Deuteronomy 25:1-19
Deuteronomy 25:1-19 NCV
If two people have an argument and go to court, the judges will decide the case. They will declare one person right and the other guilty. If the guilty person has to be punished with a beating, the judge will make that person lie down and be beaten in front of him. The number of lashes should match the crime. But don’t hit a person more than forty times, because more than that would disgrace him before others. When an ox is working in the grain, do not cover its mouth to keep it from eating. If two brothers are living together, and one of them dies without having a son, his widow must not marry someone outside her husband’s family. Her husband’s brother must marry her, which is his duty to her as a brother-in-law. The first son she has counts as the son of the dead brother so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel. But if a man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, she should go to the elders at the town gate. She should say, “My brother-in-law will not carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He refuses to do his duty for me.” Then the elders of the town must call for the man and talk to him. But if he is stubborn and says, “I don’t want to marry her,” the woman must go up to him in front of the leaders. She must take off one of his sandals and spit in his face and say, “This is for the man who won’t continue his brother’s family!” Then that man’s family shall be known in Israel as the Family of the Unsandaled. If two men are fighting and one man’s wife comes to save her husband from his attacker, grabbing the attacker by his sex organs, you must cut off her hand. Show her no mercy. Don’t carry two sets of weights with you, one heavy and one light. Don’t have two different sets of measures in your house, one large and one small. You must have true and honest weights and measures so that you will live a long time in the land the LORD your God is giving you. The LORD your God hates anyone who is dishonest and uses dishonest measures. Remember what the Amalekites did to you when you came out of Egypt. When you were tired and worn out, they met you on the road and attacked all those lagging behind. They were not afraid of God. When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you as your own, you shall destroy any memory of the Amalekites on the earth. Do not forget!