by Septuagint
[19] And if thou shouldest besiege a city many days to prevail against it by war to take it, thou shalt not destroy its trees, by applying an iron tool to them, but thou shalt eat of it, and shalt not cut it down: Is the tree that is in the field a man, to enter before thee into the work of the siege? [20] But the tree which thou knowest to be not fruit-bearing, this thou shalt destroy and cut down; and thou shalt construct a mound against the city, which makes war against thee, until it be delivered up.
Chapter 21
[1] And if one be found slain with the sword in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit, having fallen in the field, and they do not know who has smitten him; [2] thine elders and thy judges shall come forth, and shall measure the distances of the cities round about the slain man: [3] and it shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not laboured, and which has not borne a yoke. [4] And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer into a rough valley, which has not been tilled and is not sown, and they shall slay the heifer in the valley. [5] And the priests the Levites shall come, because the Lord God has chosen them to stand by him, and to bless in his name, and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be decided. [6] And all the elders of that city who draw nigh to the slain man shall wash their hands over the head of the heifer which was slain in the valley; [7] and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it. [8] Be merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Lord, that innocent blood may not be charged on thy people Israel: and the blood shall be atoned for to them. [9] And thou shalt take away innocent blood from among you, if thou shouldest do that which is good and pleasing before the Lord thy God.
[10] And if when thou goest out to war against thine enemies, the Lord thy God should deliver them into thine hands, and thou shouldest take their spoil, [11] and shouldest see among the spoil a woman beautiful in countenance, and shouldest desire her, and take her to thyself for a wife, [12] and shouldest bring her within thine house: then shalt thou shave her head, and pare her nails; [13] and shalt take away her garments of captivity from off her, and she shall abide in thine house, and shall bewail her father and mother the days of a month; and afterwards thou shalt go in to her and dwell with her, and she shall be thy wife.
[14] And it shall be if thou do not delight in her, thou shalt send her out free; and she shall not by any means be sold for money, thou shalt not treat her contemptuously, because thou hast humbled her.
[15] And if a man have two wives, the one loved and the other hated, and both the loved and the hated should have born him children, and the son of the hated should be first-born; [16] then it shall be that whensoever he shall divide by inheritance his goods to his sons, he shall not be able to give the right of the first-born to the son of the loved one, having overlooked the son of the hated, which is the first-born. [17] But he shall acknowledge the first-born of the hated one to give to him double of all things which shall be found by him, because he is the first of his children, and to him belongs the birthright. [18] And if any man has a disobedient and contentious son, who hearkens not to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother, and they should correct him, and he should not hearken to them; [19] then shall his father and his mother take hold of him, and bring him forth to the elders of his city, and to the gate of the place: [20] and they shall say to the men of their city, This our son is disobedient and contentious, he hearkens not to our voice, he is a reveler and a drunkard. [21] And the men of his city shall stone him with stones, and he shall die; and thou shalt remove the evil one from yourselves, and the rest shall hear and fear.
[22] And if there be sin in any one, and the judgment of death be upon him, and he be put to death, and ye hang him on a tree: [23] his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but ye shall by all means bury it in that day; for every one that is hanged on a tree is cursed of God; and ye shall by no means defile the land which the Lord thy God gives thee for an inheritance.
Chapter 22
[1] When thou seest the calf of thy brother or his sheep wandering in the way, thou shalt not overlook them; thou shalt by all means turn them back to thy brother, and thou shalt restore them to him. [2] And if thy brother do not come nigh thee, and thou dost not know him, thou shalt bring it into thy house within; and it shall be with thee until thy brother shall seek them, and thou shalt restore them to him. [3] Thus shalt thou do to his ass, and thus shalt thou do to his garment, and thus shalt thou do to every thing that thy brother has lost; whatsoever shall have been lost by him, and thou shalt have found, thou shalt not have power to overlook. [4] Thou shalt not see the ass of thy brother, or his calf, fallen in the way: thou shalt not overlook them, thou shalt surely help him to raise them up.
[5] The apparel of a man shall not be on a woman, neither shall a man put on a woman’s dress; for every one that does these things is an abomination to the Lord thy God. [6] And if thou shouldest come upon a brood of birds before thy face in the way or upon any tree, or upon the earth, young or eggs, and the mother be brooding on the young or the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young ones. [7] Thou shalt by all means let the mother go, but thou shalt take the young to thyself; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long.
[8] If thou shouldest build a new house, then shalt thou make a parapet to thy house; so thou shalt not bring blood-guiltiness upon thy house, if one should in any wise fall from it. [9] Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diverse seed, lest the fruit be devoted, and whatsoever seed thou mayest sow, with the fruit of thy vineyard. [10] Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. [11] Thou shalt not wear a mingled garment, woollen and linen together. [12] Thou shalt make fringes on the four borders of thy garments, with which soever thou mayest be clothed.
[13] And if any one should take a wife, and dwell with her, and hate her, [14] and attach to her reproachful words, and bring against her an evil name, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her I found not her tokens of virginity: [15] then the father and the mother of the damsel shall take and bring out the damsel’s tokens of virginity to the elders of the city to the gate. [16] And the father of the damsel shall say to the elders, I gave this my daughter to this man for a wife; [17] and now he has hated her, and attaches reproachful words to her, saying, I have not found tokens of virginity with thy daughter; and these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall unfold the garment before the elders of the city. [18] And the elders of that city shall take that man, and shall chastise him, [19] and shall fine him a hundred shekels, and shall give them to the father of the damsel, because he has brought forth an evil name against a virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife: he shall never be able to put her away.
[20] But if this report be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel; [21] then shall they bring out the damsel to the doors of her father’s house, and shall stone her with stones, and she shall die; because she has wrought folly among the children of Israel, to defile the house of her father by whoring: so thou shalt remove the evil one from among you.
[22] And if a man be found lying with a woman married to a man, ye shall kill them both, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou remove the wicked one out of Israel. [23] And if there be a young damsel espoused to a man, and a man should have found her in the city and have lain with her; [24] ye shall bring them both out to the gate of their city, and they shall be stoned with stones, and they shall die; the damsel, because she cried not in the city; and the man, because he humbled his neighbour’s spouse: so shalt thou remove the evil one from yourselves. [25] But if a man find in the field a damsel that is betrothed, and he should force her and lie with her, ye shall slay the man that lay with her only. [26] And the damsel has not committed a sin worthy of death; as if a man should rise up against his neighbour, and slay him, so is this thing; [27] because he found her in the
field; the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to help her.
[28] And if any one should find a young virgin who has not been betrothed, and should force her and lie with her, and be found, [29] the man who lay with her shall give to the father of the damsel fifty silver didrachms, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her; he shall never be able to put her away. [30] A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.
Chapter 23
[1] He that is fractured or mutilated in his private parts shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord. [2] One born of a harlot shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord.
[3] The Ammanite and Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord, even until the tenth generation he shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord, even for ever: [4] because they met you not with bread and water by the way, when ye went out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Mesopotamia to curse thee. [5] But the Lord thy God would not hearken to Balaam; and the Lord thy God changed the curses into blessings, because the Lord thy God loved thee. [6] Thou shalt not speak peaceably or profitably to them all thy days for ever. [7] Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, because he is thy brother; thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. [8] If sons be born to them, in the third generation they shall enter into the assembly of the Lord.
[9] And if thou shouldest go forth to engage with thine enemies, then thou shalt keep thee from every wicked thing. [10] If there should be in thee a man who is not clean by reason of his issue by night, then he shall go forth out of the camp, and he shall not enter into the camp. [11] And it shall come to pass toward evening he shall wash his body with water, and when the sun has gone down, he shall go into the camp. [12] And thou shalt have a place outside of the camp, and thou shalt go out thither, [13] and thou shalt have a trowel on thy girdle; and it shall come to pass when thou wouldest relieve thyself abroad, that thou shalt dig with it, and shalt bring back the earth and cover thy nuisance. [14] Because the Lord thy God walks in thy camp to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemy before thy face; and thy camp shall be holy, and there shall not appear in thee a disgraceful thing, and so he shall turn away from thee.
[15] Thou shalt not deliver a servant to his master, who coming from his master attaches himself to thee. [16] He shall dwell with thee, he shall dwell among you where he shall please; thou shalt not afflict him. [17] There shall not be a harlot of the daughters of Israel, and there shall not be a fornicator of the sons of Israel; there shall not be an idolatress of the daughters of Israel, and there shall not be an initiated person of the sons of Israel. [18] Thou shalt not bring the hire of a harlot, nor the price of a dog into the house of the Lord thy God, for any vow; because even both are an abomination to the Lord thy God.
[19] Thou shalt not lend to thy brother on usury of silver, or usury of meat, or usury of any thing which thou mayest lend out. [20] Thou mayest lend on usury to a stranger, but to thy brother thou shalt not lend on usury; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all thy works upon the land, into which thou art entering to inherit it.
[21] And if thou wilt vow a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it; for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee, and otherwise it shall be sin in thee. [22] But if thou shouldest be unwilling to vow, it is not sin in thee. [23] Thou shalt observe the words that proceed from between thy lips; and as thou hast vowed a gift to the Lord God, so shalt thou do that which thou hast spoken with thy mouth.
Chapter 24
1 And if thou shouldest go into the corn field of thy neighbour, then thou mayest gather the ears with thy hands; but thou shalt not put the sickle to thy neighbour’s corn. [2] And if thou shouldest go into the vineyard of thy neighbour, thou shalt eat grapes sufficient to satisfy thy desire; but thou mayest not put them into a vessel. [3] And if any one should take a wife, and should dwell with her, then it shall come to pass if she should not have found favour before him, because he has found some unbecoming thing in her, that he shall write for her a bill of divorcement, and give it into her hands, and he shall send her away out of his house. [4] And if she should go away and be married to another man; [5] and the last husband should hate her, and write for her a bill of divorcement; and should give it into her hands, and send her away out of his house, and the last husband should die, who took her to himself for a wife; [4] (6) the former husband who sent her away shall not be able to return and take her to himself for a wife, after she has been defiled; because it is an abomination before the Lord thy God, and ye shall not defile the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit.
[7] And if any one should have recently taken a wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall any thing be laid upon him; he shall be free in his house; for one year he shall cheer his wife whom he has taken. [8] Thou shalt not take for a pledge the under millstone, nor the upper millstone; for he who does so takes life for a pledge. [9] And if a man should be caught stealing one of his brethren of the children of Israel, and having overcome him he should sell him, that thief shall die; so shalt thou remove that evil one from yourselves. [10] Take heed to thyself in regard of the plague of leprosy: thou shalt take great heed to do according to all the law, which the priests the Levites shall report to you; take heed to do, as I have charged you. [11] Remember all that the Lord thy God did to Mariam in the way, when ye were going out of Egypt.
[12] If thy neighbour owe thee a debt, any debt whatsoever, thou shalt not go into his house to take his pledge: [13] thou shalt stand without, and the man who is in thy debt shall bring the pledge out to thee. [14] And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge. [15] Thou shalt surely restore his pledge at sunset, and he shall sleep in his garment, and he shall bless thee; and it shall be mercy to thee before the Lord thy God. [16] Thou shalt not unjustly withhold the wages of the poor and needy of thy brethren, or of the strangers who are in thy cities. [17] Thou shalt pay him his wages the same day, the sun shall not go down upon it, because he is poor and he trusts in it; and he shall cry against thee to the Lord, and it shall be sin in thee. [18] The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, and the sons shall not be put to death for the fathers; every one shall be put to death for his own sin. [19] Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of the stranger and the fatherless, and widow; thou shalt not take the widow’s garment for a pledge. [20] And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee from thence; therefore I charge thee to do this thing.
[21] And when thou shalt have reaped corn in thy field, and shalt have forgotten a sheaf in thy field, thou shalt not return to take it; it shall be for the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands. [22] And if thou shouldest gather thine olives, thou shalt not return to collect the remainder; it shall be for the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, and thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt; therefore I command thee to do this thing. [23] And when soever thou shalt gather the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean what thou hast left; it shall be for the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow: [24] and thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt; therefore I command thee to do this thing.
Chapter 25
[1] And if there should be a dispute between men, and they should come forward to judgment, and the judges judge, and justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked: [2] then it shall come to pass, if the unrighteous should be worthy of stripes, thou shalt lay him down before the judges, and they shall scourge him before them according to his iniquity. [3] And they shall scourge him with forty stripes in number, they shall not inflict more; for if thou shouldest scourge him with more stripes beyond these stripes, thy brother will be disgraced before thee. [4] Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.
[5] And if brethren should live together, and one of them should die, and should not have
seed, the wife of the deceased shall not marry out of the family to a man not related: her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and shall take her to himself for a wife, and shall dwell with her. [6] And it shall come to pass that the child which she shall bear, shall be named by the name of the deceased, and his name shall not be blotted out of Israel.
[7] And if the man should not be willing to take his brother’s wife, then shall the woman go up to the gate to the elders, and she shall say, My husband’s brother will not raise up the name of his brother in Israel, my husband’s brother has refused. [8] And the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him; and if he stand and say, I will not take her: [9] then his brother’s wife shall come forward before the elders, and shall loose one shoe from off his foot, and shall spit in his face, and shall answer and say, Thus shall they do to the man who will not build his brother’s house in Israel. [10] And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that has had his shoe loosed.
[11] And if men should strive together, a man with his brother, and the wife of one of them should advance to rescue her husband out of the hand of him that smites him, and she should stretch forth her hand, and take hold of his private parts; [12] thou shalt cut off her hand; thine eye shall not spare her.
