“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges(A) of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest.(B) 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time(C) or pick up the grapes that have fallen.(D) Leave them for the poor and the foreigner.(E) I am the Lord your God.

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19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.(A) Leave it for the foreigner,(B) the fatherless and the widow,(C) so that the Lord your God may bless(D) you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time.(E) Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.(F)

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24 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. 25 If you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.(A)

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35 “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor(A) and are unable to support themselves among you, help them(B) as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. 36 Do not take interest(C) or any profit from them, but fear your God,(D) so that they may continue to live among you. 37 You must not lend them money at interest(E) or sell them food at a profit. 38 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan(F) and to be your God.(G)

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16 “Honor your father(A) and your mother,(B) as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long(C) and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

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“‘Each of you must respect your mother and father,(A) and you must observe my Sabbaths.(B) I am the Lord your God.(C)

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“‘Anyone who curses their father(A) or mother(B) is to be put to death.(C) Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.(D)

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A Rebellious Son

18 If someone has a stubborn and rebellious(A) son(B) who does not obey his father and mother(C) and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21 Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death.(D) You must purge the evil(E) from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.(F)

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32 “‘Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect(A) for the elderly(B) and revere your God.(C) I am the Lord.(D)

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22 “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless.(A) 23 If you do and they cry out(B) to me, I will certainly hear their cry.(C) 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.(D)

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33 “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.(A) Love them as yourself,(B) for you were foreigners(C) in Egypt.(D) I am the Lord your God.

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22 You are to have the same law for the foreigner(A) and the native-born.(B) I am the Lord your God.’”

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14 “‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind,(A) but fear your God.(B) I am the Lord.

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16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander(A) among your people.

“‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life.(B) I am the Lord.

17 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart.(C) Rebuke your neighbor frankly(D) so you will not share in their guilt.

18 “‘Do not seek revenge(E) or bear a grudge(F) against anyone among your people,(G) but love your neighbor(H) as yourself.(I) I am the Lord.

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22 If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner.(A) If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.

If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey(B) or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.(C)

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21 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”(A)

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Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.(A)

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If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.(A) You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go,(B) so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.(C)

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Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours,(A) do not be afraid(B) of them,(C) because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with(D) you. When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted(E) or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you(F) to fight(G) for you against your enemies to give you victory.(H)

The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in(I) it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. Has anyone planted(J) a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it?(K) Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.(L) Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”(M) When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.(N) 11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject(O) to forced labor(P) and shall work for you. 12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. 13 When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.(Q) 14 As for the women, the children, the livestock(R) and everything else in the city,(S) you may take these as plunder(T) for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. 15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance(U) from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

16 However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.(V) 17 Completely destroy[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods,(W) and you will sin(X) against the Lord your God.

19 When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?[b] 20 However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees(Y) and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 20:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  2. Deuteronomy 20:19 Or down to use in the siege, for the fruit trees are for the benefit of people.

Uncleanness in the Camp

When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure.(A) 10 If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.(B) 11 But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset(C) he may return to the camp.(D)

12 Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God moves(E) about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy,(F) so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

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