Deuteronomy 23: Who may enter the assembly, a clean camp, and other laws

In plain English: A man whose private parts are crushed or cut off is not to enter Yahweh's assembly.

The Hebrew words: The two words for the injury are rare. "Crushing" (dakkah) and the word for the man's member (shophkah) are each found only in this verse. The dictionary gives the first as "mutilated".

Good to know: Isaiah 56:3 to 5 says Yahweh will give eunuchs who keep his Sabbaths and hold to his covenant "a memorial and a name" in his house. The text does not explain how the two passages fit, and readers differ.

In plain English: A person born of a forbidden union is not to enter Yahweh's assembly. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants is to enter Yahweh's assembly.

The Hebrew word: "Born of a forbidden union" is mamzer. It is in only 2 verses of the Bible: here and Zechariah 9:6, where this Bible says "foreigners". The dictionary gives it as "a mongrel, i.e. born of a Jewish father and a heathen mother".

What changes: The text does not say which union is meant: a child of a marriage the law forbids, a child of a mixed marriage, as the dictionary has it, or a child of a foreign people. Readers differ.

In plain English: An Ammonite or a Moabite is not to enter Yahweh's assembly. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants is ever to enter Yahweh's assembly,

Good to know: Nehemiah 13:1 to 2 reads this law to the people in a later day. The book of Ruth tells of Ruth the Moabite (Ruth 1:4), who married Boaz (Ruth 4:13) and became the great-grandmother of David (Ruth 4:17). The text of Deuteronomy does not speak of her, and readers explain this in different ways.

In plain English: because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they (the Hebrew says: he) hired Balaam the son of Beor, from Pethor in Mesopotamia (Aram of the two rivers), against you, to curse you.

The Hebrew words: "Mesopotamia" is Aram Naharayim, which the dictionary gives as "Aram of (the) two rivers (Euphrates and Tigris)". In Hebrew "they hired" is "he hired". The verse does not name him. In Numbers it is Balak, king of Moab, who sends for Balaam (Numbers 22:4 to 5).

In plain English: But Yahweh your God would not listen to Balaam. Instead, Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loved you.

In plain English: You are not to seek their peace or their good (this Bible: prosperity) as long as you live, forever.

In plain English: You are not to detest an Edomite, because he is your brother. You are not to detest an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

Good to know: Edom is the people of Esau, Jacob's brother (Genesis 25:30). In Numbers 20:14 Moses' message to the king of Edom begins "Your brother Israel says".

In plain English: The children born to them in the third generation may enter Yahweh's assembly.

In plain English: When you go out and camp against your enemies, you are to keep away from everything evil.

In plain English: If there is a man among you who is not clean because of something that happened to him in the night, he is to go outside the camp. He is not to come into the camp.

The Hebrew word: "That which happens to him by night" uses qareh, found only in this verse. The dictionary gives it as "an (unfortunate) occurrence". Leviticus 15:16 gives the rule for a man who has an emission of semen.

In plain English: When evening comes, he is to wash himself with water, and when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp.

In plain English: You are also to have a place (literally: a hand) outside the camp, where you go out to relieve yourself.

In plain English: You are to have a digging tool (or: a spade) with your gear. When you relieve yourself (literally: sit down) outside, you are to dig a hole with it and turn back and cover your waste.

The Hebrew word: "Trowel" is azen, found only in this verse. The dictionary gives it as "a spade or paddle (as having a broad end)".

In plain English: For Yahweh your God walks in the middle of your camp to rescue you and to give your enemies over to you. So your camp is to be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent (literally: the nakedness of a thing) among you and turn away from you.

The Hebrew words: "An unclean thing" is literally "the nakedness of a thing", ervat davar. These two words stand together in only 2 verses: here and 24:1, where this Bible says "some unseemly thing".

In plain English: You are not to hand over to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you.

Good to know: The text does not say whether this means a slave who has fled from another land into Israel, or any slave who flees from his master. Readers differ. Verse 16 says he may live where he chooses and must not be mistreated.

In plain English: He is to live with you, among you, in the place he chooses in one of your towns (literally: gates), wherever he likes best. You are not to mistreat him.

In plain English: None of the daughters of Israel is to be a temple prostitute (or: a prostitute), and none of the sons of Israel is to be a male temple prostitute (this Bible: a sodomite).

The Hebrew words: "Prostitute" here is qedeshah and "sodomite" is qadesh, both from the word for "holy". The dictionary gives qedeshah as "a female devotee (i.e. prostitute)" and qadesh as "a (quasi) sacred person, i.e. (technically) a (male) devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry".

How it is translated: This Bible says "prostitute" or a longer form in all 4 verses that use qedeshah, two of them about Tamar (Genesis 38:21). It says "sodomite" or a longer form in 4 of the 6 verses that use qadesh, as in 1 Kings 14:24.

What changes: Read with the dictionary, the verse forbids prostitution tied to the worship of other gods. Read as "prostitute", it forbids prostitution in general. The words allow both, and readers differ.

In plain English: You are not to bring the pay of a female prostitute or the wages of a male prostitute (literally: of a dog) into the house of Yahweh your God to pay any vow, because both of them are detestable (this Bible: an abomination) to Yahweh your God.

The Hebrew word: "Male prostitute" is literally "a dog", kelev. The dictionary gives it as "a dog; hence (by euphemism) a male prostitute". This Bible says "dog" or a longer form in 30 of the 31 verses that use the word. This verse is the only one where it says something else.

What changes: Read as "male prostitute", it matches the man in verse 17. Read as "dog", it is the price of a dog. The Hebrew allows both.

In plain English: You are not to charge interest to your brother: interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent at interest.

The Hebrew word: "Interest" is neshek, which the dictionary gives as "interest on a debt". It comes from nashak, "to strike with a sting (as a serpent)", the word used for the snakes that bite in Numbers 21:9.

How it is translated: This Bible says "interest" in 9 of the 10 verses that use neshek.

Good to know: Exodus 22:25 also forbids charging interest to a poor man among Yahweh's people, and Leviticus 25:35 to 37 to a brother who has become poor.

In plain English: You may charge a foreigner interest, but you are not to charge your brother interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all you put your hand to, in the land you are going in to possess.

The Hebrew word: "Foreigner" here is nokri, which the dictionary gives as "strange" or "foreign". It is a different word from the foreigner who lives among Israel (ger), as in 24:14. In Deuteronomy this Bible says "foreigner" in all 5 verses that use nokri.

In plain English: When you make a vow to Yahweh your God, you are not to be slow to pay it, because Yahweh your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin in you.

In plain English: But if you do not make a vow, it is no sin in you.

In plain English: You are to keep and do what has gone out of your lips. Whatever you have freely vowed to Yahweh your God, what you have promised with your mouth, you must do.

In plain English: When you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you like, until you are full, but you are not to put any in your basket (or: container).

In plain English: When you go into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pick the heads of grain with your hand, but you are not to put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain.

Good to know: In Matthew 12:1 Jesus goes through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples pick heads of grain and eat.