Deuteronomy 25
1 “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.
If there is an argument between men and they go to law with one another, let the judges give their decision for the upright, and against the wrongdoer.
2 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.
And if the wrongdoer is to undergo punishment by whipping, the judge will give orders for him to go down on his face and be whipped before him, the number of the blows being in relation to his crime.
3 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.
He may be given forty blows, not more; for if more are given, your brother may be shamed before you.
4 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].
Do not keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it.
5 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.
If brothers are living together and one of them, at his death, has no son, the wife of the dead man is not to be married outside the family to another man: let her husband's brother go in to her and make her his wife, doing as it is right for a brother-in-law to do.
6 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.
Then the first male child she has will take the rights of the brother who is dead, so that his name may not come to an end in Israel.
7 “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.’
But if the man says he will not take his brother's wife, then let the wife go to the responsible men of the town, and say, My husband's brother will not keep his brother's name living in Israel; he will not do what it is right for a husband's brother to do.
8 Then the elders must summon that man and talk to him. If he still refuses to marry that widow,
Then the responsible men of the town will send for the man, and have talk with him: and if he still says, I will not take her;
9 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.’
Then his brother's wife is to come to him, before the responsible men of the town, and take his shoe off his foot, and put shame on him, and say, So let it be done to the man who will not take care of his brother's name.
10 After that happens, that man’s family will be known as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’.
And his family will be named in Israel, The house of him whose shoe has been taken off.
11 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,
If two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them, coming to the help of her husband, takes the other by the private parts;
12 do not act mercifully toward her; cut off her hand.
Her hand is to be cut off; have no pity on her.
13 “[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].
Do not have in your bag different weights, a great and a small;
Or in your house different measures, a great and a small.
15 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.
But have a true weight and a true measure: so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
16 Yahweh hates all those who act dishonestly, [and he will punish them].
For all who do such things, and all whose ways are not upright, are disgusting to the Lord your God.
17 Continue to remember what the Amalek people-group did to your ancestors when they were coming out of Egypt.
Keep in mind what Amalek did to you on your way from Egypt;
18 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.
How, meeting you on the way, he made an attack on you when you were tired and without strength, cutting off all the feeble ones at the end of your line; and the fear of God was not in him.
19 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]!”
So when the Lord your God has given you rest from all who are against you on every side, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, see to it that the memory of Amalek is cut off from the earth; keep this in mind.
