Deuteronomy 23
1 “Any man whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall not be (included as one of/allowed to worship with) Yahweh’s people.
He that is a eunuch, whether he have been crushed or cut, shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah.
2 “No (illegitimate person/person whose mother and father were not married), or descendant of that person, extending to the tenth generation, shall be included as one of Yahweh’s people.
A bastard shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even his tenth generation shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah.
3 “No one from the Ammon or Moab people-groups shall be (included as one of/allowed to worship with) Yahweh’s people, extending to the tenth generation.
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah; even their tenth generation shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah for ever;
4 One reason is that their [leaders] refused to give your ancestors food and water when they were traveling from Egypt [to Canaan]. Another reason is that they wanted to pay Balaam, the son of Beor from Pethor [town] in Mesopotamia, to curse you Israelis.
because they met you not with bread and with water on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor, of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.
5 But Yahweh our God did not pay attention to Balaam; instead, he caused Balaam to bless your ancestors, because Yahweh loved them.
But Jehovah thy God would not listen to Balaam; and Jehovah thy God turned the curse into blessing unto thee, because Jehovah thy God loved thee.
6 As long as Israel is a nation, you must not do anything to cause things to go well for those two people-groups or enable them to prosper.
Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
7 “But do not despise anyone from the Edom people-group, because they are [descendants of your ancestor Jacob], just like you are. And do not despise people from Egypt, because [they treated your ancestors well when] they first lived in Egypt.
Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother. Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a sojourner in his land.
8 The children and grandchildren of people from Edom and Egypt [who live among you] may be (included among/allowed to worship with) Yahweh’s people.”
Children that are born to them shall come into the congregation of Jehovah in the third generation.
9 “When your soldiers are living in tents at a time of fighting your enemies, they must avoid doing things that would make them unacceptable to God.
When thou goest forth into camp against thine enemies, then keep thee from every evil thing.
10 If any soldier becomes unacceptable to God because semen comes out of his body during the night, [the next morning] he must go outside the camp and stay there during that day.
If there be with thee a man that is not clean from what hath happened in the night, then shall he go outside the camp; he shall not come inside the camp;
11 But in the evening of that day, he must bathe himself, and at sunset he is allowed to come back into the camp.
and it shall be, towards evening, he shall bathe in water: and at the going down of the sun he may come inside the camp.
12 “Your soldiers must have a toilet area outside the camp where you can go [when you need to].
Thou shalt have a place also outside the camp, and shalt go forth thither.
13 [When you go to fight against your enemies], carry a stick along with your weapons, in order that when you need to defecate [EUP], you can dig a hole with the stick, and then cover up the hole [when you have finished defecating].
And thou shalt have a shovel amongst thy weapons, and it shall be, when thou sittest down abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which is come from thee.
14 You must keep the camp acceptable to Yahweh our God, because he is with you in your camp to protect you and to enable you to defeat your enemies. Do not do anything disgraceful/indecent that would cause Yahweh to abandon you.”
For Jehovah thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; and thy camp shall be holy, that he see nothing unseemly with thee, and turn away from thee.
15 “If slaves who escape from their masters come to you [and request you to protect them], do not send them back to their masters.
Thou shalt not hand over to his master a bondman that hath escaped from his master unto thee:
16 Allow them to stay/live among you, in whatever town they choose, and do not mistreat them.
he shall dwell with thee, even in thy midst, in the place that he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it seemeth good to him; thou shalt not oppress him.
17 “Do not [allow] any Israeli man or woman [to] become a prostitute at the temple.
There shall be no prostitute amongst the daughters of Israel, nor any Sodomite amongst the sons of Israel.
18 Also, do not allow any people who earned money from being a prostitute to bring any of that money into the temple of Yahweh our God, even if they solemnly promised to pay that money to Yahweh. Yahweh hates those who are prostitutes.
Thou shalt not bring the hire of a harlot, or the price of a dog, into the house of Jehovah thy God for any vow; for even both these are an abomination to Jehovah thy God.
19 “When you lend money or food or anything else to a fellow Israeli, do not charge them interest.
Thou shalt take no interest of thy brother, interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything that can be lent upon interest:
20 You are allowed to charge interest when you lend money to foreigners [who live in your land], but not when you lend money to Israelis. Do this in order that Yahweh our God will bless you in everything that you do in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.
of a foreigner thou mayest take interest, but of thy brother thou shalt not take interest; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the business of thy hand in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
21 “When you vow to give something to Yahweh your God [or to do something for him], do it as soon as you can. Yahweh expects you to do what you promised, and if you do not do it, you will be committing a sin.
When thou vowest a vow to Jehovah thy God, thou shalt not delay to perform it; for Jehovah thy God will certainly require it of thee, and it shall be sin in thee.
22 But if you [SYN] do not vow [to do something], that is not sinful.
But if thou forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.
23 But if you voluntarily promise to do something, you must do it.
What is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and do, as thou hast vowed to Jehovah thy God, the voluntary-offering that thou hast promised with thy mouth.
24 “When you walk through someone else’s vineyard, you are allowed to [pick and] eat as many grapes as you want, but you must not [cut some from a vine and carry them away] in a container.
When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, thou mayest eat grapes thy fill, according to thy desire, but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.
25 When you walk [along a path] in someone else’s field of grain, you are allowed to pluck/pick some of the grain and eat it, but you must not cut any grain with a sickle [and take it with you].”
When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, thou mayest pluck ears with thy hand; but thou shalt not wave the sickle against thy neighbour's standing corn.
