Atlas Biblica

    Deuteronomy · 25 verses

    Deuteronomy 23

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    A digging tool is part of a holy camp: soldiers bury what they leave behind because the LORD walks among the tents, which gives military housekeeping an unusually exalted supervisor.

    Who may enter the assemblyvv. 1–8

    The chapter begins at the assembly door, where bodily injury and illegitimate birth carry a long exclusion, and where Ammonites and Moabites are kept out to the tenth generation. The reason given is not obscure: they offered neither food nor water on the journey from Egypt and hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse Israel. The curse did not take; the LORD turned it into blessing. Edom is treated as brother, Egypt as the land in which Israel once lived as a foreigner, and their descendants may enter in the third generation.

    A holy camp, with practical arrangementsvv. 9–18

    Once the army is encamped against its enemies, holiness becomes remarkably concrete. A man made unclean by a nocturnal emission leaves the camp until evening, washes, and returns after sunset. There is to be a place outside the camp for relieving oneself, and a digging tool in the equipment for covering the result. The reason is that the LORD walks throughout the camp to protect it, so the camp must not present anything unclean. The same practical attention extends to a fugitive slave, who is not to be returned to his master, and to the wages of prostitution, which are not to be brought into the house of the LORD.

    Vows, loans, and a neighbour’s harvestvv. 19–25

    The final movement turns from camp arrangements to ordinary dealings. A brother is not to be charged interest, though a foreigner may be; a vow to the LORD must be kept, while declining to make one is perfectly innocent. The chapter then ends in a neighbour’s vineyard and grainfield: grapes may be eaten until satisfied, and heads of grain may be plucked by hand, but neither may be gathered into a basket or cut with a sickle. Hunger is allowed a handful; harvesting is another matter.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Deut 23:1No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD.

    2. Deut 23:2No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the LORD, nor may any of his descendants, even to the tenth generation.

    3. Deut 23:3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.

    4. Deut 23:4For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.

    5. Deut 23:5Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.

    6. Deut 23:6You are not to seek peace or prosperity from them as long as you live.

    7. Deut 23:7Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.

    8. Deut 23:8The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.

    9. Deut 23:9When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every wicked thing.

    10. Deut 23:10If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp and stay outside.

    11. Deut 23:11When evening approaches, he must wash with water, and when the sun sets he may return to the camp.

    12. Deut 23:12You must have a place outside the camp to go and relieve yourself.

    13. Deut 23:13And you must have a digging tool in your equipment so that when you relieve yourself you can dig a hole and cover up your excrement.

    14. Deut 23:14For the LORD your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, lest He see anything unclean among you and turn away from you.

    15. Deut 23:15Do not return a slave to his master if he has taken refuge with you.

    16. Deut 23:16Let him live among you wherever he chooses, in the town of his pleasing. Do not oppress him.

    17. Deut 23:17No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.

    18. Deut 23:18You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.

    19. Deut 23:19Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan.

    20. Deut 23:20You may charge a foreigner interest, but not your brother, so that the LORD your God may bless you in everything to which you put your hand in the land that you are entering to possess.

    21. Deut 23:21If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.

    22. Deut 23:22But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty of sin.

    23. Deut 23:23Be careful to follow through on what comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed to the LORD your God with your own mouth.

    24. Deut 23:24When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, but you must not put any in your basket.

    25. Deut 23:25When you enter your neighbor’s grainfield, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 192 passages were voted onto 23 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 5Deuteronomy 7:7–8The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
    • 5Romans 8:31What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
    • 14Leviticus 26:12I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.
    • 14Genesis 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
    • 142 Corinthians 6:16What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.”
    • 21Ecclesiastes 5:4–5When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.
    • 5Numbers 24:9He crouches, he lies down like a lion, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.”
    • 5Ephesians 2:4–5But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
    • 14Exodus 3:5“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
    • 3Nehemiah 13:1–2At that time the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and in it they found the passage stating that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
    • 52 Corinthians 4:17For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
    • 21Psalms 66:13–14I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will fulfill my vows to You—
    • 2Zechariah 9:6A mixed race will occupy Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
    • 5Micah 6:5My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the LORD.’”
    • 5Jeremiah 31:3The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.
    • 5Numbers 23:5–12Then the LORD put a message in Balaam’s mouth, saying, “Return to Balak and give him this message.”

    Onward

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