23
Exclusion From the Assembly
# In Hebrew texts 23:1-25 is numbered 23:2-26. 1No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.
2No one born of a forbidden marriage#23:2 Or one of illegitimate birth nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.
3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation. 4For they did not come to meet you with bread and water on your way when you came out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim#23:4 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia to pronounce a curse on you. 5However, the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. 6Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them as long as you live.
7Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country. 8The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
Uncleanness in the Camp
9When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure. 10If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there. 11But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may return to the camp.
12Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.
Miscellaneous Laws
15If a slave has taken refuge with you, do not hand them over to their master. 16Let them live among you wherever they like and in whatever town they choose. Do not oppress them.
17No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. 18You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute#23:18 Hebrew of a dog into the house of the Lord your God to pay any vow, because the Lord your God detests them both.
19Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else that may earn interest. 20You may charge a foreigner interest, but not a fellow Israelite, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.
21If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. 22But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. 23Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.
24If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. 25If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.