Deu_21:1-23; Deu_22:1-30; Deu_23:1-25; Deu_24:1-22; Deu_25:1-19; Deu_26:1-19

XXII. Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his lamb going astray, and turn thyself aside from them; thou shalt surely bring them back to thy brother. And if thy brother be not near to thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it into thy house, and it shall be with thee until thou make inquiry for thy brother, and then thou shalt restore it to him. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass, and with his garment, and with any lost thing of thy brother’s which thou mayest have found, it is not lawful for thee to conceal it. Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fallen in the way, and turn thyself away from them, thou shalt surely lift them up for him. The adorning of a man shall not be upon a woman, nor shall the apparel of a man be like the apparel of a woman; for everyone who doeth these things is abominable before the Lord thy God.

If thou find the nest of a bird before thee on the way, in any tree, or upon the ground, with young ones, or eggs, and the mother lying over the young ones, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the mother with the offspring. Thou shalt send away the mother, and take the young ones with thee; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest prolong thy days. When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a parapet to thy roof, that thou mayest not bring the guilt of the blood of the slain upon thy house, by the falling of anyone who may fall there-from.

Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with mixed (seeds), lest what cometh from the seed which thou sowest, and the produce of thy vineyard, be unclean.

Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not dress with a contexture of woollen and of linen joined together. Thou shalt make thee fringes (or tassels) upon the four corners of thy garment with which thou coverest thyself.

If a man take a wife, and go unto her, and dislike her, and lay an occasion of words about her, or bring out an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman and came to her, and I have not found her to be a virgin: then shall the father and mother of the damsel bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity before the elders of the city, at the gate of the judgment house of the place; and the father of the damsel shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man to wife, and he hateth her; and, behold, he hath set an occasion of words, saying, I have not found the virginity of thy daughter; but these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And he shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. And the elders of the city shall take that man and scourge him, and fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give to the father of the damsel, because he brought out an evil name upon a virgin of the house of Israel. And she shall be his wife, he hath no power to put her away all his days. But if this word be true, and the tokens of virginity are not found unto the damsel, then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of that city shall stone her with stones that she die; for she hath wrought shame in Israel in playing whoredom in her father’s house, and thou shalt put away the evil doer from among you.

If a man be found lying with a woman, the wife of (another) man, they shall be both of them put to death, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; and thou shalt put away the evil doer from Israel. If a man find in the city a damsel, a virgin, who is betrothed to a man, and lie with her, then shall you bring them both out to the gate of that city, and stone them with stones that they die; the damsel because she cried not out in the city, and the man because he humiliated his neighbour’s wife; and thou shalt put away the evil doer from among you. But if a man find the betrothed damsel in the field, and prevail against her, and lie with her, then only the man who lay with her shall be put to death; but unto the damsel thou shalt not do anything; there is not with the damsel guilt of the judgment of death; for as when a man riseth up against his neighbour and killeth him, even so is this matter; he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, but there was none to deliver. If a man find a damsel, a virgin who is not betrothed, and lay hold of her and lie with her, and they be found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he had humbled her, he shall not have power to send her away all his days. A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor uncover the skirt of his father.

XXIII. He who is castrated or ruptured shall not be clean so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord. A bastard or mixed person (mamzer) shall not be clean, so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord; his offspring also to the tenth generation shall not be clean, so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord. An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not be clean, so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord; neither to the tenth generation shall they be clean ever to enter the congregation of the Lord; because they met you not with bread and water in the way, when you came up from Mizraim; and because they hired Bilaam bar Beor from Pethor Aram, upon the Phrat, to curse thee. But the Lord thy God would not hearken to Bileam, and the Lord thy God turned the curses into blessings, because the Lord thy God loved thee. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor a Mizraite, for thou wast a sojourner in his land. The children that are begotten of them of the third generation shall be clean, so as to enter into the congregation of the Lord. When thou goest forth a host against thy enemies, then beware of every wicked thing. If there be among thee a man who is not clean, by an accident of the night, let him go forth without the camp, let him not enter into the midst of the camp, but at eventide let him wash with water, and at sunset he may come into the camp. And a place shall be appointed for thee outside of the camp, that thou mayest go thither without. And thou shalt have a blade upon thy weapon, that when thou sit test abroad thou mayest dig with it, and cover that which cometh from thee. For the Shekinah of the Lord thy God walketh amid thy camp to save thee and deliver up thy enemies before thee, and thy camp shall be sacred, that nothing that offendeth may be seen among thee, lest His Word turn away from doing thee good.

Thou shalt not deliver up a slave of the Gentiles into the hand of his master, when he hath escaped to thee from his master; he shall dwell with thee in thy midst in the place that he may choose in one of thy cities where it may be best for him; thou shalt not oppress him. No woman of the children of Israel may be the wife of a man who is a slave; neither shall any man of the sons of Israel take a bondwoman to wife. Thou shalt not bring the hire of fornication nor the price of a dog into the house of the sanctuary of the Lord thy God, for any vow; for even both of them are an abomination before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not make usury of thy brother; the usury of money, of corn, or of any thing that produceth usury. From a son of the Gentiles thou mayest take usury, but from thy brother thou shalt not take it; for the Lord thy God will bless thee in all that thou put test thy hand unto in the land to which thou goest to possess it. When thou vowest a vow before the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to fulfil it; for the Lord thy God requiring will require it of thee, and it would become sin in thee. Yet if thou shouldst forbear to vow, it will not be sin in thee. What hath gone forth from thy lips thou shalt observe and perform; as thou hast vowed before the Lord thy God, (thou shalt perform) freely what thou hast spoken with thy lips.

If thou comest for hire into thy neighbour’s vineyard, thou mayest eat grapes for the satisfying of thy life; but thou shalt not put (them) into thy vessel.

If thou comest into thy neighbour’s ripe corn, thou mayest pluck the full ears with thy hand, but not put in the sickle upon thy neighbour’s corn.

XXIV. When a man shall have taken a wife, and become her husband, and she hath not found favour in his eyes, because he hath found something wrong in her, then he may write for her a bill of divorcement, and give it into her hand, and send her from his house. And when she hath departed from his house, she may go and become (the wife) of another man. And if the latter husband dislike her, and write her a bill of divorce, and put it into her hand, and dismiss her from his house; or if the latter husband who had taken her to be his wife shall die, the first husband who had put her away hath no power to return to take her to be his wife, after that she hath been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord; and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit. When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go forth with the army, nor shall any transaction be (laid) upon him; he shall be free in his house for a year, that he may cheer (or, may enjoy himself with) his wife whom he hath taken. No man shall take as a pledge the millstones (either lower) or upper; for by them is made the subsistence of every living man. If a man be found stealing a person of his brethren of the sons of Israel, to make merchandise of him, or to sell him, that man shall be put to death, and thou shalt put away the evil doer from among thee. Take heed, in the plague of leprosy, to observe and perform entirely all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; as I have commanded them, you shall observe to do. Remember what the Lord the God did unto Miriam, in the way when you came out of Mizraim. When thou hast lent the use of anything to thy neighbour, thou shalt not enter into his house to take his pledge. Thou shalt stand without, and the man to whom thou hast lent shall bring out the pledge to thee. And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge; thou shalt return him his pledge at sunset, that he may sleep in his garment, and may bless thee, and it shall be righteousness before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not oppress an hireling who is needy and poor, (whether he be) of thy brethren, or of thy sojourners who are in thy land or thy cities. In his day thou shalt give him his hire; thou shalt not let the sun go down upon it, for he is needy, and to it he delivereth his life (soul) ; that he cry not against thee before the Lord, and it be sin in thee. The fathers shall not die for the children, nor shall children die for the fathers; a man shall die for his own sin. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of the stranger or the orphan, nor take the garment of the widow for a pledge; but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Mizraim, and that the Lord thy God redeemed thee from thence; therefore I command thee to do this thing. When thou art harvesting thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not return to take it; let it be for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands. When thou beatest thy olive (trees), thou shalt not make search for what thou bast left behind thee; let it be for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. When thou art gathering thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean the grapes that are left behind thee; let them be for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow; and remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Mizraim; therefore have I commanded thee to do this thing.

XXV. If there be (a case for) judgment between men, let them bring it to the, judges, that they may adjudicate; and they shall justify the innocent, and condemn the guilty. And if the guilty be condemned to be scourged, the judge shall cause him to lie down, and have him scourged before him (with stripes), in number according to the measure of his guilt. Forty (times) he may smite him, not more, lest he should go on to smite him above these with many stripes, and thy brother be made vile in thy eyes. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox while he treadeth out (the corn). If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, having no son, the wife of the deceased shall not marry another man without; her husband’s brother shall go to her, and take her to him to wife, and marry her for his brother. And the first-born that she beareth shall keep up the name of his deceased brother, that his name be not blotted out from Israel. But should the man be unwilling to take the wife of his brother, his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate of the house of judgment, and say before the elders, My husband’s brother refuseth to keep up a name to his brother in Israel; he is not willing to marry me. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak with him; and if he rise up and say, It is not my pleasure to take her; then shall his brother’s wife approach him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and answer, and say, Thus let it be done to the man who will not build up the house of his brother. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of the loosed shoe.

XXV. If men strive together, a man and his brother, and the wife of one (of them) come nigh to save her husband from the hand of him who smiteth him, and put forth her hand and seize the place of his shame, then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity on her.

Thou shalt not have in thy bag weight and weight, great and small.

Thou shalt not have in thy house measure and measure, great and small: perfect weights and true shalt thou have, perfect measures and true shalt thou have, that thy days may be prolonged upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee: for everyone who doeth these things, everyone who acteth falsely, is an abomination before the Lord thy God.

Remember what Amalek did to thee in the way, when thou camest up out of Mizraim; how he overtook thee in the way, and slew of thee all who were following behind thee when thou wast faint and weary; and he was not afraid before the Lord. Therefore when the Lord thy God shall have given thee rest from all thy enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for a possession to inherit, thou shalt blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens: thou shalt not be forgetful.