Deuteronomy 23

Exclusion of Ammonites and Moabites Deuteronomy 23:3–4

³Verse 3. An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly; even to the tenth generation shall no one belonging to them enter into Yahweh’s assembly forever; ⁴Verse 4. because they didn’t meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.

Divine Intervention and Blessing Deuteronomy 23:5–6

⁵Verse 5. Nevertheless Yahweh your God wouldn’t listen to Balaam; but Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing to you, because Yahweh your God loved you. ⁶Verse 6. You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever.

Acceptance of Edomites and Egyptians Deuteronomy 23:7–8

⁷Verse 7. You shall not abhor an Edomite; for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land. ⁸Verse 8. The children of the third generation who are born to them may enter into Yahweh’s assembly.

Maintaining Purity in Warfare Deuteronomy 23:9–14

⁹Verse 9. When you go out and camp against your enemies, then you shall keep yourselves from every evil thing. ¹⁰Verse 10. If there is among you any man who is not clean by reason of that which happens him by night, then shall he go outside of the camp. He shall not come within the camp; ¹¹Verse 11. but it shall be, when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water. When the sun is down, he shall come within the camp. ¹²Verse 12. You shall have a place also outside of the camp where you go relieve yourself. ¹³Verse 13. You shall have a trowel among your weapons. It shall be, when you relieve yourself, you shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover your excrement;

¹⁴Verse 14. for Yahweh your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in you, and turn away from you.

Treatment of Escaped Servants Deuteronomy 23:15–17

¹⁵Verse 15. You shall not deliver to his master a servant who has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶Verse 16. He shall dwell with you, among you, in the place which he shall choose within one of your gates, where it pleases him best. You shall not oppress him. ¹⁷Verse 17. There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

Social Conduct and Vows Deuteronomy 23:18–25

¹⁸Verse 18. You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the wages of a male prostitute, into the house of Yahweh your God for any vow; for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God. ¹⁹Verse 19. You shall not lend on interest to your brother; interest of money, interest of food, interest of anything that is lent on interest. ²⁰Verse 20. You may lend on interest to a foreigner; but to your brother you shall not lend on interest, that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to, in the land where you go in to possess it.

²¹Verse 21. When you vow a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not be slack to pay it; for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you; and it would be sin in you. ²²Verse 22. But if you refrain from making a vow, it shall be no sin in you. ²³Verse 23. You shall observe and do that which has gone out of your lips. Whatever you have vowed to Yahweh your God as a freewill offering, which you have promised with your mouth, you must do. ²⁴Verse 24. When you come into your neighbor’s vineyard, then you may eat of grapes your fill at your own pleasure; but you shall not put any in your container.

²⁵Verse 25. When you come into your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the ears with your hand; but you shall not move a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.