Fairness and Mercy 1 CPDV “If there is a case between persons, and they apply to the judges, they shall give the palm of justice to the one whom they perceive to be just, and they shall condemn of impiety the one who is impious. BSB BSB: If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court to be judged, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned.
2 CPDV But if they see that the one who has sinned is worthy of stripes, they shall prostrate him and cause him to be beaten before them. According to the measure of the sin, so shall the measure of the stripes be. BSB BSB: If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall have him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes his crime warrants.
3 CPDV Even so, these shall not exceed the number of forty. Otherwise, your brother may depart, having been wounded shamefully before your eyes. BSB BSB: He may receive no more than forty lashes, lest your brother be beaten any more than that and be degraded in your sight.
4 CPDV You shall not muzzle an ox as it is treading out your crops in the field. BSB BSB: Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
Widowhood and Marriage 5 CPDV When brothers are living together, and one of them dies without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry another. Instead, his brother shall take her, and he shall raise up offspring for his brother. BSB BSB: When brothers dwell together and one of them dies without a son, the widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother is to take her as his wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law for her.
6 CPDV And the first son from her, he shall call by his brother’s name, so that his name will not be abolished from Israel. BSB BSB: The first son she bears will carry on the name of the dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
7 CPDV But if he is not willing to take his brother’s wife, who by law must go to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and she shall call upon those greater by birth, and she shall say: ‘The brother of my husband is not willing to raise up his brother’s name in Israel; nor will he join with me.’ BSB BSB: But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, she is to go to the elders at the city gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.”
8 CPDV And immediately, they shall summon him to be sent, and they shall question him. If he responds, ‘I am not willing to accept her as a wife,’ BSB BSB: Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, “I do not want to marry her,”
9 CPDV then the woman shall approach him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall say: ‘So shall it be done to the man who was not willing to build up his brother’s house.’ BSB BSB: his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and declare, “This is what is done to the man who will not maintain his brother’s line.”
10 CPDV And his name shall be called in Israel: The House of the Unshod. BSB BSB: And his family name in Israel will be called “The House of the Unsandaled.”
11 CPDV If two men have a conflict between themselves, and one begins to do violence to the other, and if the other’s wife, wanting to rescue her husband from the hand of the stronger one, extends her hand and grasps him by his private parts, BSB BSB: If two men are fighting, and the wife of one comes to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,
12 CPDV then you shall cut off her hand. Neither shall you weep over her with any mercy. BSB BSB: you are to cut off her hand. You must show her no pity.
Standard Weights and Measures (Proverbs 11:1–3; Ezekiel 45:10–12)
13 CPDV You shall not have differing weights, greater and lesser, in your bag. BSB BSB: You shall not have two differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light.
14 CPDV Neither shall there be in your house a greater and a lesser measure. BSB BSB: You shall not have two differing measures in your house, one large and one small.
15 CPDV You shall have a just and a true weight, and your measure shall be equal and true, so that you may live for a long time upon the land, which the Lord your God will give to you. BSB BSB: You must maintain accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
16 CPDV For the Lord your God abominates him who does these things, and he loathes all injustice. BSB BSB: For everyone who behaves dishonestly in regard to these things is detestable to the LORD your God.
Revenge on the Amalekites 17 CPDV Remember what Amalek did to you, along the way, when you were departing from Egypt: BSB BSB: Remember what the Amalekites did to you along your way from Egypt,
18 CPDV how he met you and cut down the stragglers of the troops, who were sitting down, exhausted, when you were consumed by hunger and hardship, and how he did not fear God. BSB BSB: how they met you on your journey when you were tired and weary, and they attacked all your stragglers; they had no fear of God.
19 CPDV Therefore, when the Lord your God will give you rest, and you will have subdued all the surrounding nations, in the land which he has promised to you, you shall delete his name from under heaven. Take care not to forget this.” BSB BSB: When the LORD your God gives you rest from the enemies around you in the land that He is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you are to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.