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Deuteronomy 25-26
New English Translation

25 If controversy arises between people,[a] they should go to court for judgment. When the judges[b] hear the case, they shall exonerate[c] the innocent but condemn[d] the guilty. 2 Then,[e] if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating,[f] the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves.[g] 3 The judge[h] may sentence him to forty blows,[i] but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite[j] with contempt.

4 You must not muzzle your[k] ox when it is treading grain.

Respect for the Sanctity of Others

5 If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her,[l] and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.[m] 6 Then[n] the first son[o] she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she[p] must go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!” 8 Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I don’t want to marry her,” 9 then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face.[q] She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!”[r] 10 His family name will be referred to[s] in Israel as “the family[t] of the one whose sandal was removed.”[u]

11 If two men[v] get into a hand-to-hand fight, and the wife of one of them gets involved to help her husband against his attacker, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his private parts,[w] 12 then you must cut off her hand—do not pity her.

13 You must not have in your bag different stone weights,[x] a heavy and a light one.[y] 14 You must not have in your house different measuring containers,[z] a large and a small one. 15 You must have an accurate and correct[aa] stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you. 16 For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent[ab] to the Lord your God.

Treatment of the Amalekites

17 Remember what the Amalekites[ac] did to you on your way from Egypt, 18 how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God.[ad] 19 So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he[ae] is giving you as an inheritance,[af] you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven[ag]—do not forget![ah]

Presentation of the Firstfruits

26 When[ai] you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it, 2 you must take the first of all the ground’s produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he[aj] chooses to locate his name.[ak] 3 You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your[al] God that I have come into the land that the Lord[am] promised[an] to our ancestors[ao] to give us.” 4 The priest will then take the basket from you[ap] and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. 5 Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering[aq] Aramean[ar] was my ancestor,[as] and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number,[at] but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor. 7 So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he[au] heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression. 8 Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power,[av] as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders. 9 Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him.[aw] 11 You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family,[ax] along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.

Presentation of the Third-year Tithe

12 When you finish tithing all[ay] your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows[az] so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages.[ba] 13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering[bb] from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me.[bc] I have not violated or forgotten your commandments. 14 I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead;[bd] I have obeyed you[be] and have done everything you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Narrative Interlude

16 Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul.[bf] 17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. 18 And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. 19 Then[bg] he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor.[bh] You will[bi] be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 25:1 tn Heb “men.”
  2. Deuteronomy 25:1 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  3. Deuteronomy 25:1 tn Heb “declare to be just”; KJV, NASB “justify the righteous”; NAB, NIV “acquitting the innocent.”
  4. Deuteronomy 25:1 tn Heb “declare to be evil”; NIV “condemning the guilty (+ party NAB).”
  5. Deuteronomy 25:2 tn Heb “and it will be.”
  6. Deuteronomy 25:2 tn Heb “if the evil one is a son of smiting.”
  7. Deuteronomy 25:2 tn Heb “according to his wickedness, by number.”
  8. Deuteronomy 25:3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  9. Deuteronomy 25:3 tn Heb “Forty blows he may strike him”; however, since the judge is to witness the punishment (v. 2) it is unlikely the judge himself administered it.
  10. Deuteronomy 25:3 tn Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. NAB) “your kinsman”; NRSV, NLT “your neighbor.”
  11. Deuteronomy 25:4 tn Heb “an.” By implication this is one’s own animal.
  12. Deuteronomy 25:5 tn Heb “take her as wife”; NRSV “taking her in marriage.”
  13. Deuteronomy 25:5 sn This is the so-called “levirate” custom (from the Latin term levir, “brother-in-law”), an ancient provision whereby a man who died without male descendants to carry on his name could have a son by proxy, that is, through a surviving brother who would marry his widow and whose first son would then be attributed to the brother who had died. This is the only reference to this practice in an OT legal text but it is illustrated in the story of Judah and his sons (Gen 38) and possibly in the account of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:8; 3:12; 4:6).
  14. Deuteronomy 25:6 tn Heb “and it will be that.”
  15. Deuteronomy 25:6 tn Heb “the firstborn.” This refers to the oldest male child.
  16. Deuteronomy 25:7 tn Heb “want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister in law.” In the second instance the pronoun (“she”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
  17. Deuteronomy 25:9 sn The removal of the sandal was likely symbolic of the relinquishment by the man of any claim to his dead brother’s estate since the sandal was associated with the soil or land (cf. Ruth 4:7-8). Spitting in the face was a sign of utmost disgust or disdain, an emotion the rejected widow would feel toward her uncooperative brother-in-law (cf. Num 12:14; Lev 15:8). See W. Bailey, NIDOTTE 2:544.
  18. Deuteronomy 25:9 tn Heb “build the house of his brother”; TEV “refuses to give his brother a descendant”; NLT “refuses to raise up a son for his brother.”
  19. Deuteronomy 25:10 tn Heb “called,” i.e., “known as.”
  20. Deuteronomy 25:10 tn Heb “house.”
  21. Deuteronomy 25:10 tn Cf. NIV, NCV “The Family of the Unsandaled.”
  22. Deuteronomy 25:11 tn Heb “a man and his brother.”
  23. Deuteronomy 25:11 tn Heb “shameful parts.” Besides the inherent indelicacy of what she has done, the woman has also threatened the progenitive capacity of the injured man. The level of specificity given this term in modern translations varies: “private parts” (NAB, NIV, CEV); “genitals” (NASB, NRSV, TEV); “sex organs” (NCV); “testicles” (NLT).
  24. Deuteronomy 25:13 tn Heb “a stone and a stone.” The repetition of the singular noun here expresses diversity, as the following phrase indicates. See IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.
  25. Deuteronomy 25:13 tn Heb “a large and a small,” but since the issue is the weight, “a heavy and a light one” conveys the idea better in English.
  26. Deuteronomy 25:14 tn Heb “an ephah and an ephah.” An ephah refers to a unit of dry measure roughly equivalent to five U.S. gallons (just under 20 liters). On the repetition of the term to indicate diversity, see IBHS 116 §7.2.3c.
  27. Deuteronomy 25:15 tn Or “just”; Heb “righteous.”
  28. Deuteronomy 25:16 tn The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, toʿevah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.
  29. Deuteronomy 25:17 tn Heb “what Amalek” (so NAB, NRSV). Here the individual ancestor, the namesake of the tribe, is cited as representative of the entire tribe at the time Israel was entering Canaan. Consistent with this, singular pronouns are used in v. 18 and the singular name appears again in v. 19. Since readers unfamiliar with the tribe of Amalekites might think this refers to an individual, the term “Amalekites” and the corresponding plural pronouns have been used throughout these verses (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
  30. Deuteronomy 25:18 sn See Exod 17:8-16.
  31. Deuteronomy 25:19 tn Heb “ the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
  32. Deuteronomy 25:19 tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”
  33. Deuteronomy 25:19 tn Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
  34. Deuteronomy 25:19 sn This command is fulfilled in 1 Sam 15:1-33.
  35. Deuteronomy 26:1 tn Heb “and it will come to pass that.”
  36. Deuteronomy 26:2 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
  37. Deuteronomy 26:2 sn The place where he chooses to locate his name. This is a circumlocution for the central sanctuary, first the tabernacle and later the Jerusalem temple. See Deut 12:1-14 and especially the note on the word “you” in v. 14.
  38. Deuteronomy 26:3 tc For the MT reading “your God,” certain LXX mss have “my God,” a contextually superior rendition followed by some English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, TEV). Perhaps the text reflects dittography of the kaf (כ) at the end of the word with the following preposition כִּי (ki).
  39. Deuteronomy 26:3 tc The Syriac adds “your God” to complete the usual formula.
  40. Deuteronomy 26:3 tn Heb “swore on oath.”
  41. Deuteronomy 26:3 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 15).
  42. Deuteronomy 26:4 tn Heb “your hand.”
  43. Deuteronomy 26:5 tn Though the Hebrew term אָבַד (ʾavad) generally means “to perish” or the like (HALOT 2-3 s.v.; BDB 1-2 s.v.; cf. KJV “a Syrian ready to perish”), a meaning “to go astray” or “to be lost” is also attested. The ambivalence in the Hebrew text is reflected in the versions where LXX Vaticanus reads ἀπέβαλεν (apebalen, “lose”) for a possibly metathesized reading found in Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus, ἀπέλαβεν (apelaben, “receive”); others attest κατέλειπεν (kateleipen, “leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9) and is the meaning followed by many English versions.
  44. Deuteronomy 26:5 sn A wandering Aramean. This is a reference to Jacob whose mother Rebekah was an Aramean (Gen 24:10; 25:20, 26) and who himself lived in Aram for at least twenty years (Gen 31:41-42).
  45. Deuteronomy 26:5 tn Heb “father.”
  46. Deuteronomy 26:5 tn Heb “sojourned there few in number.” The words “with a household” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
  47. Deuteronomy 26:7 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 26:2.
  48. Deuteronomy 26:8 tn Heb “by a powerful hand and an extended arm.” These are anthropomorphisms designed to convey God’s tremendously great power in rescuing Israel from their Egyptian bondage. They are preserved literally in many English versions (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
  49. Deuteronomy 26:10 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.
  50. Deuteronomy 26:11 tn Or “household” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); Heb “house” (so KJV, NRSV).
  51. Deuteronomy 26:12 tn Heb includes “the tithes of.” This has not been included in the translation to avoid redundancy.
  52. Deuteronomy 26:12 tn The terms “Levite, resident foreigner, orphan, and widow” are collective singulars in the Hebrew text (also in v. 13).
  53. Deuteronomy 26:12 tn Heb “gates.”
  54. Deuteronomy 26:13 tn Heb “the sacred thing.” The term הַקֹּדֶשׁ (haqqodesh) likely refers to an offering normally set apart for the Lord but, as a third-year tithe, given on this occasion to people in need. Sometimes this is translated as “the sacred portion” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV), but that could sound to a modern reader as if a part of the house were being removed and given away.
  55. Deuteronomy 26:13 tn Heb “according to all your commandment that you commanded me.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  56. Deuteronomy 26:14 sn These practices suggest overtones of pagan ritual, all of which the confessor denies having undertaken. In Canaan they were connected with fertility practices associated with harvest time. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (NAC), 335-36.
  57. Deuteronomy 26:14 tn Heb “the Lord my God.” See note on “he” in 26:2.
  58. Deuteronomy 26:16 tn Or “mind and being”; cf. NCV “with your whole being”; TEV “obey them faithfully with all your heart.”
  59. Deuteronomy 26:19 tn Heb “so that.” Verses 18-19 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but the translation divides it into three sentences for stylistic reasons. The first clause in verse 19 gives a result of the preceding clause. When Israel keeps God’s law, God will bless them with fame and honor (cf. NAB “he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory”; NLT “And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation”).
  60. Deuteronomy 26:19 tn Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”
  61. Deuteronomy 26:19 tn Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.
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