| NET Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1If controversy arises between people, they should go to court for judgment. When the judges hear the case, they shall exonerate the innocent but condemn the guilty. | 1"When there is a conflict between individuals, let them come to court to judge the case, decide who is innocent, and condemn the guilty person. |
| 2Then, if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. | 2If the guilty person deserves a beating, the judge will make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes fit for his crime. |
| 3The judge may sentence him to forty blows, but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite with contempt. | 3But he must not be beaten more than 40 lashes, because if he receives more than 40 lashes, your brother will be humiliated in your eyes. |
| 4You must not muzzle your ox when it is treading grain. | 4"Don't muzzle an ox while it is threshing grain." |
| 5If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man's wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband's brother must go to her, marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. | 5"When two brothers are living together and one of them dies without leaving a son, his widow must not be married outside the family to a foreigner. Instead, the brother-in-law must go to her, take her as his wife, and by doing so perform the duty of a brother-in-law. |
| 6Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel. | 6The firstborn whom she will bear will continue the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be erased from Israel. |
| 7But if the man does not want to marry his brother's widow, then she must go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to preserve his brother's name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!" | 7But if the man does not want to marry his brother's widow, then she must go to the elders at the city gate and declare, 'My husband's brother refuses to perform the duty of a brother-in-law in order to preserve the name of his brother in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law.' |
| 8Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, "I don't want to marry her," | 8Then the elders of the city are to summon him and speak with him. If he insists on saying, 'I don't want to marry her,' |
| 9then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond, "Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother's family line!" | 9then she is to approach her brother-in-law in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and say in response, 'May this be done to the man who does not preserve the lineage of his brother.' |
| 10His family name will be referred to in Israel as "the family of the one whose sandal was removed." | 10Then his family name in Israel will be known 'as the family of the one whose sandal was removed.'" |
| 11If two men get into a hand-to-hand fight, and the wife of one of them gets involved to help her husband against his attacker, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals, | 11"If two men are fighting together, and the wife of one comes to rescue her husband from the grasp of his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes his genitals, |
| 12then you must cut off her hand--do not pity her. | 12you are to cut off her hand. Don't show any pity." |
| 13You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one. | 13"Don't have different weights in your bag—one heavy and one light. |
| 14You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one. | 14Don't have different measuring devices in your house—one large and one small. |
| 15You must have an accurate and correct stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the LORD your God is about to give you. | 15You must have honest weights and measuring devices, so you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, |
| 16For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the LORD your God. | 16for anyone who does these things—anyone who deals dishonestly—is detestable to the LORD your God." |
| 17Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way from Egypt, | 17"Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the road while you were coming out of Egypt, |
| 18how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God. | 18how when you were very tired and weary, they lay in wait for you on the road and eliminated everyone who was lagging behind. They had no fear of God. |
| 19So when the LORD your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he is giving you as an inheritance, you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven--do not forget! | 19Therefore, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies who surround you in the land that he is about to give you to possess as an inheritance, you must completely erase the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven. Don't forget!" |
|
