1No man with crushed or severed genitals may enter the assembly of the LORD. 2No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the LORD, nor may any of his descendants, even to the tenth generation. 3No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation. 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. 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. 6You are not to seek peace or prosperity from them as long as you live. 7Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land. 8The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD. 9When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every wicked thing. 10If any man among you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp and stay outside. 11When evening approaches, he must wash with water, and when the sun sets he may return to the camp. 12You must have a place outside the camp to go and relieve yourself. 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. 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. 15Do not return a slave to his master if he has taken refuge with you. 16Let him live among you wherever he chooses, in the town of his pleasing. Do not oppress him. 17No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute. 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. 19Do not charge your brother interest on money, food, or any other type of loan. 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. 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. 22But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty of sin. 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. 24When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, but you must not put any in your basket. 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.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Who are shut out from the congregation. (1-8) Cleanliness enjoined. (15-25) Of fugitive servants, Usury, and other precepts. (9-14) 1-8 We ought to value the privileges of God's people, both for ourselves and for our children, above all other advantages. No personal blemishes, no crimes of our forefathers, no difference of nation, shuts us out under the Christian dispensation. But an unsound heart will deprive us of blessings; and a bad example, or an unsuitable marriage, may shut our children from them. 9-14 The camp of the Lord must have nothing offensive in it. If there must be this care taken to preserve the body clean, much more should we be careful to keep the mind pure. 15-25 It is honourable to shelter and protect the weak, provided they are not wicked. Proselytes and converts to the truth, should be treated with particular tenderness, that they may have no temptation to return to the world. We cannot honour God with our substance, unless it be honestly and honourably come by. It must not only be considered what we give, but how we got it. Where the borrower gets, or hopes to get, it is just that the lender should share the gain; but to him that borrows for necessary food, pity must be showed. That which is gone out of thy lips, as a solemn and deliberate vow, must not be recalled, but thou shalt keep and perform it punctually and fully. They were allowed to pluck and eat of the corn or grapes that grew by the road side; only they must not carry any away. This law intimated what great plenty of corn and wine they should have in Canaan. It provided for the support of poor travellers, and teaches us to be kind to such, teaches us to be ready to distribute, and not to think every thing lost that is given away. Yet it forbids us to abuse the kindness of friends, or to take advantage of what is allowed. Faithfulness to their engagements should mark the people of God; and they should never encroach upon others.