< Deuteronomy 25 >

1 If there be a controversy between men, and they resort to judgment, and they judge [their case]; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.
If there be a controversy between men, and they call upon the judges: they shall give the prize of justice to him whom they perceive to be just: and him whom they find to be wicked, they shall condemn of wickedness.
2 And it shall be if the wicked man have deserved to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and be beaten before his face, according to the measure of his wickedness with a certain number [of stripes].
And if they see that the offender be worthy of stripes: they shall lay him down, and shall cause him to be beaten before them. According to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be:
3 With forty [stripes] shall they beat him; they shall not exceed, lest, if they continue to beat him with many stripes above these, thy brother become despicable in thine eyes.
Yet so, that they exceed not the number of forty: lest thy brother depart shamefully torn before thy eyes.
4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out [the corn].
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn on the floor.
5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry a stranger abroad: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother unto her.
When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother:
6 And it shall be, that the firstborn that she beareth shall stand in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not blotted out from Israel.
And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel.
7 But if the man like not to take his brother's wife, his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel: he will not perform for me the duty of a husband's brother.
But if he will not take his brother’s wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up his brother’s name in Israel: and will not take me to wife.
8 Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak unto him; and if he stand to it and say, I like not to take her;
And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife:
9 then shall his brother's wife come near to him before the eyes of the elders, and draw his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother's house.
The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother’s house:
10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe drawn off.
And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.
11 When men fight together one with another, and the wife of the one come near to rescue her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and stretch out her hand, and seize him by his secret parts,
If two men have words together, and one begin to fight against the other, and the other’s wife willing to deliver her husband out of the hand of the stronger, shall put forth her hand, and take him by the secrets,
12 thou shalt cut off her hand; thine eye shall not spare.
Thou shalt cut off her hand, neither shalt thou be moved with any pity in her regard.
13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.
Thou shalt not have divers weights in thy bag, a greater and a less:
14 Thou shalt not have in thy house divers ephahs, a great and a small.
Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less.
15 A perfect and just weight shalt thou have; a perfect and just ephah shalt thou have; that thy days may be prolonged in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt have a just and a true weight, and thy bushel shall be equal and true: that thou mayest live a long time upon the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee.
16 For every one that doeth such things, every one that doeth unrighteousness, is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.
For the Lord thy God abhorreth him that doth these things, and he hateth all injustice.
17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt;
Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out of Egypt:
18 how he met thee on the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all the feeble that lagged behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God.
How he met thee: and slew the hindmost of the army, who sat down, being weary, when thou wast spent with hunger and labour, and he feared not God.
19 And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God shall have given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens; thou shalt not forget it.
Therefore when the Lord thy God shall give thee rest, and shall have subdued all the nations round about in the land which he hath promised thee: thou shalt blot out his name from under heaven. See thou forget it not.

< Deuteronomy 25 >