The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
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.
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“If there is a dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the 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,
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then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense.
3 but not more than forty. If you hit him more than forty times, you will degrade him to something less than human.
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Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.
4 Don't muzzle an ox while it is threshing.
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“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.
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.
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“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family 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 The first son that she bears shall be named after her dead husband so his name won't die out in Israel.
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And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of 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."
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And if the man does not wish 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 perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me. ’
8 Then the leaders will call for the brother and confront him. If he stands there defiant and says, "I don't want her,"
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Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists, saying, ‘I do not wish to take her, ’
9 his sister-in-law is to pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and say, "This is what happens to the man who refuses to build up the family of his brother
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then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face. And 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 in Israel will be Family-No-Sandal."
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And the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal pulled off. ’
11 When two men are in a fight and the wife of the one man, trying to rescue her husband, grabs the genitals of the man hitting him,
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“When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts,
12 you are to cut off her hand. Show no pity.
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then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.
13 Don't carry around with you two weights, one heavy and the other light,
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“You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small.
14 and don't keep two measures at hand, one large and the other small.
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You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small.
15 Use only one weight, a true and honest weight, and one measure, a true and honest measure, so that you will live a long time on the land that God, your God, is giving you.
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A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
16 Dishonest weights and measures are an abomination to God, your God - all this corruption in business deals!
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For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the Lord your God.
17 Don't forget what Amalek did to you on the road after you left Egypt,
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“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt,
18 how he attacked you when you were tired, barely able to put one foot in front of another, mercilessly cut off your stragglers, and had no regard for God.
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how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God.
19 When God, your God, gives you rest from all the enemies that surround you in the inheritance-land God, your God, is giving you to possess, you are to wipe the name of Amalek from off the Earth. Don't forget!
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Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025