Deuteronomy 25-26

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Fairness and Mercy

25 “If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court, and the judges will hear their case. They will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty. ²If the guilty party deserves to be flogged, the judge will make him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate for his crime. ³He may be flogged with 40 lashes, but no more. Otherwise, if he is flogged with more lashes than these, your brother will be degraded in your sight.

⁴“Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.^(A)

Preserving the Family Line

⁵“When brothers live on the same property^[a] and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her. ⁶The first son she bears will carry on the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be blotted out from Israel.^(B) ⁷But if the man doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she must go to the elders at the city gate^(C) and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He isn’t willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.’ ⁸The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ ⁹then his sister-in-law will go up to him in the sight of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she will declare, ‘This is what is done to a man who will not build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰And his family name in Israel will be called ‘The house of the man whose sandal was removed.’^(D)

¹¹“If two men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she puts out her hand and grabs his genitals, ¹²you are to cut off her hand. You must not show pity.

Honest Weights and Measures

¹³“You must not have two different weights^[b] in your bag, one heavy and one light.^(E) ¹⁴You must not have two differing dry measures in your house, a larger and a smaller. ¹⁵You must have a full and honest weight, a full and honest dry measure, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶For everyone who does such things and acts unfairly is detestable to the Lord your God.^(F)

Revenge on the Amalekites

¹⁷“Remember what the Amalekites did to you on the journey after you left Egypt.^(G) ¹⁸They met you along the way and attacked all your stragglers from behind when you were tired and weary. They did not fear God. ¹⁹When the Lord your God gives you rest^(H) from all the enemies around you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,^(I) blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven. Do not forget.^(J)

Giving the Firstfruits

26 “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance,^(K) and you take possession of it and live in it, ²you must take some of the first of all the land’s produce that you harvest from the land Yahweh your God is giving you and put it in a container. Then go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to have His name dwell.^(L) ³When you come before the priest who is serving at that time, you must say to him, ‘Today I acknowledge to the Lord your^[c] God that I have entered the land the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

⁴“Then the priest will take the container from your hand and place it before the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵You are to respond by saying in the presence of the Lord your God:

My father was a wandering Aramean.^(M) He went down to Egypt with a few people and lived there.^(N) There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation. ⁶But the Egyptians mistreated and afflicted us, and forced us to do hard labor. ⁷So we called out to Yahweh, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our cry and saw our misery, hardship, and oppression.^(O) ⁸Then the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying power, and with signs and wonders. ⁹He led us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.^(P) ¹⁰I have now brought the first of the land’s produce that You, Lord, have given me.

You will then place the container before the Lord your God and bow down to Him. ¹¹You, the Levite, and the foreign resident among you will rejoice^(Q) in all the good things the Lord your God has given you and your household.

The Tenth in the Third Year

¹²“When you have finished paying all the tenth of your produce in the third year,^(R) the year of the tenth, you are to give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. ¹³Then you will say in the presence of the Lord your God:

I have taken the consecrated portion out of my house; I have also given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all the commands You gave me. I have not violated or forgotten Your commands. ¹⁴I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead.^(S) I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done all You commanded me. ¹⁵Look down from Your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land You have given us as You swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Covenant Summary

¹⁶“The Lord your God is commanding you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. You must be careful to follow them with all your heart and all your soul. ¹⁷Today you have affirmed that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in His ways, keep His statutes, commands, and ordinances, and obey Him. ¹⁸And today the Lord has affirmed that you are His special people as He promised you, that you are to keep all His commands, ¹⁹that He will elevate you to praise, fame, and glory above all the nations He has made, and that you will be a holy people^(T) to the Lord your God as He promised.”