Deuteronomy, 25

1. 'If people fall out, they must go to court for judgement; the judges must declare the one who is right to be in the right, the one who is wrong to be in the wrong.

1. "If there is a dispute between men, and they come into court, and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty,

2. If the one who is in the wrong deserves a flogging, the judge must have him laid on the ground and flogged in his presence, the number of strokes proportionate to his offence.

2. then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense.

3. He may impose forty strokes but no more; otherwise, by the infliction of more, serious injury may be caused and your brother be humiliated before you.

3. Forty stripes may be given him, but not more; lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.

4. 'You must not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the corn.

4. "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.

5. 'If brothers live together and one of them dies childless, the dead man's wife may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her husband's brother must come to her and, exercising his duty as brother, make her his wife,

5. "If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside the family to a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.

6. and the first son she bears must assume the dead brother's name; by this means his name will not be obliterated from Israel.

6. And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his brother who is dead, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

7. But if the man declines to take his brother's wife, she must go to the elders at the gate and say, "I have no brother-in-law willing to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he declines to exercise his duty as brother in my favour."

7. And if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, `My husband's brother refuses to perpetuate his brother's name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.'

8. The elders of the town must summon the man and talk to him. If, on appearing before them, he says, "I refuse to take her,"

8. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him: and if he persists, saying, `I do not wish to take her,'

9. then the woman to whom he owes duty as brother must go up to him in the presence of the elders, take the sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and pronounce the following words, "This is what is done to the man who refuses to restore his brother's house,"

9. then his brother's wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, `So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.'

10. and his family must henceforth be known in Israel as House of the Unshod.

10. And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, The house of him that had his sandal pulled off.

11. 'If, when two men are fighting, the wife of one intervenes to protect her husband from the other's blows by reaching out and seizing the other by his private parts,

11. "When men fight with one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts,

12. you must cut off her hand and show no pity.

12. then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall have no pity.

13. 'You must not keep two different weights in your bag, one heavy, one light.

13. "You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small.

14. You must not keep two different measures in your house, one large, one small.

14. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small.

15. You must keep one weight, full and accurate, so that you may have long life in the country given you by Yahweh your God.

15. A full and just weight you shall have, a full and just measure you shall have; that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

16. For anyone who does things of this kind and acts dishonestly is detestable to Yahweh your God.

16. For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.

17. 'Remember how Amalek treated you when you were on your way out of Egypt.

17. "Remember what Am'alek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt,

18. He met you on your way and, after you had gone by, he fell on you from the rear and cut off the stragglers; when you were faint and weary, he had no fear of God.

18. how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and cut off at your rear all who lagged behind you; and he did not fear God.

19. When Yahweh your God has granted you peace from all the enemies surrounding you, in the country given you by Yahweh your God to own as your heritage, you must blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven. Do not forget.'

19. Therefore 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, you shall blot out the remembrance of Am'alek from under heaven; you shall not forget.