Deuteronomy 24:14-25:19

Complete Jewish Bible

(vii) ¹⁴ “You are not to exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or a foreigner living in your land in your town. ¹⁵ You are to pay him his wages the day he earns them, before sunset; for he is poor and looks forward to being paid. Otherwise he will cry out against you to Adonai, and it will be your sin.

¹⁶ “Fathers are not to be executed for the children, nor are children to be executed for the fathers; every person will be executed for his own sin.

¹⁷ “You are not to deprive the foreigner or the orphan of the justice which is his due, and you are not to take a widow’s clothing as collateral for a loan. ¹⁸ Rather, remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and Adonai your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

¹⁹ “When harvesting the grain in your field, if you forgot a sheaf of grain there, you are not to go back and get it; it will remain there for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow, so that Adonai your God will bless you in all the work you do. ²⁰ When you beat your olive tree, you are not to go back over the branches again; the olives that are left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes from your vineyard, you are not to return and pick grapes a second time; what is left will be for the foreigner, the orphan and the widow. ²² Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am ordering you to do this.

25 “If people have a dispute, seek its resolution in court, and the judges render a decision in favor of the righteous one and condemning the wicked one; ² then, if the wicked one deserves to be flogged, the judge is to have him lie down and be flogged in his presence. The number of strokes is to be proportionate to his offense; ³ but the maximum number is forty. He is not to exceed this; if he goes over this limit and beats him more than this, your brother will be humiliated before your eyes.

⁴ “You are not to muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

⁵ “If brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, his widow is not to marry someone unrelated to him; her husband’s brother is to go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her. ⁶ The first child she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be eliminated from Isra’el. ⁷ If the man does not wish to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow is to go up to the gate, to the leaders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Isra’el; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother for me.’ ⁸ The leaders of his town are to summon him and speak to him. If, on appearing before them, he continues to say, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ ⁹ then his brother’s widow is to approach him in the presence of the leaders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face and say, ‘This is what is done to the man who refuses to build up his brother’s family.’ ¹⁰ From that time on, his family is to be known in Isra’el as ‘the family of the man who had his sandal pulled off.’

¹¹ “If men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one comes up to help her husband get away from the man attacking him by grabbing the attacker’s private parts with her hand, ¹² you are to cut off her hand; show no pity.

¹³ “You are not to have in your pack two sets of weights, one heavy, the other light. ¹⁴ You are not to have in your house two sets of measures, one big, the other small. ¹⁵ You are to have a correct and fair weight, and you are to have a correct and fair measure, so that you will prolong your days in the land Adonai your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For all who do such things, all who deal dishonestly, are destestable to Adonai your God.

(Maftir) ¹⁷ “Remember what ‘Amalek did to you on the road as you were coming out of Egypt, ¹⁸ how he met you by the road, attacked those in the rear, those who were exhausted and straggling behind when you were tired and weary. He did not fear God. ¹⁹ Therefore, when Adonai your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land Adonai your God is giving you as your inheritance to possess, you are to blot out all memory of ‘Amalek from under heaven. Don’t forget!

Haftarah Ki Tetze: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 54:1–10 [Messianic adaptation: commence the reading at 52:13]

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Ki Tetze: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:31–32; 19:3–12; 22:23–32; Mark 10:2–12; 12:18–27; Luke 20:27–38; 1 Corinthians 9:4–18; Galatians 3:9–14; 1 Timothy 5:17–18