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25 “Suppose two people take a dispute to court, and the judges declare that one is right and the other is wrong. If the person in the wrong is sentenced to be flogged, the judge must command him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate to the crime. But never give more than forty lashes; more than forty lashes would publicly humiliate your neighbor.

“You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.

“If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband’s brother should marry her and have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law. The first son she bears to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel.

“But if the man refuses to marry his brother’s widow, she must go to the town gate and say to the elders assembled there, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel—he refuses to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law by marrying me.’ The elders of the town will then summon him and talk with him. If he still refuses and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ the widow must walk over to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she must declare, ‘This is what happens to a man who refuses to provide his brother with children.’ 10 Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’!

11 “If two Israelite men get into a fight and the wife of one tries to rescue her husband by grabbing the testicles of the other man, 12 you must cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

13 “You must use accurate scales when you weigh out merchandise, 14 and you must use full and honest measures. 15 Yes, always use honest weights and measures, so that you may enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 16 All who cheat with dishonest weights and measures are detestable to the Lord your God.

17 “Never forget what the Amalekites did to you as you came from Egypt. 18 They attacked you when you were exhausted and weary, and they struck down those who were straggling behind. They had no fear of God. 19 Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies in the land he is giving you as a special possession, you must destroy the Amalekites and erase their memory from under heaven. Never forget this!

25 “When a legal dispute takes place[a] between men and they come near to the court, and the judges judge with respect to them, then they shall declare the righteous to be in the right and they shall condemn the wicked, then it will happen if the guilty one deserves beating,[b] then the judge shall make him lie, and he shall beat him before him,[c] according to[d] the prescribed number of lashes proportionate to the offense.[e] He may beat him with forty lashes, and he shall not do more than these, so that he will not beat more in addition to these many blows,[f] and your countryman[g] would be[h] degraded before your eyes.

“You shall not muzzle an ox when he is threshing.[i]

“When brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not become the wife of a man of another family;[j] her brother-in-law shall have sex with her,[k] and he shall take her to himself[l] as a wife, and he shall perform his duty as a brother-in-law with respect to her. And then the firstborn that she bears shall represent his dead brother,[m] so that his name is not blotted out from Israel. But if the man does not want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister-in-law shall go up to the gate, to the elders, and she shall say, ‘My brother-in-law refused to perpetuate his brother’s name[n] in Israel, for he is not willing to marry me.’[o] Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him, and if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to[p] marry her’ then his sister-in-law shall go near him before the eyes of the elders, and she shall pull off his sandal from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall declare[q] and she shall say, ‘This is how it is done to the man who does not build the house of his brother.’ 10 And his family[r] shall be called in Israel, ‘The house where the sandal was pulled off.’[s]

11 “If a man and his brother fight each other and the wife of the one man comes near to rescue her husband from the hand of his attacker and she stretches out her hand and she seizes his genitals, 12 then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not take pity.

13 “There shall not be for your use[t] in your bag two kinds of stone weights, a large one and a small one.[u] 14 There shall not be in your house for your use[v] two kinds of measures.[w] 15 Rather a full and honest weight shall be for your use;[x] there shall be for you a full and honest measure,[y] so that your days on the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you may be long. 16 For detestable to[z] Yahweh your God is everyone who is doing such things,[aa] everyone who is acting[ab] dishonestly.

17 “Remember what Amalek did to you on the journey when[ac] you went out from Egypt, 18 that he met you on the journey and attacked you, all those lagging behind you and when you were weary and worn out, and he did not fear God. 19 And when[ad] Yahweh your God gives rest to you from all your enemies from around about you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance to take possession of it, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens; you shall not forget!”

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 25:1 Literally “shall be”
  2. Deuteronomy 25:2 Literally “is a son of beating”
  3. Deuteronomy 25:2 Literally “to the face of him”
  4. Deuteronomy 25:2 Literally “as”
  5. Deuteronomy 25:2 Literally “as is sufficient/necessary, with respect to number, for his wickedness/wicked behavior”
  6. Deuteronomy 25:3 Hebrew “blow”
  7. Deuteronomy 25:3 Or “brother”
  8. Deuteronomy 25:3 Hebrew “is”
  9. Deuteronomy 25:4 Literally “at his threshing”
  10. Deuteronomy 25:5 Others: “strange man,” “man outside the family” (NEB)
  11. Deuteronomy 25:5 Literally “shall go to her”
  12. Deuteronomy 25:5 Literally “to/for him”
  13. Deuteronomy 25:6 Literally “he shall stand upon the name of his brother the deceased”
  14. Deuteronomy 25:7 Literally “to cause a name to stand for his brother”
  15. Deuteronomy 25:7 Literally “to consummate the marriage with the widow of a his brother”
  16. Deuteronomy 25:8 Literally “I do not delight in”
  17. Deuteronomy 25:9 Literally “respond/answer”
  18. Deuteronomy 25:10 Literally “name”
  19. Deuteronomy 25:10 Or “the house of the man whose sandal was pulled off”
  20. Deuteronomy 25:13 Literally “to you”
  21. Deuteronomy 25:13 Literally “stone and stone large and small”
  22. Deuteronomy 25:14 Literally “for you”
  23. Deuteronomy 25:14 Literally “ephah and ephah large and small”
  24. Deuteronomy 25:15 Literally “for you”
  25. Deuteronomy 25:15 Literally “an ephah”
  26. Deuteronomy 25:16 Or “for”
  27. Deuteronomy 25:16 Or “are all whoare doing”
  28. Deuteronomy 25:16 Or “all whoare acting”
  29. Deuteronomy 25:17 Or “at/in”
  30. Deuteronomy 25:19 Literally “And it will happen when”