Deuteronomy 22:1-18

1You may see your neighbour's cow or sheep that has become lost. If so, do not look the other way. You must catch the animal. You must take it back to your neighbour.

2Perhaps the man does not live near you. Perhaps you do not know who the animal belongs to. If so, take the animal to your own home and keep it safe there. When the man comes to look for his animal, give it to him.

3You must do the same thing if you find someone's donkey or clothes or anything else. You must not refuse to help.

4Perhaps your neighbour's donkey or his cow has fallen on the road. If you see it lying there, do not look the other way. You must help the man to lift the animal so that it can stand.

5A woman must not wear the same clothes that men wear. A man must not wear clothes that make him look like a woman. The Lord your God hates people who do this.

6You may find a bird's nest beside the road. It may be in a tree or on the ground. If the mother bird is sitting on eggs or on young birds, you must not take the mother away from them.

7You may take the young birds for yourself. But you must let the mother bird go free. If you do that, everything will be well with you. You will have a long life.

8If you build a new house, you must make a wall around the edge of the flat roof. Then if someone falls off the roof and dies, you will not be guilty for his death.

9You must not plant any other crops between the vines in your vineyard. If you do that, none of the food or the grapes will belong to you.

10You must not tie an ox and a donkey together to pull a plough.

11You must not mix wool and linen together to make your clothes.

12You must fix tassels on the four corners of your coat.

13Perhaps a man will marry a woman, and he has sex with her. Later he decides he no longer wants her to be his wife.

14He may then tell lies against her to say that she is bad. He may say, ‘I married this woman, and I had sex with her. Then I discovered that she had already had sex before I married her.’

15If that happens, the woman's parents must bring the cloth that she slept on with her husband. They must take it to the leaders of the town to show them.

16The woman's father must say to the leaders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife. But now he does not like her.

17He accuses her that she is bad. He says, “I discovered that your daughter had sex before I married her.” But look at her cloth. This shows that she had never had sex before.’ Then her parents must hold the cloth in front of the leaders of the town.

18The leaders must then take hold of the man. They must punish him.