Deuteronomy 25–27

1If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment and the judges judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.

2It shall be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number.

3He may sentence him to no more than forty stripes. He shall not give more, lest if he should give more and beat him more than that many stripes, then your brother will be degraded in your sight.

4You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.

5If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

6It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of Israel.

7If the man doesn’t want to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.”

8Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him. If he stands and says, “I don’t want to take her,”

9then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his sandal from off his foot, and spit in his face. She shall answer and say, “So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.”

10His name shall be called in Israel, “The house of him who had his sandal removed.”

11When men strive against each other, and the wife of one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who strikes him, and puts out her hand, and grabs him by his private parts,

12then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.

13You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light.

14You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small.

15You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.

16For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your God.

17Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt,

18how he met you by the way, and struck the rearmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he didn’t fear God.

19Therefore it shall be, when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky. You shall not forget.

1It shall be, when you have come in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, possess it, and dwell in it,

2that you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that Yahweh your God gives you. You shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.

3You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, “I profess today to Yahweh your God, that I have come to the land which Yahweh swore to our fathers to give us.”

4The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before Yahweh your God’s altar.

5You shall answer and say before Yahweh your God, “My father was a Syrian ready to perish. He went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation.

6The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.

7Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.

8Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs, and with wonders;

9and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

10Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Yahweh, have given me.” You shall set it down before Yahweh your God, and worship before Yahweh your God.

11You shall rejoice in all the good which Yahweh your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you.

12When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be filled.

13You shall say before Yahweh your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them.

14I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have listened to Yahweh my God’s voice. I have done according to all that you have commanded me.

15Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

16Today Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.

17You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice.

18Yahweh has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments.

19He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as he has spoken.

1Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep all the commandment which I command you today.

2It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and coat them with plaster.

3You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over, that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

4It shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall coat them with plaster.

5There you shall build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones. You shall not use any iron tool on them.

6You shall build Yahweh your God’s altar of uncut stones. You shall offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God.

7You shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God.

8You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

9Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of Yahweh your God.

10You shall therefore obey Yahweh your God’s voice, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”

11Moses commanded the people the same day, saying,

12“These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

13These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14With a loud voice, the Levites shall say to all the men of Israel,

15‘Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ All the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

16‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

17‘Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s landmark.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

18‘Cursed is he who leads the blind astray on the road.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

19‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

20‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

21‘Cursed is he who lies with any kind of animal.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

22‘Cursed is he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

23‘Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

24‘Cursed is he who secretly kills his neighbor.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

25‘Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

26‘Cursed is he who doesn’t uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”