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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 Surpu II and Deuteronomy 23:23

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Deuteronomy requires that a vow made to God be fulfilled immediately, following ancient Near Eastern tradition such as from the Akkadian Surpu tablets, that similarly criticize those who make vows to their god but do not follow through on them.

Passages

Surpu II

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Sumerian and Akkadian Incantations
Because of the evil taboo he has eaten, because of the many sins he committed, because of the assembly he divided, because of the tightly united company he dispersed, because of all the contempt for the god and goddess, because he promised in heart and by mouth but did not give, omitted the name of his god in his incense-offering, made the purifications, then complained and withheld it, …, saved something for the gods, but ate it, after he behaved arrogantly, he started to pray, disarranged the altar that had been prepared, made his god and his goddess angry with himself, standing up in the assembly, said inadequate words.
1200 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Surpu

Deuteronomy 23:23

Hebrew Bible
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.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

References

"... the reliability of the spoken word was a general concern to Mesopotamians and Israelites. The sin of hypocrisy, that is, saying one thing and thinking another, rouses the wrath of the gods. Assurbanipal paints with disgust the wicked conduct of Šamaššumukin who “outwardly, with his lips, spoke friendly words, but inwardly in his heart, planned murder.” Similar emotional accents can be heard in the laments of the Old Testament psalmists when they denounce the wicked ways of their would-be friends. Lies and falsehood are abhorred by the LORD and are in conflict with the ethos of the righteous; the Mesopotamian pantheon does not hold innocent the man who says “no” for “yes” or “yes” for “no,” “there is not” when there is or “there is” when there is not. The retracted promise met with a strong disapproval by the gods, particularly on Marduk’s behalf. “If you have promised, give …” was a current counsel, the spirit of which is also reflected in penitential confessions. A similar ideal is pictured in the Psalms, which praise the man who, having sworn to his own disadvantage, does not break his vow (compare Psalm 15:4, Deuteronomy 23:22-24, Ecclesiastes 5:3-5) ..."
Karel van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction in Israel and Mesopotamia: A Comparative Study, SSN 22 (Assen: Van Gorcum & Comp. b.v., 1985), 20.

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Surpu II and Deuteronomy 23:23

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