March 3

Deuteronomy 22:1 — 24:22

22 “You must not see the bull of your brother or his sheep straying about and deliberately withdraw from them. You should by all means lead them back to your brother. 2 And if your brother is not near you and you have not got to know him, you must also bring it home into the midst of your house, and it must continue with you until your brother has searched for it. And you must return it to him. 3 That is the way too that you will do with his ass, and that is the way you will do with his mantle, and that is the way you will do with anything lost of your brother’s, which gets lost from him and which you have found. You will not be allowed to withdraw yourself.

4 “You must not see the ass of your brother or his bull fall down on the road and deliberately withdraw from them. You should by all means help him raise them up.

5 “No garb of an able-bodied man should be put upon a woman, neither should an able-bodied man wear the mantle of a woman; for anybody doing these things is something detestable to Jehovah your God.

6 “In case a bird’s nest happens to be before you in the way, in any tree or on the earth with young ones or eggs, and the mother is sitting upon the young ones or the eggs, you must not take the mother along with the offspring. 7 You should by all means send the mother away, but you may take the offspring for yourself; in order that it may go well with you, and you may indeed lengthen your days.

8 “In case you build a new house, you must also make a parapet for your roof, that you may not place bloodguilt upon your house because someone falling might fall from it.
        9 “You must not sow your vineyard with two sorts of seed, for fear that the full produce of the seed that you might sow and the product of the vineyard may be forfeited to the sanctuary.
        10 “You must not plow with a bull and an ass together.
        11 “You must not wear mixed stuff of wool and linen together.
        12 “You should make tassels for yourself on the four extremities of your clothing with which you cover yourself.

13 “In case a man takes a wife and actually has relations with her and has come to hate her, 14 and he has charged her with notorious deeds and brought forth a bad name upon her and has said, ‘This is the woman I have taken, and I proceeded to go near her, and I did not find evidence of virginity in her’; 15 the father of the girl and her mother must also take and bring forth the evidence of the girl’s virginity to the older men of the city at the gate of it; 16 and the girl’s father must say to the older men, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, and he went hating her. 17 And here he is charging her with notorious deeds, saying: “I have found your daughter does not have evidence of virginity.” Now this is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ And they must spread out the mantle before the older men of the city. 18 And the older men of that city must take the man and discipline him. 19 And they must fine him a hundred silver shekels and give them to the girl’s father, because he brought forth a bad name upon a virgin of Israel; and she will continue to be his wife. He will not be allowed to divorce her all his days.

20 “If, though, this thing has proved to be the truth, evidence of virginity was not found in the girl, 21 they must also bring the girl out to the entrance of her father’s house, and the men of her city must pelt her with stones, and she must die, because she has committed a disgraceful folly in Israel by committing prostitution in the house of her father. So you must clear away what is bad from your midst.

22 “In case a man is found lying down with a woman owned by an owner, both of them must then die together, the man lying down with the woman and the woman. So you must clear away what is bad out of Israel.

23 “In case there happened to be a virgin girl engaged to a man, and a man actually found her in the city and lay down with her, 24 YOU must also bring them both out to the gate of that city and pelt them with stones, and they must die, the girl for the reason that she did not scream in the city, and the man for the reason that he humiliated the wife of his fellowman. So you must clear away what is evil from your midst.

25 “If, however, it is in the field that the man found the girl who was engaged, and the man grabbed hold of her and lay down with her, the man who lay down with her must also die by himself, 26 and to the girl you must do nothing. The girl has no sin deserving of death, because just as when a man rises up against his fellowman and indeed murders him, even a soul, so it is with this case. 27 For it was in the field that he found her. The girl who was engaged screamed, but there was no one to rescue her.

28 “In case a man finds a girl, a virgin who has not been engaged, and he actually seizes her and lies down with her, and they have been found out, 29 the man who lay down with her must also give the girl’s father fifty silver shekels, and she will become his wife due to the fact that he humiliated her. He will not be allowed to divorce her all his days.

30 “No man should take his father’s wife, that he may not uncover the skirt of his father.


23 “No man castrated by crushing the testicles or having his male member cut off may come into the congregation of Jehovah.

2 “No illegitimate son may come into the congregation of Jehovah. Even to the tenth generation none of his may come into the congregation of Jehovah.

3 “No Ammonite or Moabite may come into the congregation of Jehovah. Even to the tenth generation none of theirs may come into the congregation of Jehovah to time indefinite, 4 for the reason that they did not come to YOUR aid with bread and water in the way when YOU were going out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia to call down evil upon you. 5 And Jehovah your God did not want to listen to Balaam; but Jehovah your God in your behalf changed the malediction into a blessing, because Jehovah your God loved you. 6 You must not work for their peace and their prosperity all your days to time indefinite.

7 “You must not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother.

“You must not detest an Egyptian, for you became an alien resident in his country. 8 The sons that may be born to them as the third generation may come for themselves into the congregation of Jehovah.

9 “In case you go out into camp against your enemies, you must also keep yourself from every bad thing. 10 In case there happens to be in you a man who does not continue clean, because of a pollution that occurs at night, he must also go outside the camp. He may not come into the midst of the camp. 11 And it must occur that at the falling of evening he should wash with water, and at the setting of the sun he may come into the midst of the camp. 12 And a private place should be at your service outside the camp, and you must go out there. 13 And a peg should be at your service along with your implements, and it must occur that when you squat outside, you must also dig a hole with it and turn and cover your excrement. 14 For Jehovah your God is walking about within your camp to deliver you and to abandon your enemies to you; and your camp must prove to be holy, that he may see nothing indecent in you and certainly turn away from accompanying you.

15 “You must not hand over a slave to his master when he escapes from his master to you. 16 With you he will keep on dwelling in among you in whatever place he may choose in one of your cities, wherever he likes. You must not maltreat him.

17 “None of the daughters of Israel may become a temple prostitute, neither may anyone of the sons of Israel become a temple prostitute. 18 You must not bring the hire of a harlot or the price of a dog into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow, because they are something detestable to Jehovah your God, even both of them.

19 “You must not make your brother pay interest, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything on which one may claim interest. 20 You may make a foreigner pay interest, but your brother you must not make pay interest; in order that Jehovah your God may bless you in every undertaking of yours on the land to which you are going so as to take possession of it.

21 “In case you vow a vow to Jehovah your God, you must not be slow about paying it, because Jehovah your God will without fail require it of you, and it would indeed become a sin on your part. 22 But in case you omit making a vow, it will not become a sin on your part. 23 The utterance of your lips you should keep, and you must do just as you have vowed to Jehovah your God as a voluntary offering that you spoke of with your mouth.

24 “In case you go into the vineyard of your fellowman, you must eat only enough grapes for you to satisfy your soul, but you must not put any into a receptacle of yours.

25 “In case you go into the standing grain of your fellowman, you must pluck off only the ripe ears with your hand, but the sickle you must not swing to and fro upon the standing grain of your fellowman.

24 “In case a man takes a woman and does make her his possession as a wife, it must also occur that if she should find no favor in his eyes because he has found something indecent on her part, he must also write out a certificate of divorce for her and put it in her hand and dismiss her from his house. 2 And she must go out of his house and go and become another man’s. 3 If the latter man has come to hate her and has written out a certificate of divorce for her and put it in her hand and dismissed her from his house, or in case the latter man who took her as his wife should die, 4 the first owner of her who dismissed her will not be allowed to take her back again to become his wife after she has been defiled; for that is something detestable before Jehovah, and you must not lead the land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance into sin.

5 “In case a man takes a new wife, he should not go out into the army, nor should anything else be imposed onto him. He should continue exempt at his house for one year, and he must make his wife whom he has taken rejoice.

6 “No one should seize a hand mill or its upper grindstone as a pledge, because it is a soul that he is seizing as a pledge.

7 “In case a man is found kidnapping a soul of his brothers of the sons of Israel, and he has dealt tyrannically with him and sold him, that kidnapper must also die. And you must clear away what is bad from your midst.

8 “Be on your guard in the plague of leprosy to take good care and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, will instruct YOU. Just as I have commanded them, YOU should be careful to do. 9 There should be a remembering of what Jehovah your God did to Miriam in the way when YOU were coming out of Egypt.

10 “In case you lend your fellowman a loan of any sort, you must not enter into his house to take from him what he has pledged. 11 You should stand on the outside, and the man to whom you are making a loan should bring the pledge outside to you. 12 And if the man is in trouble, you must not go to bed with his pledge. 13 You should by all means return the pledge to him as soon as the sun sets, and he must go to bed in his garment, and he must bless you; and it will mean righteousness for you before Jehovah your God.

14 “You must not defraud a hired laborer who is in trouble and poor, whether of your brothers or of your alien residents who are in your land, within your gates. 15 In his day you should give him his wages, and the sun should not set upon them, because he is in trouble and is lifting up his soul to his wages; that he may not cry out to Jehovah against you, and it must become sin on your part.

16 “Fathers should not be put to death on account of children, and children should not be put to death on account of fathers. Each one should be put to death for his own sin.

17 “You must not pervert the judgment of the alien resident or of the fatherless boy, and you must not seize the garment of a widow as a pledge. 18 And you must remember that you became a slave in Egypt, and Jehovah your God proceeded to redeem you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this thing.

19 “In case you reap your harvest in your field, and you have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you must not go back to get it. It should stay for the alien resident, for the fatherless boy and for the widow; in order that Jehovah your God may bless you in every deed of your hand.

20 “In case you beat your olive tree, you must not go over its boughs following up yourself. It should stay for the alien resident, for the fatherless boy and for the widow.

21 “In case you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not gather the leftovers following up yourself. They should stay for the alien resident, for the fatherless boy and for the widow. 22 And you must remember that you became a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am commanding you to do this thing.