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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 23

1 A man with crushed or severed genitals may not enter the assembly of the Lord. 2 A person of illegitimate birth may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so.⁠ 3 No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord;⁠ to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever do so,⁠ 4 for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt,⁠ and furthermore, they hired Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you. 5 But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves you. 6 You must not seek peace and prosperity for them through all the ages to come. 7 You must not hate an Edomite, for he is your relative; you must not hate an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner in his land. 8 Children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord. 9 When you go out as an army against your enemies, guard yourselves against anything impure. 10 If there is someone among you who is impure because of some nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp; he may not reenter it immediately. 11 When evening arrives he must wash himself with water, and then at sunset he may reenter the camp. 12 You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine. 13 You must have a spade among your other equipment, and when you relieve yourself outside you must dig a hole with the spade and then turn and cover your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat your enemies for you.⁠ Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. 15 You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you.⁠ 16 Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages he prefers; you must not oppress him. 17 There must never be a sacred prostitute among the young women of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute among the young men of Israel.⁠ 18 You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute or the wage of a dog30, a male prostitute, into the temple of the Lord your God⁠ in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the Lord your God.⁠ 19 You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest.⁠ 20 You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess. 21 When you make a vow to the Lord your God you must not delay in fulfilling it, for otherwise he will surely hold you accountable as a sinner.⁠ 22 If you refrain from making a vow, it will not be sinful. 23 Whatever you vow, you must be careful to do what you have promised, such as what you have vowed to the Lord your God as a freewill offering.⁠ 24 When you enter the vineyard of your neighbor you may eat as many grapes as you please, but you must not take away any in a container. 25 When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, but you must not use a sickle on your neighbor’s ripe grain.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Code of Hammurabi §16 and Deuteronomy 23:15

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Deuteronomy 23 reverses the demand to surrender runaway slaves in the Code of Hammurabi, protecting the person who escapes rather than the master's claim to ownership and allowing the fugitive to choose a place to live.

Passages

Code of Hammurabi §16

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Babylonian Legal Text
13 If the witnesses are not at hand, the judge shall set a deadline of six months. If his witnesses have not appeared within the six months, he is a wrongdoer and shall bear the fine of the pending case. 14 If anyone steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death. 15 If anyone takes a male or female slave of the court, or of a freed man, outside the city gates, he shall be put to death. 16 If anyone takes a runaway male or female slave of the court or of a freed man into his house and does not bring the slave out at the public proclamation of the herald, the master of the house shall be put to death.
1750 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Code of Hammurabi

Deuteronomy 23:15

Hebrew Bible
12 You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine. 13 You must have a spade among your other equipment, and when you relieve yourself outside you must dig a hole with the spade and then turn and cover your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God walks about in the middle of your camp to deliver you and defeat your enemies for you. Therefore your camp should be holy, so that he does not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you. 15 You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you. 16 Indeed, he may live among you in any place he chooses, in whichever of your villages he prefers; you must not oppress him.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

References

“... 23:15-16. slavery. Although debt slavery oc- curred in ancient Israel, it had a term limit of six years and then the slave was freed. Perpetual slavery did exist as well, but that involved foreign captives and Israelites who had made the decision to accept that condition (Ex 21:211; Deut 15:12-18). It is most likely this latter class of persons that is mentioned in this law, since debt slaves could expect to be released eventually. Israel’s fugitive slave law is unusual in the context of ancient Near Eastern law. However it is tied to Israel’s former condition as slaves in Egypt and thus is based on a national hatred of the institution (see Ex 22:21). The Code of *Hammurabi makes hiding a runaway slave a capital crime and sets a bounty of two shekels of silver for the return of a slave. Similarly, the international treaty between Pharaoh Rameses II and the *Hittite king Hattusilis III (c. 1280 B.C.) includes an extradition clause requiring the return of fugitive slaves. ...”
John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 196–197.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Code of Hammurabi §16 and Deuteronomy 23:15

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