Bible Browser

Psalm 112

1  Alleluia.
      Blessed are those who fear the Lord ♦︎
   and have great delight in his commandments.
2  Their descendants will be mighty in the land, ♦︎
   a generation of the faithful that will be blest.
3  Wealth and riches will be in their house, ♦︎
   and their righteousness endures for ever.
4  Light shines in the darkness for the upright; ♦︎
   gracious and full of compassion are the righteous.
5  It goes well with those who are generous in lending ♦︎
   and order their affairs with justice,
6  For they will never be shaken; ♦︎
   the righteous will be held in everlasting remembrance.
7  They will not be afraid of any evil tidings; ♦︎
   their heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
8  Their heart is sustained and will not fear, ♦︎
   until they see the downfall of their foes.
9  They have given freely to the poor;
      their righteousness stands fast for ever; ♦︎
   their head will be exalted with honour.
10  The wicked shall see it and be angry;
      they shall gnash their teeth in despair; ♦︎
   the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Laws concerning Sexual Relations

13 Suppose a man marries a woman, but after going in to her, he dislikes her ¹⁴and makes up charges against her, slandering her by saying, ‘I married this woman; but when I lay with her, I did not find evidence of her virginity.’ ¹⁵The father of the young woman and her mother shall then submit the evidence of the young woman’s virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. ¹⁶The father of the young woman shall say to the elders: ‘I gave my daughter in marriage to this man but he dislikes her; ¹⁷now he has made up charges against her, saying, “I did not find evidence of your daughter’s virginity.” But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the town. ¹⁸The elders of that town shall take the man and punish him; ¹⁹they shall fine him one hundred shekels of silver (which they shall give to the young woman’s father) because he has slandered a virgin of Israel. She shall remain his wife; he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.

20 If, however, this charge is true, that evidence of the young woman’s virginity was not found, ²¹then they shall bring the young woman out to the entrance of her father’s house and the men of her town shall stone her to death, because she committed a disgraceful act in Israel by prostituting herself in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

22 If a man is caught lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman as well as the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

23 If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married, and a man meets her in the town and lies with her, ²⁴you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he violated his neighbour’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

25 But if the man meets the engaged woman in the open country, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. ²⁶You shall do nothing to the young woman; the young woman has not committed an offence punishable by death, because this case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbour. ²⁷Since he found her in the open country, the engaged woman may have cried for help, but there was no one to rescue her.

28 If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are caught in the act, ²⁹the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.

30 ^*A man shall not marry his father’s wife, thereby violating his father’s rights.^*

Directions concerning Marriage

7Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: ‘It is well for a man not to touch a woman.’ ²But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. ³The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. ⁴For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ⁵Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶This I say by way of concession, not of command. ⁷I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.

8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. ⁹But if they are not practising self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.