Prohibition of Mixed Kinds

The Prohibition of Mixed Kinds is a three-part rule in Deuteronomy 22: it forbids combining seed in a vineyard, yoking an ox and a donkey together for plowing, and wearing a fabric woven from wool and linen. Its concise commands regulate fields, animal labor, and clothing within a wider collection of practical obligations.

The Three Prohibitions

The rule first addresses cultivation: a vineyard is not to be sown with two kinds of seed, lest the full yield of the sowing be forfeited together with the vineyard's produce. The stated consequence connects the restriction to the harvest rather than leaving it as an unexplained ban.

The next command forbids plowing with an ox and a donkey together. It concerns the pairing of different animals in a shared task, extending the rule from crops to the means of cultivation.

The final command forbids wearing a mixed fabric of wool and linen. In sequence, the clauses move from planted field, to working animals, to clothing: three ordinary settings in which different kinds might be combined.

Place in the Law

These commands occur among regulations that touch on everyday responsibility: releasing a mother bird when taking its young, putting a parapet around a new roof, and requirements concerning seed and work. The mixed-kinds rule therefore sits within a broader body of instruction that reaches from household safety and treatment of animals to agricultural practice and dress.

Scope and Significance

The text specifies the combinations it prohibits but does not explain a general theory behind them. Its effect in the passage is concrete: it places boundaries on how a vineyard is sown, how an ox and donkey are yoked, and how wool and linen are combined in clothing. The three examples make the rule's reach across cultivation, labor, and daily wear explicit.