The Wilderness Years

But ADONAI your God would not listen to Bil'am; rather, ADONAI your God turned the curse into a blessing for you; because ADONAI your God loved you.

So you are never to seek their peace or well being, as long as you live.

"But you are not to detest an Edomi, because he is your brother; and you are not to detest an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

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

"When you are in camp, at war with your enemies, you are to guard yourself against anything bad.

If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp; he is not to enter the camp.

When evening arrives he is to bathe himself in water, and after sunset he may enter the camp.

Also you are to have an area outside the camp to use as a latrine.

You must include a trowel with your equipment, and when you relieve yourself, you are to dig a hole first and afterwards cover your excrement.

For ADONAI your God moves about in your camp to rescue you and to hand over your enemies to you. Therefore your camp must be a holy place. [ADONAI] should not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you

"If a slave has escaped from his master and taken refuge with you, you are not to hand him back to his master.

Allow him to stay with you, in whichever place suits him best among your settlements; do not mistreat him.

"No woman of Isra'el is to engage in ritual prostitution, and no man of Isra'el is to engage in ritual homosexual prostitution.

Nothing earned through heterosexual or homosexual prostitution is to be brought into the house of ADONAI your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to ADONAI your God.

"You are not to lend at interest to your brother, no matter whether the loan is of money, food or anything else that can earn interest

To an outsider you may lend at interest, but to your brother you are not to lend at interest, so that ADONAI your God will prosper you in everything you set out to do in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

"When you make a vow to ADONAI your God, you are not to delay in fulfilling it, for ADONAI your God will certainly demand it of you, and your failure to do so will be your sin

If you choose not to make a vow at all, that will not be a sin for

but if a vow passes your lips, you must take care to perform it according to what you voluntarily vowed to ADONAI your God, what you promised in words spoken aloud.

"When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat enough grapes to satisfy your appetite; but you are not to put any in your basket.

When you enter your neighbor's field of growing grain, you may pluck ears with your hand; but you are not to put a sickle to your neighbor's grain.

"Suppose a man marries a woman and consummates the marriage but later finds her displeasing, because he has found her offensive in some respect. He writes her a divorce document, gives it to her and sends her away from his house.

She leaves his house, goes and becomes another man's wife;

but the second husband dislikes her and writes her a get, gives it to her and sends her away from his house; or the second husband whom she married dies.

In such a case her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again as his wife, because she is now defiled. It would be detestable to ADONAI, and you are not to bring about sin in the land ADONAI your God is giving you as your inheritance.