Various Laws

25 (A)If there is a dispute between people and they go to [a]court, and [b]the judges decide their case, (B)and they declare the righteous innocent and pronounce the wicked guilty, then it shall be if the wicked person [c](C)deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and have him beaten in his presence with the number of lashes according to his [d]wrongful act. (D)He may have him beaten forty times, but not more, so that he does not have him beaten with many more lashes than these, and that your brother does not (E)become contemptible in your eyes.

(F)You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.

“When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. (G)Her husband’s brother shall have relations with her and take her to himself as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. It shall then be that the firstborn to whom she gives birth shall [e]assume the name of his father’s deceased brother, so that (H)his name will not be wiped out from Israel. (I)But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’ (J)then his brother’s widow shall come up to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and (K)spit in his face; and she shall [f]declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house!’ 10 And in Israel [g]his family shall be called by the name, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

11 “If two men, a man and his countryman, have a fight [h]with each other, and the wife of one comes up to save her husband from the hand of the one who is hitting him, and she reaches out with her hand and grasps [i]that man’s genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her [j]hand; [k](L)you shall not show pity.

13 (M)You shall not have in your bag [l]differing weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house [m]differing measures, a large and a small. 15 You shall have a correct and honest [n]weight; you shall have a correct and honest [o]measure, (N)so that your days may be prolonged [p]in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For (O)everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.

17 (P)Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt, 18 how he confronted you on the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he (Q)did not [q]fear God. 19 So it shall come about, when the Lord your God has given you (R)rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to [r]possess, that you shall wipe out the mention of the name Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 25:1 Lit the judgment
  2. Deuteronomy 25:1 Lit they judge them
  3. Deuteronomy 25:2 Lit is a son of beating
  4. Deuteronomy 25:2 Or guilt
  5. Deuteronomy 25:6 Lit stand on
  6. Deuteronomy 25:9 Lit answer and say
  7. Deuteronomy 25:10 Lit his name shall be called
  8. Deuteronomy 25:11 Lit together
  9. Deuteronomy 25:11 Lit his
  10. Deuteronomy 25:12 Lit palm
  11. Deuteronomy 25:12 Lit your eye
  12. Deuteronomy 25:13 Lit a stone and a stone
  13. Deuteronomy 25:14 Lit an ephah and an ephah
  14. Deuteronomy 25:15 Lit stone
  15. Deuteronomy 25:15 Lit ephah
  16. Deuteronomy 25:15 Lit on the ground
  17. Deuteronomy 25:18 Or revere
  18. Deuteronomy 25:19 Lit possess it

Corporal punishment

25 Now two people have a disagreement and they enter into litigation and their case is decided, with the judges declaring one person legally right and the other legally liable. If the guilty party is to be beaten, the presiding judge will have that person lie down and be punished in his presence—the number of blows in measure with the guilt determined. Give no more than forty blows. If more than that is given, your fellow Israelite would be completely disgraced in your eyes.

Working oxen

Don’t muzzle an ox while it is threshing grain.

The brother-in-law’s duty

If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not go outside the family and marry a stranger. Instead, her brother-in-law should go to her and take her as his wife. He will then consummate the marriage according to the brother-in-law’s duty. The brother-in-law will name the oldest male son that she bears after his dead brother so that his brother’s legacy will not be forgotten in Israel. If the brother does not want to marry his sister-in-law, she can go to the elders at the city gate, informing them: “My brother-in-law refuses to continue his brother’s legacy in Israel. He’s not willing to perform the brother-in-law’s duty with me.” The city’s elders will summon him and talk to him about this. If he doesn’t budge, insisting, “I don’t want to marry her,” then the sister-in-law will approach him while the elders watch. She will pull the sandal off his foot and spit in his face. Then she will exclaim: “That’s what’s done to any man who won’t build up his own brother’s family!” 10 Subsequently, that man’s family will be known throughout Israel as “the house of the removed sandal.”

Improper touching

11 If two men are fighting with each other—a man and his fellow Israelite—and the wife of one of them gets into the fight, trying to save her husband from his attacker and does so by reaching out and grabbing his genitals, 12 you must cut off her hand. Show no mercy.

Honest business practices

13 Don’t have two different types of money weights in your bag, a heavy one and a light one. 14 Don’t have two different types of ephahs in your house, a large one and a small one. 15 Instead, you must have only one weight, complete and correct, and only one ephah, also complete and correct, so that your life might be long in the fertile land the Lord your God is giving you. 16 What’s more, all who do such things, all who do business dishonestly, are detestable to the Lord your God. 17 Remember, after all, what Amalek did to you on your departure from Egypt: 18 how he met up with you on the way, striking from behind those who were lagging back because you were weak and tired, and because he didn’t fear God. 19 So once the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies that surround you in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you must wipe out Amalek’s memory from under the heavens. Don’t forget this!