1 If 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. 2 It 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. 3 He 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. 4 You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain. 5 If 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. 6 It 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. 7 If 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.” 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him. If he stands and says, “I don’t want to take her,” 9 then 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.” 10 His name shall be called in Israel, “The house of him who had his sandal removed.” 11 When 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, 12 then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity. 13 You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light. 14 You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small. 15 You 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. 16 For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your God. 17 Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came out of Egypt, 18 how 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. 19 Therefore 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.
Deuteronomy · World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
Deuteronomy 25 World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
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Cross references (16)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Proverbs 17:15; Deuteronomy 1:16–17; Deuteronomy 17:8–9; Deuteronomy 19:17–19; Malachi 3:18
- 2 Luke 12:47–48; 1 Peter 2:20; Matthew 10:17; 1 Peter 2:24; Acts 5:40
- 3 Job 18:3; James 2:2–3; 2 Corinthians 11:24–25; Luke 15:30; Luke 18:9–12
- 4 1 Timothy 5:17–18; 1 Corinthians 9:9–10; Proverbs 12:10; Hosea 10:11; Isaiah 28:27
- 5 Luke 20:28; Matthew 22:24; Mark 12:19; Genesis 38:8–9; Ruth 1:12–13
- 6 Deuteronomy 21:19; Psalm 109:13; Psalm 9:5; Genesis 28:8–10; Ruth 4:1–7
- 7 Ruth 4:1–2; Ruth 4:5–6
- 8 Ruth 4:6
- 9 Ruth 4:7–8; Numbers 12:14; Isaiah 20:2; Isaiah 50:6; Mark 10:34
- 12 Deuteronomy 19:13; Deuteronomy 7:2; Deuteronomy 19:21
- 13 Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Leviticus 19:35–37; Amos 8:5; Ezekiel 45:10–11
- 15 Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 5:33; Deuteronomy 11:9; Ephesians 6:3
- 16 Proverbs 11:1; Revelation 21:27; 1 Thessalonians 4:6; Deuteronomy 22:5; Deuteronomy 18:12
- 17 Exodus 17:8–16; Numbers 25:17–18; Numbers 24:20
- 18 Psalm 36:1; Romans 3:18; Nehemiah 5:15; Proverbs 16:6; Nehemiah 5:9
- 19 Exodus 17:14; Deuteronomy 9:14; 1 Samuel 14:48; Exodus 17:16; Psalm 83:7–17
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And even if we were born from the brother of Him that is dead, yet are we named after the name of Him who is dead. We were begotten by the one, but begotten to the other.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… illustrations from common things, and had said, "Who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk thereof?" then he brings in the Scriptures also, saying, "It is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn;" and again, "Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they which preach the gospel should …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
One ought also to observe this, that the law was that when a man died without seed, this man's brother should take to wife the wife of the dead man and raise up seed to his brother.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)
The Apostle hath said, that of the preachers of the Gospel must be understood that which hath been written, "Of the ox treading out corn the mouth thou shalt not muzzle. Doth God care for oxen?" Therefore great are those rams, great the oxen.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
The wife of him that died childless was to be given to his brother. For since death was an incurable ill, and all was contrived for life's sake; He makes a law that the living brother should marry her, and should call the child that is born by the name of the dead, so that his house should not utterly …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)