Deuteronomy 25:1-10

1 If a cause is betwixt any men, and they ask (the) judges, they shall give the victory of rightwiseness to him, whom they perceive to be just, and they shall condemn him of wickedness, whom they perceive to be wicked.
2 And if they see him that hath sinned, (to be) worthy of beatings, they shall cast him (face) down, and they shall make him to be beaten before them; and the manner of the beatings shall be for the measure of the sin (and the number of beatings, or strokes, shall correspond to the measure of the sin),
3 so only that they pass not the number of forty strokes, lest thy brother be rent vilely before thine eyes, and go then away (and then go away).
4 Thou shalt not bind the mouth of the ox treading (out) thy fruits in the cornfloor. (Thou shalt not bind the mouth of the ox threshing thy grains on the threshing floor.)
5 When brethren dwell together, and one of them is dead without free children, the wife of the dead brother shall not be wedded to another man, but his brother shall take her, and he shall raise (up) the seed of his brother.
6 And he shall call her first begotten son by his name, that is, of the dead brother, (so) that his name be not done away from Israel.
7 And if he will not take the wife of his brother, which is due to him by law, the woman shall go to the gate of the city; and she shall ask the greater men in birth, and she shall say to them, My husband's brother will not raise the seed of his brother in Israel, neither he will take me into marriage (and she shall say to the men of great age, that is, the elders, My husband's brother will not raise up his brother's descendants in Israel, nor will he take me into marriage).
8 And at once they shall make him to be called, and they shall ask him. If he answer, and say, I will not take her to wife (And If he answer, and say, I will not take her for a wife);
9 the woman shall go to him before the elder men of Israel, and she shall take his shoe off from his foot (and she shall take off the shoe from his foot), and she shall spit into his face, and she shall say to them, Thus it shall be done to the man, that buildeth not his brother's house;
10 and his name shall be called in Israel, The house of the man unshod (The house of the unshod, or the shoeless, man).

Deuteronomy 25:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 25

Several laws are contained in this chapter, as concerning beating such whose crimes required it, De 25:1-3; of not muzzling the ox in treading out the corn, De 25:4; of marrying a deceased brother's wife, when there was no issue, and of the disgrace of such that refused it, De 25:5-10; of the punishment of an immodest woman, De 25:11,12; and against bad weights and measures, De 25:13-16; and for the utter destruction of Amalek, De 25:17-19.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.