By July 6, 2008 Read More →

Deuteronomy 25

25When there is a dispute between men and they go to law, and a decision is rendered declaring the one in the right and the other in the wrong—2if the guilty one is to be flogged, the magistrate shall have him lie down and be given lashes in his presence, by count, as his guilt warrants. 3He may be given up to forty lashes, but not more, lest being flogged further, to excess, your brother be degraded before your eyes.

4You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.

5When brothers dwell together and one of them dies and leaves no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married to a stranger, outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall unite with her- he shall take her as his wife and perform the levir’s duty. 6The first son that she bears shall be accounted to the dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out in Israel. 7But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, his brother’s widow shall appear before the elders in the gate and declare, “My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name in Israel for his brother; he will not perform the duty of a levir.” 8The elders of his town shall then summon him and talk to him. If he insists, saying, “I do not want to marry her,” 9his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull the sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and make this declaration- Thus shall be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house! 10And he shall go in Israel by the name of “the family of the unsandaled one.”

11If two men get into a fight with each other, and the wife of one comes up to save her husband from his antagonist and puts out her hand and seizes him by his genitals, 12you shall cut off her hand; show no pity.

13You shall not have in your pouch alternate weights, larger and smaller. 14You shall not have in your house alternate measures, a larger and a smaller. 15You must have completely honest weights and completely honest measures, if you are to endure long on the soil that the Lord your God is giving you. 16For everyone who does those things, everyone who deals dishonestly, is abhorrent to the Lord your God.

17Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt—18how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. 19Therefore, when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem- Jewish Publication Society) 1985.

Posted in: Exodus

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