Deuteronomy 25-26

The Message

25 ^1-3When men have a legal dispute, let them go to court; the judges will decide between them, declaring one innocent and the other guilty. If the guilty one deserves punishment, the judge will have him lay himself down before him and lashed as many times as his crime deserves, but not more than forty. If you hit him more than forty times, you will degrade him to something less than human.

⁴Don’t muzzle an ox while it is threshing.

^5-6When brothers are living together and one of them dies without having had a son, the widow of the dead brother shall not marry a stranger from outside the family; her husband’s brother is to come to her and marry her and do the brother-in-law’s duty by her. The first son that she bears shall be named after her dead husband so his name won’t die out in Israel.

^7-10But if the brother doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the leaders at the city gate and say, “My brother-in-law refuses to keep his brother’s name alive in Israel; he won’t agree to do the brother-in-law’s duty by me.” Then the leaders will call for the brother and confront him. If he stands there defiant and says, “I don’t want her,” his sister-in-law is to pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and say, “This is what happens to the man who refuses to build up the family of his brother—his name in Israel will be Family-No-Sandal.”

^11-12When two men are in a fight and the wife of the one man, trying to rescue her husband, grabs the genitals of the man hitting him, you are to cut off her hand. Show no pity.

^13-16Don’t carry around with you two weights, one heavy and the other light, and don’t keep two measures at hand, one large and the other small. Use only one weight, a true and honest weight, and one measure, a true and honest measure, so that you will live a long time on the land that God, your God, is giving you. Dishonest weights and measures are an abomination to God, your God—all this corruption in business deals!

^17-19Don’t forget what Amalek did to you on the road after you left Egypt, how he attacked you when you were tired, barely able to put one foot in front of another, mercilessly cut off your stragglers, and had no regard for God. When God, your God, gives you rest from all the enemies that surround you in the inheritance-land God, your God, is giving you to possess, you are to wipe the name of Amalek from off the Earth. Don’t forget!

26 ^1-5Once you enter the land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance and take it over and settle down, you are to take some of all the firstfruits of what you grow in the land that God, your God, is giving you, put them in a basket and go to the place God, your God, sets apart for you to worship him. At that time, go to the priest who is there and say, “I announce to God, your God, today that I have entered the land that God promised our ancestors that he’d give to us.” The priest will take the basket from you and place it on the Altar of God, your God. And there in the Presence of God, your God, you will recite:

^5-10    A wandering Aramean was my father,
    he went down to Egypt and sojourned there,
    he and just a handful of his brothers at first, but soon
    they became a great nation, mighty and many.
    The Egyptians abused and battered us,
    in a cruel and savage slavery.
    We cried out to God, the God-of-Our-Fathers:
    He listened to our voice, he saw
    our destitution, our trouble, our cruel plight.
    And God took us out of Egypt
    with his strong hand and long arm, terrible and great,
    with signs and miracle-wonders.
    And he brought us to this place,
    gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.
    So here I am. I’ve brought the firstfruits
    of what I’ve grown on this ground you gave me, O God.

^10-11Then place it in the Presence of God, your God. Bow low in the Presence of God, your God. And rejoice! Celebrate all the good things that God, your God, has given you and your family; you and the Levite and the foreigner who lives with you.

* * *

^12-14Every third year, the year of the tithe, give a tenth of your produce to the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow so that they may eat their fill in your cities. And then, in the Presence of God, your God, say this:

    I have brought the sacred share,
    I’ve given it to the Levite, foreigner, orphan, and widow.
    What you commanded, I’ve done.
    I haven’t detoured around your commands,
    I haven’t forgotten a single one.
    I haven’t eaten from the sacred share while mourning,
    I haven’t removed any of it while ritually unclean,
    I haven’t used it in funeral feasts.
    I have listened obediently to the Voice of God, my God,
    I have lived the way you commanded me.

¹⁵    Look down from your holy house in Heaven!
    Bless your people Israel and the ground you gave us,
    just as you promised our ancestors you would,
    this land flowing with milk and honey.

* * *

^16-17This very day God, your God, commands you to follow these rules and regulations, to live them out with everything you have in you. You’ve renewed your vows today that God is your God, that you’ll live the way he shows you; do what he tells you in the rules, regulations, and commandments; and listen obediently to him.

^18-19And today God has reaffirmed that you are dearly held treasure just as he promised, a people entrusted with keeping his commandments, a people set high above all other nations that he’s made, high in praise, fame, and honor: you’re a people holy to God, your God. That’s what he has promised.

* * *