out of his body during the night, the next morning he must go outside the camp and stay there during that day.
11
But in the evening of that day, he must bathe himself, and at sunset he will be allowed to come back into the camp.
12
Your soldiers must have a toilet area outside the camp where you can go when you need to.
13
When you go to fight against your enemies, carry a stick along along with your weapons, in order that when you need to defecate, you can dig a hole with the stick, and then cover up the hole when you have finished defecating.
14
You must keep the camp acceptable to Yahweh our God, because he is with you in your camp to protect you and to enable you to defeat your enemies. Do not do anything disgraceful that would cause Yahweh to stop you from being his people.

Miscellaneous Laws

15
If slaves who escape from their masters come to you and request you to protect them, do not send them back to their masters.
16
Allow them to stay among you, in whatever town they choose, and do not mistreat them.
17
Do not allow any Israelite man or woman to become prostitutes at the temple.
18
Also, do not allow any people who earned money from being a prostitute to bring any of that money into the temple of Yahweh our God, even if they solemnly promised to pay that money to him. Yahweh hates those who are prostitutes.
19
When you lend money or food or anything else to a fellow Israelite, do not charge them interest.
20
You are allowed to charge interest when you lend money to foreigners who live in your land, but not when you lend money to Israelites. Do this in order that Yahweh our God will bless you in everything that you do in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.
21
When you solemnly promise to give something to Yahweh your God or to do something for him, do not delay in doing it. Yahweh expects you to do what you promised, and if you do not do it, you will be committing a sin.
22
But if you do not solemnly promise to do something, that is not sinful.
23
But if you voluntarily promise to do something, you must do it.
24
When you walk through someone else’s vineyard, you are allowed to pick and eat as many grapes as you want, but you must not put any in a container and take them away.
25
When you walk along a path in someone else’s field of grain, you are allowed to pluck some of the grain and eat it, but you must not cut any grain with a sickle and take it with you.
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.

Uncleanness in the Camp

(Leviticus 15:1–12)
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.

Miscellaneous Laws

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,(a) 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.

Footnotes

(a)23:18 literally, dog