Hospitality to Neighbors

1“When you see the ox or sheep of your fellow countrymana straying, don’t go away and leave them. Instead, be sure to return them to him.b 2If your fellow countryman doesn’t live near you or you don’t know who he is, bring the animalc to your house and let it remain with you until hed claims it. Then return it to him. 3Do the same for his donkey, his garment, and for anything lost that belongs to your fellow countryman. When you find it, you must not ignore it. 4When you see the donkey or the ox of your fellow countryman fallen on the road, don’t ignore them. Instead be sure to help them get up.”

Miscellaneous Laws

5“A woman must not wear what is appropriate to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, because anyone who does this is detestable to the LORD your God.

6“When you encounter a bird’s nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on its chickse or eggs, don’t take the mother along with its young.f 7You may take the young but be sure to release the mother, so that life will go well for you and that you may have a long life.

8“When you build a new house, install a parapet along your roof so that if someone falls from the roof, you won’t bring guilt of bloodshed on your house.”

Principles of Distinction

9“Don’t plant two kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, the entire crop will have to be forfeited, both the seed that you have sown and the produce from it.

10“Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.

11“Don’t wear material made from wool and linen mixed together.

12“Sew tassels for yourselves on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.”

Integrity in Marriage

13“Suppose a man marries a wife but after having sexual relations with her, he despises her, 14invents charges against her, and defames her by saying, ‘I have married this woman, but when I had sexual relations with her I found that she wasn’t a virgin.’ 15Then the father of the young lady, along with her mother, is to bring evidence of the young lady’s virginity to the elders at the gate. 16The father of the young lady is to then say to the elders: ‘I have given my daughter to this man as a wife, but he despises her. 17Now look, he has invented charges against her by saying, “I haven’t found your daughter to be a virgin.” But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they are to spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18The elders of that city will then take the man, punish him, 19fine him 100 shekels of silver, and then give them to the young lady’s father, because he had defamed a virgin of Israel. She is to remain his wife and he can’t divorce her as long as he lives. 20But if this charge is true, and the evidence of the young lady’s virginity weren’t found, 21they are to bring her to the door of her father’s house. Then the men of the city are to stone her with boulders until she dies for doing a detestable thing in Israel—acting like a prostitute while in her father’s house. By doing this, you will remove this evil from among you.

22“If a man is caught having sexual relations with a married woman, then both of them must die—the man who had sex with the woman and the woman herself—so that this evil will be removed from Israel.

23“If a man meets a young virgin lady engaged to be married in the city and has sexual relations with her, 24then the two must be brought to the city gate and there they must be stoned to death—the girl because she was in a city but did not cry out for help, and the man who abused a woman who was engaged to another man. By doing this you are to remove this evil from among you.

25“If a man meets a girl in the country who is engaged to be married and then rapesg her, the man alone—the one who had sexual relations with her—must die. 26As for the young lady, don’t do anything to her. The young lady did nothing worthy of death. This case is similar to when a man attacks his countryman and kills him. 27Since he found her in the country, the engaged girl may have cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.

28“However, if a man meets a girl who isn’t engaged to be married, and he seizes her, rapes her, and is later found out, 29then the man who raped her must give 50 shekels of silver to the girl’s father. Furthermore, he must marry her. Because he had violated her, he is to not divorce her as long as he lives.

30h “A man must not marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s memory.”i