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 is some legal argument between two people, they are to go to court to have the case judged, in order to justify the one who is right and condemn the one who is wrong.
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].
If the person who is guilty is sentenced to be flogged, the judge shall order them to lie down and be flogged before him with the number of lashes the crime deserves.
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.
They are not to receive more than forty lashes. More than that would be to publicly humiliate them.
4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out [the corn].
Don't muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
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 two brothers live near to each other and one of them dies without having a son, the widow is not to marry a stranger outside the family. Her husband's brother is to marry her and sleep with her, fulfilling the requirements of a brother-in-law to provide her with children.
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.
The first son she has will be named after the dead brother, so that his name won't be forgotten in 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.
However, if the man refuses to marry his brother's widow, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and tell them, “My husband's brother is refusing to keep his brother's name alive in Israel. He doesn't want to perform the requirements of a brother-in-law for me.”
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;
The town elders are to summon him and talk with him. If he continues to refuse and says, “I don't want to marry her,”
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.
his brother's widow is to confront him in the presence of the elders, pull off his sandal, spit in his face, and announce, “This is what happens to the man who refuses to keep his brother's family name alive.”
10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe drawn off.
From then on his family name in Israel will be called “The Family of the Pulled-off Sandal.”
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 are fighting, and one of their wives intervenes to save her husband from being beaten, and she grabs hold of the attacker's genitals,
12 thou shalt cut off her hand; thine eye shall not spare.
you are to cut her hand off. Don't show her any mercy.
13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.
Don't have two different measuring weights in your bag, one that's heavy and one that's light.
14 Thou shalt not have in thy house divers ephahs, a great and a small.
Don't have two different measuring containers in your house, one that's large and one that's small.
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.
Make sure you always use accurate and true weights and measures. In that way you will have long lives in the country the Lord your God is giving you.
16 For every one that doeth such things, every one that doeth unrighteousness, is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.
Anyone who doesn't do so and cheats like this offends the Lord your God.
17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt;
Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way 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.
The came out to confront you when you were tired and weary from your journey, and they attacked all those of you who were lagging behind. They didn't have any respect for 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.
Once the Lord your God gives you peace after fighting your enemies in the country that he's giving you to take over and own, you are to wipe out even the memory of the Amalekites from the earth. Don't forget!
