Deuteronomy 21; Deuteronomy 22; Deuteronomy 23

Deuteronomy 21

1 Suppose someone is found murdered, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own, and no one knows who killed the person.

2 Your older leaders and judges should go to where the body was found, and they should measure how far it is to the nearby cities.

3 The older leaders of the city nearest the body must take a young cow that has never worked or worn a yoke,

4 and they must lead her down to a valley that has never been plowed or planted, with a stream flowing through it. There they must break the young cow's neck.

5 The priests, the sons of Levi, should come forward, because they have been chosen by the Lord your God to serve him and to give blessings in the Lord's name. They are the ones who decide cases of quarreling and attacks.

6 Then all the older leaders of the city nearest the murdered person should wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken in the valley.

7 They should declare: "We did not kill this person, and we did not see it happen.

8 Lord, remove this sin from your people Israel, whom you have saved. Don't blame your people, the Israelites, for the murder of this innocent person." And so the murder will be paid for.

9 Then you will have removed from yourselves the guilt of murdering an innocent person, because you will be doing what the Lord says is right.

10 When you go to war against your enemies, the Lord will help you defeat them so that you will take them captive.

11 If you see a beautiful woman among the captives and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife.

12 Bring her into your home, where she must shave her head and cut her nails

13 and change the clothes she was wearing when you captured her. After she has lived in your house and cried for her parents for a month, you may marry her. You will be her husband, and she will be your wife.

14 But if you are not pleased with her, you must let her go anywhere she wants. You must not sell her for money or make her a slave, because you have taken away her honor.

15 A man might have two wives, one he loves and one he doesn't. Both wives might have sons by him. If the older son belongs to the wife he does not love,

16 when that man wills his property to his sons he must not give the son of the wife he loves what belongs to the older son, the son of the wife he does not love.

17 He must agree to give the older son two shares of everything he owns, even though the older son is from the wife he does not love. That son was the first to prove his father could have children, so he has the rights that belong to the older son.

18 If someone has a son who is stubborn, who turns against his father and mother and doesn't obey them or listen when they correct him,

19 his parents must take him to the older leaders at the city gate.

20 They will say to the leaders, "Our son is stubborn and turns against us. He will not obey us. He eats too much, and he is always drunk."

21 Then all the men in his town must throw stones at him until he dies. Get rid of the evil among you, because then all the people of Israel will hear about this and be afraid.

22 If someone is guilty of a sin worthy of death, he must be put to death and his body displayed on a tree.

23 But don't leave his body hanging on the tree overnight; be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone whose body is displayed on a tree is cursed by God. You must not ruin the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own.

Deuteronomy 22

1 If you see your fellow Israelite's ox or sheep wandering away, don't ignore it. Take it back to its owner.

2 If the owner does not live close to you, or if you do not know who the owner is, take the animal home with you. Keep it until the owner comes looking for it; then give it back.

3 Do the same thing if you find a donkey or coat or anything someone lost. Don't just ignore it.

4 If you see your fellow Israelite's donkey or ox fallen on the road, don't ignore it. Help the owner get it up.

5 A woman must not wear men's clothes, and a man must not wear women's clothes. The Lord your God hates anyone who does that.

6 If you find a bird's nest by the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on the young birds or eggs, do not take the mother bird with the young birds.

7 You may take the young birds, but you must let the mother bird go free. Then things will go well for you, and you will live a long time.

8 When you build a new house, build a low wall around the edge of the roofn so you will not be guilty if someone falls off the roof.

9 Don't plant two different kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, both crops will be ruined.

10 Don't plow with an ox and a donkey tied together.

11 Don't wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together.

12 Tie several pieces of thread together; then put these tassels on the four corners of your coat.

13 If a man marries a girl and has sexual relations with her but then decides he does not like her,

14 he might talk badly about her and give her a bad name. He might say, "I married this woman, but when I had sexual relations with her, I did not find that she was a virgin."

15 Then the girl's parents must bring proof that she was a virgin to the older leaders at the city gate.

16 The girl's father will say to the leaders, "I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, but now he does not want her.

17 This man has told lies about my daughter. He has said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin,' but here is the proof that my daughter was a virgin." Then her parents are to show the sheet to the city leaders,

18 and the leaders must take the man and punish him.

19 They must make him pay about two and one-half pounds of silver to the girl's father, because the man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. The girl will continue to be the man's wife, and he may not divorce her as long as he lives.

20 But if the things the husband said about his wife are true, and there is no proof that she was a virgin,

21 the girl must be brought to the door of her father's house. Then the men of the town must put her to death by throwing stones at her. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by having sexual relations before she was married. You must get rid of the evil among you.

22 If a man is found having sexual relations with another man's wife, both the woman and the man who had sexual relations with her must die. Get rid of this evil from Israel.

23 If a man meets a virgin in a city and has sexual relations with her, but she is engaged to another man,

24 you must take both of them to the city gate and put them to death by throwing stones at them. Kill the girl, because she was in a city and did not scream for help. And kill the man for having sexual relations with another man's wife. You must get rid of the evil among you.

25 But if a man meets an engaged girl out in the country and forces her to have sexual relations with him, only the man who had sexual relations with her must be put to death.

26 Don't do anything to the girl, because she has not done a sin worthy of death. This is like the person who attacks and murders a neighbor;

27 the man found the engaged girl in the country and she screamed, but no one was there to save her.

28 If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged to be married and forces her to have sexual relations with him and people find out about it,

29 the man must pay the girl's father about one and one-fourth pounds of silver. He must also marry the girl, because he has dishonored her, and he may never divorce her for as long as he lives.

30 A man must not marry his father's wife; he must not dishonor his father in this way.

Deuteronomy 23

1 No man who has had part of his sex organ cut off may come into the meeting to worship the Lord.

2 No one born to parents who were forbidden by law to marry may come into the meeting to worship the Lord. The descendants for ten generations may not come in either.

3 No Ammonite or Moabite may come into the meeting to worship the Lord, and none of their descendants for ten generations may come in.

4 This is because the Ammonites and Moabites did not give you bread and water when you came out of Egypt. And they hired Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor in Northwest Mesopotamia, to put a curse on you

5 But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam. He turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.

6 Don't wish for their peace or success as long as you live.

7 Don't hate Edomites; they are your close relatives. Don't hate Egyptians, because you were foreigners in their country.

8 The great-grandchildren of these two peoples may come into the meeting to worship the Lord.

9 When you are camped in time of war, keep away from unclean things.

10 If a man becomes unclean during the night, he must go outside the camp and not come back.

11 But when evening comes, he must wash himself, and at sunset he may come back into the camp.

12 Choose a place outside the camp where people may go to relieve themselves.

13 Carry a tent peg with you, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your dung.

14 The Lord your God moves around through your camp to protect you and to defeat your enemies for you, so the camp must be holy. He must not see anything unclean among you so that he will not leave you

15 If an escaped slave comes to you, do not hand over the slave to his master.

16 Let the slave live with you anywhere he likes, in any town he chooses. Do not mistreat him.

17 No Israelite man or woman must ever become a temple prostitute.

18 Do not bring a male or female prostitute's pay to the Temple of the Lord your God to pay what you have promised to the Lord, because the Lord your God hates prostitution.

19 If you loan your fellow Israelites money or food or anything else, don't make them pay back more than you loaned them

20 You may charge foreigners, but not fellow Israelites. Then the Lord your God will bless everything you do in the land you are entering to take as your own.

21 If you make a promise to give something to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, because the Lord your God demands it from you. Do not be guilty of sin

22 But if you do not make the promise, you will not be guilty.

23 You must do whatever you say you will do, because you chose to make the promise to the Lord your God.

24 If you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you wish, but do not put any grapes into your basket.

25 If you go into your neighbor's grainfield, you may pick grain with your hands, but you must not cut down your neighbor's grain with your sickle.