Deuteronomy 23

The LORD’s assembly

¹No man whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off can belong to the LORD’s assembly.²No one born of an illegitimate marriage can belong to the LORD’s assembly either. Not even the tenth generation of such children can belong to the LORD’s assembly.³Ammonites and Moabites can’t belong to the LORD’s assembly. Not even the tenth generation of such people can belong to the LORD’s assembly, as a rule,⁴because they didn’t help you with food or water on your journey out of Egypt, and because they hired Balaam, Beor’s son, from Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse you.⁵But the LORD your God wasn’t interested in listening to Balaam. The LORD your God turned that curse into a blessing because the LORD your God loves you.⁶So don’t be concerned with their health and well-being as long as you live.

⁷Don’t detest Edomites, because they are your relatives. Don’t detest Egyptians because you were immigrants in their land.⁸Children born to them are permitted to belong to the LORD’s assembly starting with the third generation.

Rules for the war camp

⁹When you are camped in battle against your enemies, guard yourself from every possible evil.¹⁰If an individual in the camp becomes polluted due to a nighttime emission, he must exit the camp area and not reenter.¹¹When the next evening arrives, he must wash with water; and when the sun sets, he can come back to the camp.

¹²The latrines must be outside the camp. You will use them there, outside the camp.¹³Carry a shovel with the rest of your gear; once you have relieved yourself, use it to dig a hole, then refill it, covering your excrement.

¹⁴Do these things because the LORD your God travels with you, right in the middle of your camp, ready to save you and to hand your enemies over to you. For this reason your camp must be holy. The LORD must not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you.

Escaped slaves

¹⁵Don’t return slaves to owners if they’ve escaped and come to you.¹⁶They can stay with you: in your own community or in any place they select from one of your cities, whatever seems good to them. Don’t oppress them.

Consecrated workers

¹⁷No Israelite daughter is allowed to be a consecrated worker. Neither is any Israelite son allowed to be a consecrated worker.¹⁸Don’t bring a female prostitute’s fee or a male prostitute’s payment to the LORD your God’s temple to pay a solemn promise because both of these things are detestable to the LORD your God.

Charging interest

¹⁹Don’t charge your fellow Israelites interest—whether on money, provisions, or anything one might loan.²⁰You can charge foreigners interest, but not your fellow Israelite. Do this so that the LORD your God blesses you in all your work on the land you are entering to possess.

Solemn promise

²¹When you make a promise to the LORD your God, don’t put off making good on it, because the LORD your God will certainly be expecting it from you; delaying would make you guilty.²²Now if you simply don’t make any promises, you won’t be guilty of anything.²³But whatever you say, you should be sure to make good on, exactly according to the promise you freely made to the LORD your God because you promised it with your own mouth.

Neighbor’s goods

²⁴If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you can eat as many grapes as you like, until full, but don’t carry any away in a basket.²⁵If you go into your neighbor’s grain field, you can pluck ears by hand, but you aren’t allowed to cut off any of your neighbor’s grain with a sickle.