Deuteronomy 25

All 19 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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  1. 1When two people have a dispute and bring it to court, the judges must declare the innocent party not guilty and the guilty party guilty.
  2. 2If the guilty person deserves a beating, the judge will have him lie face down and be struck in the judge's presence. The number of lashes must match the severity of his offense.
  3. 3He may receive up to 40 lashes, but no more. If you exceed this and beat him with more stripes, then your brother would seem vile to you.
  4. 4Don't muzzle an ox while it's treading out the grain.
  5. 5If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a child, his widow must not marry a stranger. Instead, her husband's brother must marry her and fulfill his duty as a brother-in-law.
  6. 6The first son she has will carry on the dead brother's name, so that his family line won't be wiped out in Israel.
  7. 7But if the man refuses to marry his brother's widow, she must go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My brother-in-law refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He won't do his duty as my husband's brother."
  8. 8The elders of the town will then summon him and talk to him. If he still insists and says, "I don't want to marry her,"
  9. 9then his brother's widow must walk up to him in front of the elders, pull the sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, "This is what happens to a man who refuses to carry on his brother's family line."
  10. 10From then on, his family will be known throughout Israel as "the house of the man who had his sandal pulled off."
  11. 11If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them steps in to rescue her husband by reaching out and grabbing the other man's private parts,
  12. 12you must cut off her hand. Show her no mercy.
  13. 13Don't carry two different sets of weights in your bag — one heavy and one light.
  14. 14Don't keep two different measuring containers in your house — one large and one small.
  15. 15Use only accurate and honest weights and measures. If you do, you'll live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
  16. 16For all who do such things and all who act unrighteously are an abomination to the LORD your God.
  17. 17Never forget what the Amalekites did to you on your way out of Egypt.
  18. 18They ambushed you on the road and attacked the people straggling at the back — the weak, the exhausted, and the worn out. The Amalekites had no fear of God.
  19. 19So when the LORD your God gives you peace from all the enemies surrounding you in the land he's giving you as your inheritance, you must wipe out every trace of Amalek from under heaven. Don't forget this.