Deuteronomy 25
1 When there shall be strife betweene men, and they shall come vnto iudgement, and sentence shall be giuen vpon them, and the righteous shall be iustified, and the wicked condemned,
“If [two] Israelis have a dispute and they go to a court, the judge will [probably] decide/declare that one of them (is innocent/did not do any wrong) and the other one is guilty.
2 Then if so be the wicked be worthy to bee beaten, the iudge shall cause him to lie downe, and to be beaten before his face, according to his trespasse, vnto a certaine nomber.
If the judge says that the guilty person must be punished, he shall command him to lie [with his face] on the ground and be whipped. The number of times he is struck with a whip will depend on [what kind of] crime he committed.
3 Fortie stripes shall he cause him to haue and not past, lest if he should exceede and beate him aboue that with many stripes, thy brother should appeare despised in thy sight.
It is permitted that he be struck as many as 40 times, but no more than that. If he is struck more than 40 times, he would be humiliated publicly.
4 Thou shalt not mousell the oxe that treadeth out the corne.
When your ox is treading/walking on the grain [to separate the chaff from the grain], do not (muzzle it/put a covering on its mouth) [to prevent it from eating some of the grain].
5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them dye and haue no sonne, the wife of the dead shall not marry without: that is, vnto a stranger, but his kinseman shall goe in vnto her, and take her to wife, and doe the kinsemans office to her.
If two brothers live on the same property, and one of them who has no son dies, the man’s widow should not marry someone who is not a member of his family. The dead man’s brother must marry her and have sex [EUP] with her. It is his duty to do that.
6 And the first borne which she beareth, shall succeede in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
If she later gives birth to a son, that son is to be considered [MTY] the son of the man who died, in order that the dead man’s name will not disappear from Israel.
7 And if the man will not take his kinsewoman, then let his kinsewoman goe vp to the gate vnto the Elders, and say, My kinsman refuseth to rayse vp vnto his brother a name in Israel: hee will not doe the office of a kinsman vnto me.
“But if the dead man’s brother does not want to marry that woman, she must stand at the (gate/central meeting place) of the town and say to the [town] elders, ‘My husband’s brother will not do (his duty/what he is supposed to do). He refuses to [marry me in order that I may give birth to a son who will] prevent my dead husband’s name from disappearing in Israel.’
8 Then the Elders of his citie shall call him, and commune with him: if he stand and say, I wil not take her,
Then the elders must summon that man and talk to him. If he still refuses to marry that widow,
9 Then shall his kinswoman come vnto him in the presence of the Elders, and loose his shooe from his foote, and spit in his face, and answere, and say, So shall it be done vnto that man, that will not buylde vp his brothers house.
she must go up to him while the elders are watching, and take off one of his sandals [to symbolize/show that he would not receive any of her property], and spit in his face, and say to him, ‘This is what happens to the man who refuses to do what is needed [to allow his dead brother to have a son] in order that our family name does not disappear.’
10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him whose shooe is put off.
After that happens, that man’s family will be known as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’.
11 When men striue together, one with another, if the wife of the one come neere, for to ridde her husband out of the handes of him that smiteth him, and put foorth her hand, and take him by his priuities,
When [two] men are fighting with each other, and the one man’s wife comes near to help her husband by grabbing hold of the other man’s genitals,
12 Then thou shalt cut off her hande: thine eye shall not spare her.
do not act mercifully toward her; cut off her hand.
13 Thou shalt not haue in thy bagge two maner of weightes, a great and a small,
“[When you are buying or selling things], do not try to cheat people by having two kinds of weights, [one which you use when you buy something and one which you use when you sell something], and two kinds of measuring baskets, [one which you use when you buy something and one which you use when you sell something].
14 Neither shalt thou haue in thine house diuers measures, a great and a small:
15 But thou shalt haue a right and iust weight: a perfite and a iust measure shalt thou haue, that thy dayes may be lengthened in the land, which the Lord thy God giueth thee.
Always use correct weights and correct measuring baskets, in order that Yahweh our God will allow you to live a long time in the land that he is giving to you.
16 For all that doe such things, and all that doe vnrighteously, are abomination vnto the Lord thy God.
Yahweh hates all those who act dishonestly, [and he will punish them].
17 Remember what Amalek did vnto thee by the way, when ye were come out of Egypt:
Continue to remember what the Amalek people-group did to your ancestors when they were coming out of Egypt.
18 How he met thee by ye way, and smote ye hindmost of you, all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast fainted and weary, and he feared not God.
They attacked your ancestors as your ancestors were traveling, when they were weak and exhausted. Those people were not afraid of God at all, so they attacked your ancestors from the rear and killed all those who were unable to walk as fast as the others.
19 Therefore, when the Lord thy God hath giuen thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land, which the Lord thy God giueth thee for an inheritance to possesse it, then thou shalt put out the remembrance of Amalek from vnder heauen: forget not.
Therefore, when Yahweh our God has given you the land [that he promised to give you], and when he has enabled you to rest from [fighting] all your enemies around you, kill all the Amalek people-group, with the result that no one will remember them any more. Do not forget [to do this]!”
