Deuteronomy 25

1 If there shall 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.

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 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.

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 Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile to thee.

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 grain.

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn on the floor.

5 If brethren shall dwell together, and one of them shall die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside the family to a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her to him for a wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother to 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 which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name may not be 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 And if the man shall not desire 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 refuseth to raise up to his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my 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 to him: and if he shall stand to it, and say, I desire 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 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.

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 loosed.

And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.

11 When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near to deliver her husband from the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:

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 Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thy eye shall not pity her.

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 differing 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 differing measures, a great and a small.

Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less.

15 But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD 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 all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination to the LORD thy God.

For the Lord thy God abhorreth him that doth these things, and he hateth all injustice.

17 Remember what Amalek did to thee by the way, when ye had come forth from Egypt;

Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out of Egypt:

18 How he met thee by the way, and smote those behind thee, even all that were feeble 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 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thy enemies on all sides, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; 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.