for the man met her in the field and the engaged woman cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.

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.

An Ammonite or Moabite may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever do so,

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.

But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed the curse to a blessing, for the Lord your God loves you.

You must not seek peace and prosperity for them through all the ages to come.

Children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.

You are to have a place outside the camp to serve as a latrine.

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.

You must not return an escaped slave to his master when he has run away to you.

You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute or the wage of 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house.

her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. You must not bring guilt on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

When a man is newly married, he need not go into the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to the wife he has married.

If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, and regards him as mere property and sells him, that kidnapper must die. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do.

Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you left Egypt.

When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security.

You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security.

You must by all means return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just deed by the Lord your God.

You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.

You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow's garment as security for a loan.

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this.

Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do.

When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.

When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.

Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this.

If controversy arises between people, they should go to court for judgment. When the judges hear the case, they shall exonerate the innocent but condemn the guilty.

Then, if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves.

The judge may sentence him to forty blows, but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite with contempt.

If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man's wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband's brother must go to her, marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.

But if the man does not want to marry his brother's widow, then she must go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to preserve his brother's name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!"

Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, "I don't want to marry her,"

then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond, "Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother's family line!"

His family name will be referred to in Israel as "the family of the one whose sandal was removed."

If two men get into a hand-to-hand fight, and the wife of one of them gets involved to help her husband against his attacker, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,

then you must cut off her hand -- do not pity her.

You must have an accurate and correct stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you.

For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the Lord your God.

Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way from Egypt,

So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he is giving you as an inheritance, you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven -- do not forget!

you must take the first of all the ground's produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he chooses to locate his name.

You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, "I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord promised to our ancestors to give us."

Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number, but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people.

But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor.

So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression.

Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

When you finish tithing all your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages.

Then you shall say before the Lord your God, "I have removed the sacred offering from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. I have not violated or forgotten your commandments.

I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead; I have obeyed you and have done everything you have commanded me.

Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul.

Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him.

And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments.

Then he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. You will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: "Pay attention to all the commandments I am giving you today.

When you cross the Jordan River to the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must erect great stones and cover them with plaster.

Then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to you.

Then you must build an altar there to the Lord your God, an altar of stones -- do not use an iron tool on them.

You must build the altar of the Lord your God with whole stones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God.

Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel: "Be quiet and pay attention, Israel. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God.

Moreover, Moses commanded the people that day:

"The following tribes must stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

"The Levites will call out to every Israelite with a loud voice:

Cursed is the one who makes a carved or metal image -- something abhorrent to the Lord, the work of the craftsman -- and sets it up in a secret place.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

"If you indeed obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.

All these blessings will come to you in abundance if you obey the Lord your God:

The Lord will cause your enemies who attack you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction but flee from you in seven different directions.

The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do -- yes, he will bless you in the land he is giving you.

Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, and they will respect you.

The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any.

The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do.

But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship them.

"But if you ignore the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force:

The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess.

"The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off.

The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind.

You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you.

You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it.

Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you.

Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it.

As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives.

The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils -- from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

The Lord will force you and your king whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.

"You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it.

They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!

These curses will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants.

"If you refuse to obey all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,

This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess.

The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone.

Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next.

Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you."