1
"If you see an Israelite's cow or sheep running loose, do not ignore it; take it back.
2
But if its owner lives a long way off or if you don't know who owns it, then take it home with you. When its owner comes looking for it, give it to him.
3
Do the same thing if you find a donkey, a piece of clothing, or anything else that an Israelite may have lost.
4
"If an Israelite's donkey or cow has fallen down, don't ignore it; help him get the animal to its feet again.
5
"Women are not to wear men's clothing, and men are not to wear women's clothing; the LORD your God hates people who do such things.
6
"If you happen to find a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground with the mother bird sitting either on the eggs or with her young, you are not to take the mother bird.
7
You may take the young birds, but you must let the mother bird go, so that you will live a long and prosperous life.
8
"When you build a new house, be sure to put a railing around the edge of the roof. Then you will not be responsible if someone falls off and is killed.
9
"Do not plant any crop in the same field with your grapevines; if you do, you are forbidden to use either the grapes or the produce of the other crop.
10
"Do not hitch an ox and a donkey together for plowing.
11
"Do not wear cloth made by weaving wool and linen together.
12
"Sew tassels on the four corners of your clothes.
13
"Suppose a man marries a young woman and later he decides he doesn't want her.
14
So he makes up false charges against her, accusing her of not being a virgin when they got married.
15
"If this happens, the young woman's parents are to take the blood-stained wedding sheet that proves she was a virgin, and they are to show it in court to the town leaders.
16
Her father will say to them, 'I gave my daughter to this man in marriage, and now he doesn't want her.
17
He has made false charges against her, saying that she was not a virgin when he married her. But here is the proof that my daughter was a virgin; look at the bloodstains on the wedding sheet!'
18
Then the town leaders are to take the husband and beat him.
19
They are also to fine him a hundred pieces of silver and give the money to the young woman's father, because the man has brought disgrace on an Israelite woman. Moreover, she will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives.
20
"But if the charge is true and there is no proof that she was a virgin,
21
then they are to take her out to the entrance of her father's house, where the men of her city are to stone her to death. She has done a shameful thing among our people by having intercourse before she was married, while she was still living in her father's house. In this way you will get rid of this evil.
22
"If a man is caught having intercourse with another man's wife, both of them are to be put to death. In this way you will get rid of this evil.
23
"Suppose a man is caught in a town having intercourse with a young woman who is engaged to someone else.
24
You are to take them outside the town and stone them to death. She is to die because she did not cry out for help, although she was in a town, where she could have been heard. And the man is to die because he had intercourse with someone who was engaged. In this way you will get rid of this evil.
25
"Suppose a man out in the countryside rapes a young woman who is engaged to someone else. Then only the man is to be put to death;
26
nothing is to be done to the woman, because she has not committed a sin worthy of death. This case is the same as when one man attacks another man and murders him.
27
The man raped the engaged woman in the countryside, and although she cried for help, there was no one to help her.
28
"Suppose a man is caught raping a young woman who is not engaged.
29
He is to pay her father the bride price of fifty pieces of silver, and she is to become his wife, because he forced her to have intercourse with him. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.
30
"No man is to disgrace his father by having intercourse with any of his father's wives.
1
"No man who has been castrated or whose penis has been cut off may be included among the LORD's people.
2
"No one born out of wedlock or any descendant of such a person, even in the tenth generation, may be included among the LORD's people.
3
"No Ammonite or Moabite---or any of their descendants, even in the tenth generation---may be included among the LORD's people.
4
They refused to provide you with food and water when you were on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor, from the city of Pethor in Mesopotamia, to curse you.
5
But the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead he turned the curse into a blessing, because he loved you.
6
As long as you are a nation, never do anything to help these nations or to make them prosperous.
7
"Do not despise the Edomites; they are your relatives. And do not despise the Egyptians; you once lived in their land.
8
From the third generation onward their descendants may be included among the LORD's people.
9
"When you are in camp in time of war, you are to avoid anything that would make you ritually unclean.
10
If a man becomes unclean because he has had a wet dream during the night, he is to go outside the camp and stay there.
11
Toward evening he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may come back into camp.
12
"You are to have a place outside the camp where you can go when you need to relieve yourselves.
13
Carry a stick as part of your equipment, so that when you have a bowel movement you can dig a hole and cover it up.
14
Keep your camp ritually clean, because the LORD your God is with you in your camp to protect you and to give you victory over your enemies. Do not do anything indecent that would cause the LORD to turn his back on you.
15
"If slaves run away from their owners and come to you for protection, do not send them back.
16
They may live in any of your towns that they choose, and you are not to treat them harshly.
17
"No Israelite, man or woman, is to become a temple prostitute.
18
Also, no money earned in this way may be brought into the house of the LORD your God in fulfillment of a vow. The LORD hates temple prostitutes.
19
"When you lend money or food or anything else to Israelites, do not charge them interest.
20
You may charge interest on what you lend to foreigners, but not on what you lend to Israelites. Obey this rule, and the LORD your God will bless everything you do in the land that you are going to occupy.
21
"When you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not put off doing what you promised; the LORD will hold you to your vow, and it is a sin not to keep it.
22
It is no sin not to make a vow to the LORD,
23
but if you make one voluntarily, be sure that you keep it.
24
"When you walk along a path in someone else's vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but you must not carry any away in a container.
25
When you walk along a path in someone else's grainfield, you may eat all the grain you can pull off with your hands, but you must not cut any grain with a sickle.
1
"Suppose a man marries a woman and later decides that he doesn't want her, because he finds something about her that he doesn't like. So he writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home.
2
Then suppose she marries another man,
3
and he also decides that he doesn't want her, so he also writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home. Or suppose her second husband dies.
4
In either case, her first husband is not to marry her again; he is to consider her defiled. If he married her again, it would be offensive to the LORD. You are not to commit such a terrible sin in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
5
"When a man is newly married, he is not to be drafted into military service or any other public duty; he is to be excused from duty for one year, so that he can stay at home and make his wife happy.
6
"When you lend someone something, you are not to take as security his millstones used for grinding his grain. This would take away the family's means of preparing food to stay alive.
7
"If any of you kidnap Israelites and make them your slaves or sell them into slavery, you are to be put to death. In this way your nation will get rid of this evil.
8
"When you are suffering from a dreaded skin disease, be sure to do exactly what the levitical priests tell you; follow the instructions that I have given them.
9
Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam as you were coming from Egypt.
10
"When you lend someone something, do not go into his house to get the garment he is going to give you as security;
11
wait outside and let him bring it to you himself.
12
If he is poor, do not keep it overnight;
13
return it to him each evening, so that he can have it to sleep in. Then he will be grateful, and the LORD your God will be pleased with you.
14
"Do not cheat poor and needy hired servants, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living in one of your towns.
15
Each day before sunset pay them for that day's work; they need the money and have counted on getting it. If you do not pay them, they will cry out against you to the LORD, and you will be guilty of sin.
16
"Parents are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their children, and children are not to be put to death for crimes committed by their parents; people are to be put to death only for a crime they themselves have committed.
17
"Do not deprive foreigners and orphans of their rights; and do not take a widow's garment as security for a loan.
18
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God set you free; that is why I have given you this command.
19
"When you gather your crops and fail to bring in some of the grain that you have cut, do not go back for it; it is to be left for the foreigners, orphans, and widows, so that the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.
20
When you have picked your olives once, do not go back and get those that are left; they are for the foreigners, orphans, and widows.
21
When you have gathered your grapes once, do not go back over the vines a second time; the grapes that are left are for the foreigners, orphans, and widows.
22
Never forget that you were slaves in Egypt; that is why I have given you this command.
1
But now to continue---the son who will receive his father's property is treated just like a slave while he is young, even though he really owns everything.
2
While he is young, there are men who take care of him and manage his affairs until the time set by his father.
3
In the same way, we too were slaves of the ruling spirits of the universe before we reached spiritual maturity.
4
But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law,
5
to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children.
6
To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, "Father, my Father."
7
So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.
8
In the past you did not know God, and so you were slaves of beings who are not gods.
9
But now that you know God---or, I should say, now that God knows you---how is it that you want to turn back to those weak and pitiful ruling spirits? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?
10
You pay special attention to certain days, months, seasons, and years.
11
I am worried about you! Can it be that all my work for you has been for nothing?
12
I beg you, my friends, be like me. After all, I am like you. You have not done me any wrong.
13
You remember why I preached the gospel to you the first time; it was because I was sick.
14
But even though my physical condition was a great trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you received me as you would an angel from heaven; you received me as you would Christ Jesus.
15
You were so happy! What has happened? I myself can say that you would have taken out your own eyes, if you could, and given them to me.
16
Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
17
Those other people show a deep interest in you, but their intentions are not good. All they want is to separate you from me, so that you will have the same interest in them as they have in you.
18
Now, it is good to have such a deep interest if the purpose is good---this is true always, and not merely when I am with you.
19
My dear children! Once again, just like a mother in childbirth, I feel the same kind of pain for you until Christ's nature is formed in you.
20
How I wish I were with you now, so that I could take a different attitude toward you. I am so worried about you!
21
Let me ask those of you who want to be subject to the Law: do you not hear what the Law says?
22
It says that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman.
23
His son by the slave woman was born in the usual way, but his son by the free woman was born as a result of God's promise.
24
These things can be understood as a figure: the two women represent two covenants. The one whose children are born in slavery is Hagar, and she represents the covenant made at Mount Sinai.
25
Hagar, who stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia, is a figure of the present city of Jerusalem, in slavery with all its people.
26
But the heavenly Jerusalem is free, and she is our mother.
27
For the scripture says, "Be happy, you childless woman! Shout and cry with joy, you who never felt the pains of childbirth! For the woman who was deserted will have more children than the woman whose husband never left her."
28
Now, you, my friends, are God's children as a result of his promise, just as Isaac was.
29
At that time the son who was born in the usual way persecuted the one who was born because of God's Spirit; and it is the same now.
30
But what does the scripture say? It says, "Send the slave woman and her son away; for the son of the slave woman will not have a part of the father's property along with the son of the free woman."
31
So then, my friends, we are not the children of a slave woman but of a free woman.
