Fairness and Mercy

25 “If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court, and the judges will hear their case. They will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty. If the guilty party deserves to be flogged, the judge will make him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate for his crime. He may be flogged with 40 lashes, but no more. Otherwise, if he is flogged with more lashes than these, your brother will be degraded in your sight.

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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.

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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”