Deuteronomy 25-26

Amplified Bible

Various Laws

25 “If there is a controversy between men, and they go to court, and the judges decide [the issue] between them, and they judge in favor of the innocent and condemn the guilty, ² then it shall be that if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with a [certain] number of stripes in proportion to his offense. ³ He may have him beaten forty times, but no more. He is not to be beaten with more stripes than these and he is not to be degraded [that is, treated like an animal] in your sight.

⁴ “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing [to prevent him from eating any of the grain].^(A)

⁵ “If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall be intimate with her after taking her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶ It shall be that her firstborn [son] will ^[a]be given the name of the dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷ But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s [widowed] wife, then she shall go up to the gate [of the city, where court is held] to the elders, and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to continue his brother’s name in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother.’ ⁸ Then the elders of his city will summon him and speak to him. And if he stands firm and says, ‘I do not want to marry her,’ ⁹ then his brother’s widow shall approach 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 it is done to that man who does not build up his brother’s household.’ ¹⁰ In Israel his [family] name shall be, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

¹¹ “If [two] men, a man and his countryman, are fighting and the wife of one approaches to rescue her husband from the man who is striking him, and she reaches out with her hand and grabs the aggressor’s genitals, ¹² then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity [for her].

¹³ “You shall not have in your bag inaccurate weights, a heavy and a light [so you can cheat others]. ¹⁴ You shall not have in your house inaccurate measures, a large and a small. ¹⁵ You shall have a perfect (full) and just weight, and a perfect and just measure, so that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you. ¹⁶ For everyone who does such things, everyone who acts unjustly [without personal integrity] is utterly repulsive to the Lord your God.

¹⁷ “Remember what Amalek did to you along the road when you came from Egypt, ¹⁸ how he met you along the road and attacked all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he did not ^[b]fear God.^{(B) 19} Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

Offering First Fruits

26 “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and live in it, ² that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the ^[c]place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His Name (Presence). ³ You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the Lord ^[d]my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ ⁴ Then the priest will take the basket from you and place it before the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵ And you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘My father [Jacob] was a wandering Aramean, and he [along with his family] went down to Egypt and ^[e]lived there [as strangers], few in number; but while there he became a great, mighty and populous nation. ⁶ And the Egyptians treated us badly and oppressed us, and imposed hard labor on us. ⁷ Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers for help, and He heard our voice and saw our suffering and our labor and our [cruel] oppression; ⁸ and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror [suffered by the Egyptians] and with signs and with wonders; ⁹ and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land ^[f]flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ And now, look, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall place it before the Lord your God, and shall worship before the Lord your God; ¹¹ and you and the Levite and the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.

¹² “When you have finished ^[g]paying all the tithe of your produce the third year, [which is] the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat within the gates of your cities and be satisfied. ¹³ You shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion (the tithe) from my house and also have given it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan, and to the widow, in accordance with all that You have commanded me. I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments. ¹⁴ I have not eaten from the tithe while mourning, nor have I removed any of it when I was [ceremonially] unclean [making the tithe ceremonially unclean], nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done everything in accordance with all that You have commanded me. ¹⁵ Look down from Your holy dwelling above, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the land which You have given us, as You have sworn to our fathers, a land [of plenty] ^[h]flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁶ “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and judgments (precepts). Therefore, you shall be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul (your entire being). ¹⁷ Today you have [openly] declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk [that is, live each and every day] in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments (precepts), and listen to His voice. ¹⁸ Today the Lord has declared that you are His people, His treasured possession, just as He promised you, and that you are to keep all His commandments; ¹⁹ and that He will set you high above all the nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor: and that you shall be a holy people [set apart and consecrated] to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”