Chapter 25

Sundry Laws

1 “aIf there is a dispute between men and they go to 1court, and 2the judges decide their case, band they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked,

2 then it shall be if the wicked man 1adeserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his 2guilt.

3 “aHe may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not bdegraded in your eyes.

4 “aYou shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.

5 “When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. aHer husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

6 “It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall 1assume the name of his dead brother, so that ahis name will not be blotted out from Israel.

7 “aBut if the man does not desire 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 establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’

8 “Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’

9 athen his brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and bspit in his face; and she shall 1declare, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’

10 “In Israel his name shall be called, ‘The house of him whose sandal is removed.’

11 “If two men, a man and his 1countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals,

12 then you shall cut off her 1hand; 2ayou shall not show pity.

13 “aYou shall not have in your bag 1differing weights, a large and a small.

14 “You shall not have in your house 1differing measures, a large and a small.

15 “You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just 1measure, athat your days may be prolonged in the 2land which the Lord your God gives you.

16 “For aeveryone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.

17 “aRemember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt,

18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he adid not 1fear God.

19 “Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you arest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to 1possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

Chapter 26

Offering First Fruits

1 “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it,

2 that you shall take some of athe first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and bgo to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name.

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 1my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

4 “Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

5 “You shall answer and say before the Lord your God, ‘aMy father was a 1wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and 2sojourned there, bfew in number; but there he became a cgreat, mighty and populous nation.

6 ‘And the aEgyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.

7 ‘Then awe cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression;

8 aand the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders;

9 and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, aa land flowing with milk and honey.

10 ‘Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground awhich You, O Lord have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God;

11 and you and athe Levite and the alien who is among you shall brejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.

12 “aWhen you have finished 1paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the 2orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your 3towns and be satisfied.

13 “You shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the 1orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; aI have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.

14 ‘I have not eaten of it 1while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me.

15 ‘aLook down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, ba land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.’

16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them awith all your heart and with all your soul.

17 “aYou have today declared the Lord to be your God, and 1that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.

18 “The Lord has today declared you to be aHis people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and 1that you should keep all His commandments;

19 and 1that He will aset you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be ba consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.”

Chapter 27

The Curses of Mount Ebal

1 Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged the people, saying, “Keep all the commandments which I command you today.

2 “aSo it shall be on the day when you cross the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set up for yourself large stones and coat them with lime

3 and write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over, so that you may enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, aa land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, 1promised you.

4 “So it shall be when you cross the Jordan, you shall set up aon Mount Ebal, these stones, 1as I am commanding you today, and you shall coat them with lime.

5 “Moreover, you shall build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones; you ashall not 1wield an iron tool on them.

6 “You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of 1uncut stones, and you shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord your God;

7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and eat there, and arejoice before the Lord your God.

8 “You shall write on the 1stones all the words of this law very distinctly.”

9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for the Lord your God.

10 “You shall therefore 1obey the Lord your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.”

11 Moses also charged the people on that day, saying,

12 “When you cross the Jordan, these shall stand on aMount Gerizim to bless the people: bSimeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

13 “For the curse, these shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14 “The Levites shall then answer and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice,

15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes 1aan idol or a molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And ball the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

16 ‘aCursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

17 ‘aCursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary mark.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

18 ‘aCursed is he who misleads a blind person on the road.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

19 ‘aCursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, 1orphan, and widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

20 ‘aCursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s skirt.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

21 ‘aCursed is he who lies with any animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

22 ‘aCursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

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

24 ‘aCursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

25 ‘aCursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

26 ‘aCursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’