The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy

⭑ Douay-Rheims :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 25 -

If there be a controversy between men, and they call upon the judges: they shall give the prize of justice to him whom they perceive to be just: and him whom they find to be wicked, they shall condemn of wickedness.

And if they see that the offender be worthy of stripes: they shall lay him down, and shall cause him to be beaten before them. According to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be:

Yet so, that they exceed not the number of forty: lest thy brother depart shamefully torn before thy eyes.

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn on the floor.

Widowhood and Marriage

When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother:

And the first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name be not abolished out of Israel.

But if he will not take his brother’s wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up his brother’s name in Israel: and will not take me to wife.

And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith, and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife:

The woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother’s house:

And his name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.

If two men have words together, and one begin to fight against the other, and the other’s wife willing to deliver her husband out of the hand of the stronger, shall put forth her hand, and take him by the secrets,

Thou shalt cut off her hand, neither shalt thou be moved with any pity in her regard.

Standard Weights and Measures

(Proverbs 11:1–3; Ezekiel 45:10–12)

Thou shalt not have divers weights in thy bag, a greater and a less:

Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a less.

Thou shalt have a just and a true weight, and thy bushel shall be equal and true: that thou mayest live a long time upon the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee.

For the Lord thy God abhorreth him that doth these things, and he hateth all injustice.

Revenge on the Amalekites

Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out of Egypt:

How he met thee: and slew the hindmost of the army, who sat down, being weary, when thou wast spent with hunger and labour, and he feared not God.

Therefore when the Lord thy God shall give thee rest, and shall have subdued all the nations round about in the land which he hath promised thee: thou shalt blot out his name from under heaven. See thou forget it not.

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.