Deuteronomy 25
1 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.
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 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:
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 Yet so, that they exceed not the number of forty: lest thy brother depart shamefully torn before thy 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 that treadeth out thy corn on the floor.
Don't muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
5 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:
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 the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of 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 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.
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 And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife:
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 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:
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 the unshod.
From then on his family name in Israel will be called “The Family of the Pulled-off Sandal.”
11 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,
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, neither shalt thou be moved with any pity in her regard.
you are to cut her hand off. Don't show her any mercy.
13 Thou shalt not have divers weights in thy bag, a greater and a less:
Don't have two different measuring weights in your bag, one that's heavy and one that's light.
14 Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less.
Don't have two different measuring containers in your house, one that's large and one that's small.
15 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.
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 the Lord thy God abhorreth him that doth these things, and he hateth all injustice.
Anyone who doesn't do so and cheats like this offends the Lord your God.
17 Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out of Egypt:
Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way out of Egypt.
18 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.
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 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.
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!
