The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Deuteronomy 23
1 You shall not see your brother’s ox or
his sheep go astray and hide yourself from
them. You shall surely bring them again to
your brother.
2 If your brother isn’t near to you, or if
you don’t know him, then you shall bring
it home to your house, and it shall be with
you until your brother comes looking for
it, and you shall restore it to him.
3 So you shall do with his donkey. So
you shall do with his garment. So you shall
do with every lost thing of your brother’s,
which he has lost and you have found. You
may not hide yourself.
4 You shall not see your brother’s donkey
or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide
yourself from them. You shall surely help
him to lift them up again.
5 A woman shall not wear men’s clothing, neither shall a man put on women’s
clothing; for whoever does these things is
an abomination to Yahweh your God.
6 If you come across a bird’s nest on the
way, in any tree or on the ground, with
young ones or eggs, and the hen sitting on
the young, or onthe eggs, youshallnottake
the hen with the young.
7 You shall surely let the hen go, but the
young you may take for yourself, that it
may be well with you, and that you may
prolong your days.
8 When you build a new house, then you
shall make a railing around your roof, so
that you don’t bring blood on your house if
anyone falls from there.
9 You shall not sow your vineyard with
two kinds of seed, lest all the fruit be defiled, the seed which you have sown, and
the increase of the vineyard.
10 You shall not plow with an ox and a
donkey together.
11 You shall not wear clothes of wool and
linen woven together.
12 You shall make yourselves fringes† on
the four corners of your cloak with which
you cover yourself.
13 If any man takes a wife, and goes in to
her, hates her,
14 accuses her of shameful things, gives
her a bad name, and says, “I took this
woman, and when I came near to her, I
didn’t find in her the tokens of virginity;”
15 then the young lady’s father and
mother shall take and bring the tokens of
the young lady’s virginity to the elders of
the city in the gate.
16 The young lady’s father shall tell the
elders, “I gave my daughter to this man as
his wife, and he hates her.
17 Behold, he has accused her of shameful things, saying, ‘I didn’t find in your
daughter the tokens of virginity;’ and yet
these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity.” They shall spread the cloth before
the elders of the city.
18 The elders of that city shall take the
man and chastise him.
19 They shall fine him one hundred
shekels of silver,‡ and give them to the
father of the young lady, because he has
given a bad name to a virgin of Israel. She
shall be his wife. He may not put her away
all his days.
20 But if this thing is true, that the tokens
of virginity were not found in the young
lady,
21 then they shall bring out the young
lady to the door of her father’s house, and
the men of her city shall stone her to death
with stones, because she has done folly in
Israel, to play the prostitute in her father’s
house. So you shall remove the evil from
among you.
22 If a man is found lying with a woman
married to a husband, then they shall both
die, the man who lay with the woman and
the woman. So you shall remove the evil
from Israel.
23 If there is a young lady who is a virgin
pledged to be married to a husband, and a
man finds her in the city, and lies with her,
24 then you shall bring them both out to
the gate of that city, and you shall stone
them to death with stones; the lady, because she didn’t cry, being in the city;
and the man, because he has humbled his
neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the
evil from among you.
25 But if the man finds the lady who is
pledged to be married in the field, and the
man forces her and lies with her, then only
the man who lay with her shall die;
26 but to the lady you shall do nothing.
There is in the lady no sin worthy of death;
for as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter;
27 for he found her in the field, the
pledged to be married lady cried, and
there was no one to save her.
28 If a man finds a lady who is a virgin,
who is not pledged to be married, grabs
her and lies with her, and they are found,
29 then the man who lay with her shall
give to the lady’s father fifty shekels§ of
silver. She shall be his wife, because he has
humbled her. He may not put her away all
his days.
30 A man shall not take his father’s wife,
and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.