Deuteronomy 25:1-7

1 When men have a legal dispute, let them go to court; the judges will decide between them, declaring one innocent and the other guilty.

2 If the guilty one deserves punishment, the judge will have him prostrate himself before him and lashed as many times as his crime deserves,

3 but not more than forty. If you hit him more than forty times, you will degrade him to something less than human.

4 Don't muzzle an ox while it is threshing.

5 When brothers are living together and one of them dies without having had a son, the widow of the dead brother shall not marry a stranger from outside the family; her husband's brother is to come to her and marry her and do the brother-in-law's duty by her.

6 The first son that she bears shall be named after her dead husband so his name won't die out in Israel.

7 But if the brother doesn't want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the leaders at the city gate and say, "My brother-in-law refuses to keep his brother's name alive in Israel; he won't agree to do the brother-in-law's duty by me."

Deuteronomy 25:1-7 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.