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Deuteronomy 23

1No man with crushed testicles or a severed penis may enter Yahweh’s assembly. 2No one born of a forbidden union may enter Yahweh’s assembly; even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter Yahweh’s assembly. 3No Ammonite or Moabite may enter Yahweh’s assembly; even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants may enter Yahweh’s assembly, forever, 4because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because he hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim against you, to curse you. 5But Yahweh your God would not listen to Balaam. Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loved you. 6You must never seek their peace or prosperity, all your days.

7Do not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not detest an Egyptian, for you were a resident foreigner in his land. 8Children born to them may enter Yahweh’s assembly in the third generation.

9When you go out in camp against your enemies, guard yourself against every harmful thing. 10If a man among you is unclean because of a nighttime emission, he must go outside the camp; he must not enter the camp. 11As evening approaches, he must bathe in water; when the sun sets, he may enter the camp. 12You must have a place outside the camp where you can go out to relieve yourself. 13You must have a digging tool among your equipment. When you squat outside, dig with it, then turn and cover your excrement. 14For Yahweh your God walks about in your camp to rescue you and hand your enemies over to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

15Do not hand a slave over to his master when he has escaped from his master to you. 16He may live with you, among you, in whatever place he chooses within one of your towns, wherever is good for him. Do not oppress him.

17There must be no woman consecrated to a cult among the daughters of Israel, and no man consecrated to a cult among the sons of Israel. 18Do not bring a prostitute’s fee or a dog’s price into the house of Yahweh your God for any vow, for both of them are detestable to Yahweh your God.

19Do not charge your brother interest—interest on silver, interest on food, or interest on anything that can be lent at interest. 20You may charge a foreigner interest, but you must not charge your brother interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in everything you undertake in the land you are entering to possess.

21When you make a vow to Yahweh your God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for Yahweh your God will certainly require it of you, and you will incur sin. 22But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not incur sin. 23You must keep and carry out what passes your lips, just as you vowed to Yahweh your God the voluntary offering you promised with your mouth.

24When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat grapes to satisfy your appetite, but you must not put any in your container. 25When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand, but you must not swing a sickle over your neighbor’s standing grain.

Translation notes 8

23:1–8 — Yahweh’s assembly. The precise rights or participation covered by admission to the assembly are debated; the phrase should not simply be equated with every aspect of living in Israel. The exclusions, bodily terms, and distinctions between peoples are retained as written.

23:2 — A forbidden union. The rare Hebrew word names a person whose birth disqualifies him. The exact category of union is uncertain; “illegitimate” can suggest modern legal categories that the verse does not define.

23:4 — Aram-naharaim. The name means “Aram of the two rivers,” a region in northern Mesopotamia. The preceding refusal of food and water is plural, but the hiring of Balaam is singular in Hebrew; “he” refers to a named people collectively, most naturally Moab in view of the Balaam account.

23:9–14 — Camp holiness. A nighttime emission, washing, excrement, and its burial concern the camp’s ritual condition. “Unclean” does not by itself mean that a normal bodily function is a moral offense.

23:15–16 — An escaped slave. The slave must not be returned to his master and may choose a place to live. The Hebrew does not explicitly give the slave’s nationality or the location of his former master.

23:17–18 — Consecrated persons and forbidden payments. The two terms in verse 17 come from the word for holiness or consecration. They have traditionally been translated “sacred prostitute,” but the precise activities of these cult personnel are disputed. The next verse plainly names a prostitute’s fee; “dog” may be a disparaging term for a male sexual worker, though an actual animal has also been understood. The translation preserves the uncertain image rather than treating either explanation as certain.

23:19–20 — Your brother and the foreigner. “Brother” identifies a fellow Israelite in this lending law. The foreigner here is described with a different word from the resident foreigner protected elsewhere in these laws.

23:1–25 — Verse numbering. These verses are numbered 23:2–26 in the Hebrew text.