Deuteronomy 23

¹ 'A man must not take his father's wife; he must not withdraw the skirt of his father's cloak from her.

² 'A man whose testicles have been crushed or whose male member has been cut off must not beadmitted to the assembly of Yahweh.

³ No half-breed may be admitted to the assembly of Yahweh; not even his descendants to the tenthgeneration may be admitted to the assembly of Yahweh.

⁴ No Ammonite or Moabite may be admitted to the assembly of Yahweh; not even his descendants tothe tenth generation may be admitted to the assembly of Yahweh, and this is for all time;

⁵ since they did not come to meet you with food and drink when you were on your way out of Egypt, andeven hired Balaam son of Beor to oppose you by cursing you, from Pethor in Aram Naharaim.

⁶ But Yahweh your God refused to listen to Balaam, and Yahweh your God turned the curse on you intoa blessing, because Yahweh your God loved you.

⁷ Never, as long as you live, must you seek their welfare or their prosperity.

⁸ 'You must not regard the Edomite as detestable, for he is your brother; you must not regard theEgyptian as detestable, since you were once a foreigner in his country.

⁹ The third generation of children born to these may be admitted to the assembly of Yahweh.

¹⁰ 'When you are in camp, at war with your enemies, you must avoid anything bad.

¹¹ If any one of you is unclean by reason of a nocturnal emission, he must leave and not come backinto camp,

¹² but towards evening wash himself, and return to camp at sunset.

¹³ 'You must have a latrine outside the camp, and go out to this;

¹⁴ you must have a trowel in your equipment and, when you squat outside, you must scrape a hole withit, then turn round and cover up your excrement.

¹⁵ For Yahweh your God goes about the inside of your camp to guard you and put your enemies at yourmercy. Your camp must therefore be a holy place; Yahweh must not see anything indecent there or he willdesert you.

¹⁶ 'You must not allow a master to imprison a slave who has escaped from him and come to you.

¹⁷ Let him make his home with you and yours, wherever he pleases in whichever of your towns heprefers; you must not molest him.

¹⁸ 'There must be no sacred prostitute among the women of Israel, and no sacred prostitute among themen of Israel.

¹⁹ You must not bring the wages of a prostitute or the earnings of a 'dog' to the house of Yahweh yourGod, whatever vow you may have made: both are detestable to Yahweh your God.

²⁰ 'You must not lend on interest to your brother, whether the loan be of money, of food, or of anythingelse that may earn interest.

²¹ You may demand interest on a loan to a foreigner, but you must not demand interest from yourbrother; so that Yahweh your God may bless you in al your labours, in the country which you are about to enterand make your own.

²² 'If you make a vow to Yahweh your God, you must not be slack about fulfil ing it: Yahweh your Godwil certainly hold you answerable for it and you wil incur guilt.

²³ If, however, you make no vow, you do not incur guilt.

²⁴ Whatever passes your lips you must keep to, and the vow that you have made to Yahweh, yourgenerous God, you must fulfil.

²⁵ 'If you go into your neighbour's vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you please, but you mustnot put any in your basket.

²⁶ If you go into your neighbour's standing corn, you may pick ears by hand, but you must not put asickle into your neighbour's corn.'