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The Torah · Old Testament

Deuteronomy 23

Assembly boundaries, a holy camp and everyday obligations

General context

Moses gives restrictions on entry into the Lord's assembly involving genital injury, birth status, and Ammonite or Moabite descent. The Ammonite and Moabite exclusion reaches the tenth generation and is called everlasting in the KJV and ASV. He ties that exclusion to lack of food and water and the hiring of Balaam, while recalling the Lord's reversal of the curse. Edomites and Egyptians are not to be abhorred; their third generation may enter. Camp rules address bodily impurity and the burial of excrement. An escaped servant must not be returned to the master and may choose a place to live without oppression. Further commands prohibit specified sexual practices and certain offerings, distinguish interest charged to an Israelite from interest charged to a foreigner, require promised vows to be fulfilled, and allow limited eating from a neighbour's vineyard or grainfield.

Cited passages: Deuteronomy 23:1, Deuteronomy 23:2, Deuteronomy 23:3, Deuteronomy 23:4, Deuteronomy 23:5, Deuteronomy 23:6, Deuteronomy 23:7, Deuteronomy 23:8, Deuteronomy 23:9, Deuteronomy 23:10, Deuteronomy 23:11, Deuteronomy 23:12, Deuteronomy 23:13, Deuteronomy 23:14, Deuteronomy 23:15, Deuteronomy 23:16, Deuteronomy 23:17, Deuteronomy 23:18, Deuteronomy 23:19, Deuteronomy 23:20, Deuteronomy 23:21, Deuteronomy 23:22, Deuteronomy 23:23, Deuteronomy 23:24, Deuteronomy 23:25

Deuteronomy 23 (KJV)

1He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.

2A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord.

3An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever:

4Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

5Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam; but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee.

6Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.

7Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.

8The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation.

9When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.

10If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp:

11But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.

12Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad:

13And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:

14For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

15Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:

16He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.

17There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

18Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

19Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:

20Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

21When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.

22But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.

23That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.

24When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel.

25When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The KJV's congregation is the ASV's assembly and the BBE's meeting of the Lord's people. The chapter states exclusions and generational limits without defining every social right attached to that membership. Its language for sexual commerce also differs: the BBE explicitly places parts of verses 17–18 in worship of other gods, where the KJV uses whore, sodomite and price of a dog. These renderings should not be silently treated as identical definitions. The interest rule covers food and other loans as well as money; it distinguishes a fellow Israelite from a foreigner. The harvest permission allows grain to be plucked by hand, but prohibits using a sickle or carrying away grapes in a container.

Cited passages: Deuteronomy 23:1, Deuteronomy 23:2, Deuteronomy 23:3, Deuteronomy 23:4, Deuteronomy 23:5, Deuteronomy 23:6, Deuteronomy 23:7, Deuteronomy 23:8, Deuteronomy 23:17, Deuteronomy 23:18, Deuteronomy 23:19, Deuteronomy 23:20, Deuteronomy 23:24, Deuteronomy 23:25

Literary context

The chapter moves between boundaries that exclude and obligations that protect. The escaped servant may choose a home even while other passages restrict assembly membership. Holiness reaches bodily waste, borrowed goods and words spoken in a vow. A vow is voluntary before it is made but binding after it is spoken. The closing vineyard and grainfield cases distinguish immediate eating from taking away a neighbour's harvest, giving the permission a visible limit.

Cited passages: Deuteronomy 23:12, Deuteronomy 23:13, Deuteronomy 23:14, Deuteronomy 23:15, Deuteronomy 23:16, Deuteronomy 23:19, Deuteronomy 23:20, Deuteronomy 23:21, Deuteronomy 23:22, Deuteronomy 23:23, Deuteronomy 23:24, Deuteronomy 23:25

Key moments

  1. The curse becomes blessing (Deuteronomy 23:5). Moses attributes the reversal of Balaam's curse to the Lord's love for Israel.
  2. No return to the master (Deuteronomy 23:15). The command forbids handing back a servant who has escaped to Israel.
  3. A vow need not be made (Deuteronomy 23:22). Abstaining from a vow is not a sin; making one creates an obligation to fulfil it.
  4. Eat, but do not gather for removal (Deuteronomy 23:24). Grapes may be eaten in a neighbour's vineyard but not put into a container to take away.

For reflection

The escaped servant is given both refuge and a choice of where to live. How does that specific instruction shape your reading of the chapter's other boundaries and responsibilities?

People in this chapter

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