Helping Others
Moses said to Israel:
1 If you see a cow or sheep wandering around lost, take the animal back to its owner. 2 If the owner lives too far away, or if you don't know who the owner is, take the animal home with you and take care of it. The owner will come looking for the animal, and then you can give it back. 3 That's what you should do if you find anything that belongs to someone else. Do whatever you can to help, whether you find a cow or sheep or donkey or some clothing.
4 Oxen and donkeys that carry heavy loads can stumble and fall, and be unable to get up by themselves. So as you walk along the road, help anyone who is trying to get an ox or donkey back on its feet.
Don't Pretend To Be the Opposite Sex
Moses said to Israel:
5 Women must not pretend to be men, and men must not pretend to be women. The Lord your God is disgusted with people who do that.
Don't Take a Mother Bird
Moses said to Israel:
6-7 As you walk along the road, you might see a bird's nest in a tree or on the ground. If the mother bird is in the nest with either her eggs or her baby birds, you are allowed to take the baby birds or the eggs, but not the mother bird. Let her go free, and the Lord will bless you with a long and successful life.
Put a Wall around Your Flat Roof
8 If you build a house, make sure to put a low wall around the edge of the flat roof. Then if someone falls off the roof and is killed, it won't be your fault.
Laws against Mixing Different Things
Moses said to Israel:
9 If you plant a vineyard, don't plant any other fruit tree or crop in it. If you do plant something else there, you must bring to the place of worship everything you harvest from the vineyard.
10 Don't hitch an ox and a donkey to your plow at the same time.
11 When you weave cloth for clothing, you can use thread made of flax or wool, but not both together. 12 And when you make a coat, sew a tassel on each of the four corners.
When a Husband Accuses His Wife
Moses said to Israel:
13 Suppose a man starts hating his wife soon after they are married. 14 He might tell ugly lies about her, and say, “I married this woman, but when we slept together, I found out she wasn't a virgin.”
15 If this happens, the bride's father and mother must go to the town gate to show the town leaders the proof that the woman was a virgin. 16 Her father will say, “I let my daughter marry this man, but he started hating her 17 and accusing her of not being a virgin. But he is wrong, because here is proof that she was a virgin!” Then the bride's parents will show them the bed sheet from the woman's wedding night.
18 The town leaders will beat the man with a whip 19 because he accused his bride of not being a virgin. He will have to pay her father 100 pieces of silver and will never be allowed to divorce her.
20 But if the man was right and there is no proof that his bride was a virgin, 21 the men of the town will take the woman to the door of her father's house and stone her to death.
This woman brought evil into your community by sleeping with someone before she got married, and you must get rid of that evil by killing her.
Laws about Illegal Sex
Moses said:
22 People of Israel, if a man is caught having sex with someone else's wife, you must put them both to death. That way, you will get rid of the evil they have done in Israel.
23-24 If a man is caught in town having sex with an engaged woman who isn't screaming for help, they both must be put to death. The man is guilty of having sex with a married woman. And the woman is guilty because she didn't call for help, even though she was inside a town and people were nearby. Take them both to the town gate and stone them to death. You must get rid of the evil they brought into your community.
25 If an engaged woman is raped out in the country, only the man will be put to death. 26 Do not punish the woman at all; she has done nothing wrong, and certainly nothing deserving death. This crime is like murder, 27 because the woman was alone out in the country when the man attacked her. She screamed, but there was no one to help her.
28 Suppose a woman isn't engaged to be married, and a man forces her to have sex with him. If he is caught, 29 they will be forced to get married. He must give her father 50 pieces of silver as a bride-price and can never divorce her.
30 A man must not marry a woman who was married to his father. This would be a disgrace to his father.
1 Thou shalt not see thy brothers oxe nor his sheepe go astray, and withdraw thy selfe from them, but shalt bring the againe vnto thy brother. 2 And if thy brother bee not neere vnto thee, or if thou knowe him not, then thou shalt bring it into thine house, and it shall remaine with thee, vntill thy brother seeke after it: then shalt thou deliuer it to him againe. 3 In like maner shalt thou do with his asse, and so shalt thou do with his rayment, and shalt so doe with all lost things of thy brother, which he hath lost: if thou hast found them, thou shalt not withdraw thy selfe from them. 4 Thou shalt not see thy brothers asse nor his oxe fal downe by the way, and withdrawe thy selfe from them, but shalt lift them vp with him. 5 The woman shall not weare that which perteineth vnto the man, neither shall a man put on womans rayment: for all that doe so, are abomination vnto the Lord thy God. 6 If thou finde a birdes nest in the way, in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be yong or egges, and the damme sitting vpon the yong, or vpon the egges, thou shalt not take ye damme with the yong, 7 But shalt in any wise let the damme go, and take the yong to thee, that thou mayest prosper and prolong thy dayes. 8 When thou buildest a newe house, thou shalt make a battlemet on thy roofe, that thou lay not blood vpon thine house, if any man fal thence. 9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with diuers kinds of seedes, lest thou defile the increase of the seede which thou hast sowen, and the fruite of the vineyarde. 10 Thou shalt not plow with an oxe and an asse together. 11 Thou shalt not weare a garment of diuers sorts, as of woollen and linen together. 12 Thou shalt make thee fringes vpon the foure quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou couerest thy selfe. 13 If a man take a wife, and when he hath lyen with her, hate her, 14 And laye slaunderous thinges vnto her charge, and bring vp an euill name vpon her, and say, I tooke this wife, and when I came to her, I found her not a mayde, 15 Then shall the father of the mayde and her mother take and bring the signes of the maydes virginitie vnto the Elders of the citie to the gate. 16 And the maydes father shall say vnto the Elders, I gaue my daughter vnto this man to wife, and he hateth her: 17 And lo, he layeth slaunderous things vnto her charge, saying, I founde not thy daughter a mayde: loe, these are the tokens of my daughters virginitie: and they shall spreade the vesture before the Elders of the citie. 18 Then the Elders of the citie shall take that man and chastise him, 19 And shall condemne him in an hundreth shekels of siluer, and giue them vnto the father of the mayde, because he hath brought vp an euill name vpon a mayde of Israel: and she shalbe his wife, and he may not put her away all his life. 20 But if this thing be true, that the mayde be not found a virgine, 21 Then shall they bring forth the mayde to the doore of her fathers house, and the men of her citie shall stone her with stones to death: for shee hath wrought follie in Israel, by playing ye whore in her fathers house: so thou shalt put euill away from among you. 22 If a man be found lying with a woman marryed to a man, then they shall dye euen both twaine: to wit, the man that lay with the wife, and the wife: so thou shalt put away euil from Israel. 23 If a maid be betrothed vnto an husband, and a man finde her in the towne and lye with her, 24 Then shall yee bring them both out vnto the gates of the same citie, and shall stone them with stones to death: the mayde because she cried not, being in the citie, and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbours wife: so thou shalt put away euill from among you. 25 But if a man finde a betrothed mayde in the field, and force her, and lye with her, then the man that lay with her, shall dye alone: 26 And vnto the mayd thou shalt do nothing, because there is in the mayde no cause of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour and woundeth him to death, so is this matter. 27 For he found her in the fieldes: the betrothed mayde cryed, and there was no man to succour her. 28 If a man finde a mayde that is not betrothed, and take her, and lye with her, and they be founde, 29 Then the man that lay with her, shall giue vnto the maydes father fiftie shekels of siluer: and she shalbe his wife, because he hath humbled her: he can not put her away all his life. 30 No man shall take his fathers wife, nor shall vncouer his fathers skirt.