< Deuteronomy 25 >

1 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.
If there be a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.
2 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.
And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.
3 They are not to receive more than forty lashes. More than that would be to publicly humiliate them.
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then your brother should seem vile to you.
4 Don't muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn.
5 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.
If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without to a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother to her.
6 The first son she has will be named after the dead brother, so that his name won't be forgotten in Israel.
And it shall be, that the firstborn which she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
7 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.”
And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.
8 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,”
Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
9 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.”
Then shall his brother’s wife come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done to that man that will not build up his brother’s house.
10 From then on his family name in Israel will be called “The Family of the Pulled-off Sandal.”
And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that has his shoe loosed.
11 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,
When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draws near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smites him, and puts forth her hand, and takes him by the secrets:
12 you are to cut her hand off. Don't show her any mercy.
Then you shall cut off her hand, your eye shall not pity her.
13 Don't have two different measuring weights in your bag, one that's heavy and one that's light.
You shall not have in your bag divers weights, a great and a small.
14 Don't have two different measuring containers in your house, one that's large and one that's small.
You shall not have in your house divers measures, a great and a small.
15 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.
But you shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shall you have: that your days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
16 Anyone who doesn't do so and cheats like this offends the Lord your God.
For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination to the LORD your God.
17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way out of Egypt.
Remember what Amalek did to you by the way, when you were come forth out of Egypt;
18 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.
How he met you by the way, and smote the hindmost of you, even all that were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he feared not God.
19 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!
Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget it.

< Deuteronomy 25 >