The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy

⭑ Catholic Public Domain :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 25 -

“If there is a case between persons, and they apply to the judges, they shall give the palm of justice to the one whom they perceive to be just, and they shall condemn of impiety the one who is impious.

But if they see that the one who has sinned is worthy of stripes, they shall prostrate him and cause him to be beaten before them. According to the measure of the sin, so shall the measure of the stripes be.

Even so, these shall not exceed the number of forty. Otherwise, your brother may depart, having been wounded shamefully before your eyes.

You shall not muzzle an ox as it is treading out your crops in the field.(a)

Widowhood and Marriage

When brothers are living together, and one of them dies without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry another. Instead, his brother shall take her, and he shall raise up offspring for his brother.

And the first son from her, he shall call by his brother’s name, so that his name will not be abolished from Israel.

But if he is not willing to take his brother’s wife, who by law must go to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and she shall call upon those greater by birth, and she shall say: ‘The brother of my husband is not willing to raise up his brother’s name in Israel; nor will he join with me.’

And immediately, they shall summon him to be sent, and they shall question him. If he responds, ‘I am not willing to accept her as a wife,’

then the woman shall approach him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall say: ‘So shall it be done to the man who was not willing to build up his brother’s house.’

And his name shall be called in Israel: The House of the Unshod.

If two men have a conflict between themselves, and one begins to do violence to the other, and if the other’s wife, wanting to rescue her husband from the hand of the stronger one, extends her hand and grasps him by his private parts,

then you shall cut off her hand. Neither shall you weep over her with any mercy.

Standard Weights and Measures

(Proverbs 11:1–3; Ezekiel 45:10–12)

You shall not have differing weights, greater and lesser, in your bag.

Neither shall there be in your house a greater and a lesser measure.

You shall have a just and a true weight, and your measure shall be equal and true, so that you may live for a long time upon the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.

For the Lord your God abominates him who does these things, and he loathes all injustice.

Revenge on the Amalekites

Remember what Amalek did to you, along the way, when you were departing from Egypt:(b)

how he met you and cut down the stragglers of the troops, who were sitting down, exhausted, when you were consumed by hunger and hardship, and how he did not fear God.

Therefore, when the Lord your God will give you rest, and you will have subdued all the surrounding nations, in the land which he has promised to you, you shall delete his name from under heaven. Take care not to forget this.”

Footnotes

(a)25:4 Not muzzle, etc:St. Paul understands this of the spiritual labourer in the church of God, who is not to be denied his maintenance. 1 Cor. 9:8, 9, 10.(Challoner)

(b)25:17 Amalec:This order for destroying the Amalecites, in the mystical sense, shows how hateful they are to God, and what punishments they are to look for from his justice, who attack and discourage his servants when they are but just come out, as it were, of the Egypt of this wicked world and being yet weak and fainthearted, are but beginning their journey to the land of promise.(Challoner)

If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment and the judges judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.

It shall be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number.

He may sentence him to no more than forty stripes. He shall not give more, lest if he should give more and beat him more than that many stripes, then your brother will be degraded in your sight.

You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.

Widowhood and Marriage

If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside 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.

It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of Israel.

If the man doesn’t want 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 raise up to his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.”

Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him. If he stands and says, “I don’t want to take her,”

then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his sandal from off his foot, and spit in his face. She shall answer and say, “So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.”

His name shall be called in Israel, “The house of him who had his sandal removed.”

When men strive against each other, and the wife of one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who strikes him, and puts out her hand, and grabs him by his private parts,

then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.

Standard Weights and Measures

(Proverbs 11:1–3; Ezekiel 45:10–12)

You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light.

You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small.

You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

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

Revenge on the Amalekites

Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt,

how he met you by the way, and struck the rearmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he didn’t fear God.

Therefore it shall be, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky. You shall not forget.