Deuteronomy 23

No man whose testicles have been crushed, or whose penis has been cut off, may enter the assembly of the LORD.

1He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

Note"The assembly of the LORD" is the gathered community of Israel, the body that met for worship and for public decisions. Being barred from it meant exclusion from full membership in that body, not expulsion from the country. The KJV's "wounded in the stones" and "privy member" are 1611 English for crushed testicles and the penis; castration was practiced in the surrounding cultures, both as a punishment and to produce court officials and certain cult personnel.

2No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the LORD. None of his descendants may enter either, down to the tenth generation.

2A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

NoteThe Hebrew word here, *mamzer*, is rare and its exact sense is disputed. It does not simply mean a child born outside marriage; ancient interpreters took it to mean a child of incest, of adultery, or of a union the law forbade. The rendering "forbidden union" keeps that uncertainty open. "To the tenth generation" is an idiom for an indefinitely long time rather than a count anyone was expected to track.

3No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. None of their descendants may enter, down to the tenth generation, not ever.

3An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:

NoteAmmon and Moab were small kingdoms east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, Israel's near neighbors and frequent rivals. Israelite tradition traced both peoples to Lot, Abraham's nephew, which made them relatives, part of why their treatment is singled out here.

4This is because they did not meet you with food and water along the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they paid Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor in Mesopotamia, to curse you.

4Because they met you not with bread and with water in 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.

NoteBalaam was a professional seer, hired for a fee to pronounce curses or blessings; the story of the Moabite king Balak hiring him against Israel is told in Numbers 22–24. In the ancient world a spoken curse from such a specialist was believed to have real force, which is why hiring one counted as an act of war. Pethor lay in "Aram of the two rivers" (the KJV's Mesopotamia), the region of the upper Euphrates, several hundred miles north.

5But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam. Instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.

5Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee.

6As long as you live, never seek peace or good fortune for them.

6Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.

Note"Seek their peace and prosperity" is diplomatic language. To seek another people's peace and good was to enter into a treaty of friendship with them; the instruction is about not making alliances, not about private feeling.

7Do not hate an Edomite, because he is your relative. Do not hate an Egyptian, because you once lived as a foreigner in his land.

7Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.

NoteEdom lay south-east of the Dead Sea. Israelite tradition traced the Edomites to Esau, Jacob's twin brother, which is why an Edomite is called "your relative", literally "your brother." The reason given for the Egyptian is Israel's long residence in Egypt before the exodus.

8The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.

8The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.

Note"The third generation" means the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of such a person, depending on where the count starts, the point is a short wait, in contrast to the ten generations of verses 2 and 3.

9When your army marches out against your enemies, keep yourself away from everything evil.

9When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.

NoteVerses 9–14 treat a war camp as sacred ground, because God is pictured as present in it (verse 14). What follows is therefore about ritual purity in that space, not about hygiene or morality in the modern sense.

10If any man among you becomes unclean because of a flow of semen during the night, he must go outside the camp. He must not come back inside it.

10If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp:

Note"Unclean" is a ritual state, not dirtiness and not guilt. Various ordinary bodily events (emissions of semen, menstruation, childbirth, contact with a corpse) put a person temporarily outside the sphere of worship until time had passed and washing had been done. No wrongdoing is implied, and the condition here lasts less than a day.

11But when evening comes, he is to wash himself with water, and when the sun has set he may come back into the camp.

11But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.

NoteIn Israelite reckoning a new day began at sunset, so waiting until the sun was down meant the period of uncleanness had run its full course.

12You must also have a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself.

12Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad:

13Keep a digging tool with your gear. When you squat down outside, dig a hole with it, then turn and cover up your waste.

13And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:

NoteThe KJV's "a paddle upon thy weapon" is literal: the Hebrew word covers a soldier's equipment generally, and the instruction is to carry a small spade or tent-peg-like digging tool along with weapons and kit.

14For the LORD your God moves through your camp to keep you safe and to hand your enemies over to you. So your camp must be holy, or he will see something unclean among you and turn away from you.

14For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

Note"Holy" means set apart for God's use rather than morally pure. The image is of God moving through the camp as a king inspects his army, and "turn away" means withdraw his presence and protection.

15Do not hand a slave back to his master if he has run away from his master and come to you.

15Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:

NoteTreaties between ancient Near Eastern states routinely required each side to return the other's runaway slaves, and extradition clauses of this kind are common in surviving texts. This law reverses that expectation. Most read it as covering a slave who escapes from a foreign master into Israel, though the wording does not say so explicitly.

16Let him live with you, among your people, in whatever town he picks, wherever he likes best. Do not mistreat him.

16He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.

17No daughter of Israel is to be a temple prostitute, and no son of Israel is to be one either.

17There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

NoteThe Hebrew words used (*qedeshah*, *qadesh*) mean literally "consecrated woman" and "consecrated man", people attached to a shrine. Whether they performed sex acts as part of worship, as ancient and most later writers assumed, or formed some other class of dedicated shrine personnel, is disputed among scholars; the text here places them alongside ordinary prostitution.

18Do not bring the pay of a female prostitute or the earnings of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay for any promise you made. Both of these disgust the LORD your God.

18Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

Note"The house of the LORD" is the sanctuary. Money or goods could be pledged to it to fulfill a vow, and this rules out paying such a pledge with earnings from prostitution. The KJV's "the price of a dog" is word-for-word Hebrew; "dog" appears to have been a contemptuous term for a male prostitute.

19Do not charge interest when you lend to a fellow Israelite. Charge no interest on money, on food, or on anything else that is lent out.

19Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:

NoteThe KJV's "usury" meant any interest at all in 1611, not only an excessive rate. Lending within the community was mainly emergency lending to neighbors who had fallen into poverty, not commercial credit; "food" is included because loans were often made in grain rather than silver.

20You may charge interest to a foreigner, but not to a fellow Israelite. Then the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do in the land you are going in to take.

20Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

NoteThe foreigner in view is the *nokri*, an outsider passing through or trading, distinct from the resident foreigner living permanently among Israelites, who elsewhere in the law is protected like an Israelite.

21When you make a promise to the LORD your God, do not put off keeping it. The LORD your God will certainly hold you to it, and failing to keep it would be a sin for you.

21When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.

NoteA vow was a voluntary promise to God, usually to hand over something (an animal for sacrifice, silver, produce, or a period of service) often conditional on a request being granted. Nobody had to make one, but once the words were spoken the obligation was binding and enforceable.

22But if you hold back from making such a promise, that is not a sin for you.

22But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.

23Whatever you have said out loud, you must keep and do. You promised it to the LORD your God freely, with your own mouth, so carry it out.

23That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.

NoteThe KJV's "freewill offering" points to the same idea: the promise was made under no compulsion, which is precisely why breaking it counted against the person who made it.

24When you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want, until you have had your fill. But do not put any into a container of your own.

24When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.

NoteThis is a recognized customary right for travelers and day laborers passing through farmland: eating on the spot to satisfy hunger was permitted, while carrying produce away in a basket or bag counted as theft. The line is drawn at the container, not at the quantity eaten.

25When you go into your neighbor's field of standing grain, you may pick heads of grain with your hand. But do not cut your neighbor's standing grain with a sickle.

25When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.

NoteA sickle is the curved blade used to cut standing grain, the harvester's basic tool. Picking a few heads by hand was eating; putting a sickle to the crop was harvesting someone else's field.