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The Holy Bible

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The Book of Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy Chapter 25

  

Justice and Mercy

1
“IF

there is a dispute between men, they are to take it to court, and the judges will decide their case. They will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty.  2  If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall force him to lay down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate to the offence.  3  Forty lashes may be given to him but no more. Otherwise if he is flogged with more lashes than this, your brother will be degraded in your sight.

4“You must not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

Duty to a Deceased Brother

5“When two brothers are living together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man must not get married to a stranger outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall go into her, take her to himself as wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.  6  The firstborn son that she bears shall carry on the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out of Israel.

7“However, if the man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the city gate, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me’.  8  Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. But if he persists, saying, ‘I do not want to marry her’,  9  then his brother’s wife shall go to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal from off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house’.  10  And in Israel his family name shall be called, ‘The house of the man who had his sandal removed’.

Punishment of the Guilty Woman

11  “If two men are fighting against each another, and the wife of one of them steps in to rescue her husband from the blows of his opponent, and she reaches out and seizes him by the genitals,  12  then you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.

Honest Weights and Measures

13  “You must not have differing weights in your bagone heavy and one light.  14  You must not have differing measures in your houseone large and one small.  15  You must have full and honest weights, and you must have full and honest measures, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.  16  For anyone who does such thingseveryone who deals dishonestlyis detestable to the Lord your God.

Revenge Against the Amalekites

17  “Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your journey as you were coming out of Egypt.  18  They met you along the way when you were tired and weary, and attacked all the stragglers who were lagging behind; and they did not fear God.  19  Therefore, when the Lord your God gives you rest from all your enemies around you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget it.”