Deuteronomy 21; Deuteronomy 22; Deuteronomy 23

1 When there shall be found in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee, the corpse of a man slain, and it is not known who is guilty of the murder,

2 Thy ancients and judges shall go out, and shall measure from the place where the body lieth the distance of every city round about:

3 And the ancients of that city which they shall perceive to be nearer than the rest, shall take a heifer of the herd, that hath not drawn in the yoke, nor ploughed the ground,

4 And they shall bring her into a rough and stony valley, that never was ploughed, nor sown: and there they shall strike off the head of the heifer:

5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come, whom the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and that by their word every matter should be decided, and whatsoever is clean or unclean should be judged.

6 And the ancients of that city shall come to the person slain, and shall wash their hands over the heifer that was killed in the valley,

7 And shall say: Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

8 Be merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Lord, and lay not innocent blood to their charge, in the midst of thy people Israel. And the guilt of blood shall be taken from them:

9 And thou shalt be free from the innocent’s blood, that was shed, when thou shalt have done what the Lord hath commanded thee.

10 If thou go out to fight against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God deliver them into thy hand, and thou lead them away captives,

11 And seest in the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and lovest her, and wilt have her to wife,

12 Thou shalt bring her into thy house: and she shall shave her hair, and pare her nails,

13 And shall put off the raiment, wherein she was taken: and shall remain in thy house, and mourn for her father and mother one month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and shalt sleep with her, and she shall be thy wife.

14 But if afterwards she please thee not, thou shalt let her go free, but thou mayst not sell her for money nor oppress her by might because thou hast humbled her.

15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and the other hated, and they have had children by him, and the son of the hated be the firstborn,

16 And he meaneth to divide his substance among his sons: he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn, and prefer him before the son of the hated.

17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, and shall give him a double portion of all he hath: for this is the first of his children, and to him are due the first birthrights.

18 If a man have a stubborn and unruly son, who will not hear the commandments of his father or mother, and being corrected, slighteth obedience:

19 They shall take him and bring him to the ancients of the city, and to the gate of judgment,

20 And shall say to them: This our son is rebellious and stubborn, he slighteth hearing our admonitions, he giveth himself to revelling, and to debauchery and banquetings:

21 The people of the city shall stone him: and he shall die, that you may take away the evil out of the midst of you, and all Israel hearing it may be afraid.

22 When a man hath committed a crime for which he is to be punished with death, and being condemned to die is hanged on a gibbet:

23 His body shall not remain upon the tree, but shall be buried the same day: for he is accursed of God that hangeth on a tree: and thou shalt not defile thy land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee in possession.

1 Thou shalt not pass by if thou seest thy brother’s ox, or his sheep go astray: but thou shalt bring them back to thy brother.

2 And if thy brother be not nigh, or thou know him not: thou shalt bring them to thy house, and they shall be with thee until thy brother seek them, and receive them.

3 Thou shalt do in like manner with his ass, and with his raiment, and with every thing that is thy brother’s, which is lost: if thou find it, neglect it not as pertaining to another.

4 If thou see thy brother’s ass or his ox to be fallen down in the way, thou shalt not slight it, but shalt lift it up with him.

5 A woman shall not be clothed with man’s apparel, neither shall a man use woman’s apparel: for he that doth these things is abominable before God.

6 If thou find as thou walkest by the way, a bird’s nest in a tree, or on the ground, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs: thou shalt not take her with her young:

7 But shalt let her go, keeping the young which thou hast caught: that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live a long time.

8 When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement to the roof round about: lest blood be shed in thy house, and thou be guilty, if any one slip, and fall down headlong.

9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest both the seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of the vineyard, be sanctified together.

10 Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.

11 Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of woollen and linen together.

12 Thou shalt make strings in the hem at the four corners of thy cloak, wherewith thou shalt be covered.

13 If a man marry a wife, and afterwards hate her,

14 And seek occasions to put her away, laying to her charge a very ill name, and say: I took this woman to wife, and going in to her, I found her not a virgin:

15 Her father and mother shall take her, and shall bring with them the tokens of her virginity to the ancients of the city that are in the gate:

16 And the father shall say: I gave my daughter unto this man to wife: and because he hateth her,

17 He layeth to her charge a very ill name, so as to say: I found not thy daughter a virgin: and behold these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the ancients of the city:

18 And the ancients of that city shall take that man, and beat him,

19 Condemning him besides in a hundred sicles of silver, which he shall give to the damsel’s father, because he hath defamed by a very ill name a virgin of Israel: and he shall have her to wife, and may not put her away all the days of his life.

20 But if what he charged her with be true, and virginity be not found in the damsel:

21 They shall cast her out of the doors of her father’s house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, and she shall die: because she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

22 If a man lie with another man’s wife, they shall both die, that is to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away the evil out of Israel.

23 If a man have espoused a damsel that is a virgin, and some one find her in the city, and lie with her,

24 Thou shalt bring them both out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned: the damsel, because she cried not out, being in the city: the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife. And thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee.

25 But if a man find a damsel that is betrothed, in the field, and taking hold of her, lie with her, he alone shall die:

26 The damsel shall suffer nothing, neither is she guilty of death: for as a robber riseth against his brother, and taketh away his life, so also did the damsel suffer:

27 She was alone in the field: she cried, and there was no man to help her.

28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, who is not espoused, and taking her, lie with her, and the matter come to judgment:

29 He that lay with her shall give to the father of the maid fifty sicles of silver, and shall have her to wife, because he hath humbled her: he may not put her away all the days of his life.

30 No man shall take his father’s wife, nor remove his covering.

1 An eunuch, whose testicles are broken or cut away, or yard cut off, shall not enter into the church of the Lord.

2 A mamzer, that is to say, one born of a prostitute, shall not enter into the church of the Lord, until the tenth generation.

3 The Ammonite and the Moabite, even after the tenth generation shall not enter into the church of the Lord for ever:

4 Because they would not meet you with bread and water in the way, when you came out of Egypt: and because they hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beor, from Mesopotamia in Syria, to curse thee

5 And the Lord thy God would not hear Balaam, and he turned his cursing into thy blessing, because he loved thee.

6 Thou shalt not make peace with them, neither shalt thou seek their prosperity all the days of thy life for ever.

7 Thou shalt not abhor the Edomite, because he is thy brother: nor the Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.

8 They that are born of them, in the third generation shall enter into the church of the Lord.

9 When thou goest out to war against thy enemies, thou shalt keep thyself from every evil thing.

10 If there be among you any man, that is defiled in a dream by night, he shall go forth out of the camp,

11 And shall not return, before he be washed with water in the evening: and after sunset he shall return into the camp.

12 Thou shalt have a place without the camp, to which thou mayst go for the necessities of nature,

13 Carrying a paddle at thy girdle. And when thou sittest down, thou shalt dig round about, and with the earth that is dug up thou shalt cover

14 That which thou art eased of: (for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thy enemies to thee:) and let thy camp be holy, and let no uncleanness appear therein, lest he go away from thee

15 Thou shalt not deliver to his master the servant that is fled to thee.

16 He shall dwell with thee in the place that shall please him, and shall rest in one of thy cities: give him no trouble.

17 There shall be no whore among the daughters of Israel, nor whoremonger among the sons of Israel.

18 Thou shalt not offer the hire of a strumpet, nor the price of a dog, in the house of the Lord thy God, whatsoever it be that thou hast vowed: because both these are an abomination to the Lord thy God.

19 Thou shalt not lend to thy brother money to usury, nor corn, nor any other thing

20 But to the stranger. To thy brother thou shalt lend that which he wanteth, without usury: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all thy works in the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.

21 When thou hast made a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it: because the Lord thy God will require it. And if thou delay, it shall be imputed to thee for a sin

22 If thou wilt not promise, that shalt be without sin.

23 But that which is once gone out of thy lips, thou shalt observe, and shalt do as thou hast promised to the Lord thy God, and hast spoken with thy own will and with thy own mouth.

24 Going into thy neighbour’s vineyard, thou mayst eat as many grapes as thou pleasest: but must carry none out with thee:

25 If thou go into thy friend’s corn, thou mayst break the ears, and rub them in thy hand: but not reap them with a sickle.