23:1 “No one who is ①emasculated or has his male organ cut off may enter the assembly of the LORD.
▷ ①Lit wounded by crushing of testicles
23:2 No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the LORD; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the assembly of the LORD.
23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the assembly of the LORD,
23:4 because they did not meet you with ①food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of ②Mesopotamia, to curse you.
▷ ①Lit bread ②Heb Aram-naharaim
23:5 Nevertheless, the LORD your God was unwilling to listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the LORD your God loves you.
23:6 You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.
23:7 “You shall not loathe an ①Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not loathe an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land.
▷ ①I.e., a descendant of Esau
23:8 The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.
23:9 “When you go out as ①an army against your enemies, you shall be on guard against every evil thing.
▷ ①Or a camp
23:10 “If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he must go outside the camp; he may not ①reenter the camp.
▷ ①Lit come to the midst of
23:11 But when evening approaches, he shall bathe himself with water, and at sundown he may ①reenter the camp.
▷ ①Lit come to the midst of
23:12 “You shall also have a place allocated outside the camp, so that you may go out there to relieve yourself,
23:13 and you shall have a ①spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn and cover up your excrement.
▷ ①Lit peg
23:14 Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to save you and to ①defeat your enemies before you, your camp must be holy; so He must not see ②anything indecent among you ③or He will turn away from you.
▷ ①Lit give ②Lit nakedness of anything ③Lit and
23:15 “You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has ①escaped from his master to you.
▷ ①Lit delivered himself
23:16 He shall live with you in your midst, in the place that he chooses in one of your ①towns where it pleases him; you shall not mistreat him.
▷ ①Lit gates in the good to him
23:17 “None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.
23:18 You shall not bring the earnings of a prostitute or the money for a ①dog into the house of the LORD your God as payment for any vowed offering, because both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God.
▷ ①Prob. refers to a male prostitute
23:19 “You are not to charge interest to your countrymen: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned on interest.
23:20 You may charge interest to a foreigner, but to your countrymen you shall not charge interest, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all ①that you undertake in the land which you are about to enter to ②possess.
▷ ①Lit the putting forth of your hand ②Lit possess it
23:21 “When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly require it of you, and it will be a sin ①for you.
▷ ①Lit in you
23:22 However, if you refrain from making vows, it will not be a sin ①for you.
▷ ①Lit in you
23:23 You shall be careful and perform what goes out of your lips, since in fact you have vowed a ①voluntary offering to the LORD your God, whatever you have ②promised.
▷ ①Or freewill offering ②Lit spoken with your mouth
23:24 “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat grapes ①until you are satisfied; but you are not to put any in your ②basket.
▷ ①Lit according to your soul, your satiation ②Lit container
23:25 “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you are not to ①use a sickle on your neighbor’s standing grain.
▷ ①Lit brandish