Doing What Is Right, Even When It’s Inconvenient

¹⁰When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and Yehovah thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou carriest them away captive, ¹¹and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and thou hast a desire unto her, and wouldest take her to thee to wife; ¹²then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; ¹³and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. ¹⁴And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not deal with her as a slave, because thou hast humbled her.

¹⁵If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the first-born son be hers that was hated; ¹⁶then it shall be, in the day that he causeth his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved the first-born before the son of the hated, who is the first-born: ¹⁷but he shall acknowledge the first-born, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath; for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the first-born is his.

¹⁸If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, that will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they chasten him, will not hearken unto them; ¹⁹then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; ²⁰and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. ²¹And all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

²²And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree; ²³his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is accursed of God; that thou defile not thy land which Yehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

22 Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely bring them again unto thy brother. ²And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it home to thy house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him. ³And so shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his garment; and so shalt thou do with every lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found: thou mayest not hide thyself. ⁴Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.

⁵A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto Yehovah thy God.

⁶If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: ⁷thou shalt surely let the dam go, but the young thou mayest take unto thyself; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

⁸When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any man fall from thence.

⁹Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole fruit be forfeited, the seed which thou hast sown, and the increase of the vineyard. ¹⁰Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. ¹¹Thou shalt not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together.

¹²Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four borders of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself. ¹³If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, ¹⁴and lay shameful things to her charge, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens of virginity; ¹⁵then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate; ¹⁶and the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; ¹⁷and, lo, he hath laid shameful things to her charge, saying, I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. ¹⁸And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him; ¹⁹and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. ²⁰But if this thing be true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the damsel; ²¹then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.

²²If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away the evil from Isra’el.

²³If there be a damsel that is a virgin betrothed unto a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; ²⁴then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them to death with stones; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbor’s wife: so thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee.

²⁵But if the man find the damsel that is betrothed in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die: ²⁶but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbor, and slayeth him, even so is this matter; ²⁷for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

²⁸If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, that is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; ²⁹then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.

³⁰A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.

23 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the assembly of Yehovah.

²A bastard shall not enter into the assembly of Yehovah; even to the tenth generation shall none of his enter into the assembly of Yehovah.

³An ‘Amoni or a Mo’avi shall not enter into the assembly of Yehovah; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of Yehovah for ever: 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 Bil’am the son of B’or from P’tor in Aram-Naharayim, to curse thee. ⁵Nevertheless Yehovah thy God would not hearken unto Bil’am; but Yehovah thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because Yehovah thy God loved thee. ⁶Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.

⁷Thou shalt not abhor an Edomi; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a sojourner in his land. ⁸The children of the third generation that are born unto them shall enter into the assembly of Yehovah.

⁹When thou goest forth in camp against thine enemies, then thou shalt keep thee from every evil thing. ¹⁰If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of that which chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp: ¹¹but it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall bathe himself in water; and when the sun is down, he shall come within the camp. ¹²Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: ¹³and thou shalt have a paddle among thy weapons; and it shall be, when thou sittest down abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: ¹⁴for Yehovah 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 may not see an unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

¹⁵Thou shalt not deliver unto his master a servant that is escaped from his master unto thee: ¹⁶he shall dwell with thee, in the midst of thee, in the place which he shall choose within one of thy gates, where it pleaseth him best: thou shalt not oppress him.

¹⁷There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Isra’el, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Isra’el. ¹⁸Thou shalt not bring the hire of a harlot, or the wages of a dog, into the house of Yehovah thy God for any vow: for even both these are an abomination unto Yehovah thy God.

¹⁹Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy brother; interest of money, interest of victuals, interest of anything that is lent upon interest. ²⁰Unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon interest; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon interest, that Yehovah thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thy hand unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it.

²¹When thou shalt vow a vow unto Yehovah thy God, thou shalt not be slack to pay it: for Yehovah thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. ²²But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. ²³That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe and do; according as thou hast vowed unto Yehovah thy God, a freewill-offering, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.

²⁴When thou comest into thy neighbor’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat of grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. ²⁵When thou comest into thy neighbor’s standing grain, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thy hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor’s standing grain.

24 When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. ²And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. ³And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; ⁴her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Jehovah: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which Yehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

⁵When a man taketh a new wife, he shall not go out in the host, neither shall he be charged with any business: he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he hath taken.

⁶No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone to pledge; for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.

⁷If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Isra’el, and he deal with him as a slave, or sell him; then that thief shall die: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.

⁸Take heed in the plague of tzara’at, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the L’vi’im shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do. ⁹Remember what Yehovah thy God did unto Miryam, by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt.

¹⁰When thou dost lend thy neighbor any manner of loan, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. ¹¹Thou shalt stand without, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring forth the pledge without unto thee. ¹²And if he be a poor man, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge; ¹³thou shalt surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before Yehovah thy God.

¹⁴Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy sojourners that are in thy land within thy gates: ¹⁵in his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it (for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it); lest he cry against thee unto Yehovah, and it be sin unto thee.

¹⁶The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷Thou shalt not wrest the justice due to the sojourner, or to the fatherless, nor take the widow’s raiment to pledge; ¹⁸but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and Yehovah thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.

¹⁹When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that Yehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands. ²⁰When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. ²¹When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it after thee: it shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. ²²And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.

25 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. ²And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. ³Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not exceed; lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.

⁴Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the grain.

⁵If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto her. ⁶And it shall be, that the first-born that she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother that is dead, that his name be not blotted out of Isra’el. ⁷And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto me. ⁸Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand, and say, I like not to take her; ⁹then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto the man that doth not build up his brother’s house. ¹⁰And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.

¹¹When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets; ¹²then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity.

¹³Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverse weights, a great and a small. ¹⁴Thou shalt not have in thy house diverse measures, a great and a small. ¹⁵A perfect and just weight shalt thou have; a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be long in the land which Yehovah thy God giveth thee. ¹⁶For all that do such things, even all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto Yehovah thy God.

¹⁷Remember what ‘Amalek did unto thee by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt; ¹⁸how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. ¹⁹Therefore it shall be, when Yehovah thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which Yehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of ‘Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget.