Whipping criminals

1“If two Israelis have a dispute and they go to a court, the judge will probably decide/declare that one of them ◄is innocent/did not do any wrong► and the other one is guilty.

2If the judge says that the guilty person must be punished, he shall command him to lie with his face on the ground and be whipped. The number of times he is struck with a whip will depend on what kind of crime he committed.

3It is permitted that he be struck as many as 40 times, but no more than that. If he is struck more than 40 times, he would be humiliated publicly.

Don’t muzzle your ox

4When your ox is treading/walking on the grain to separate the chaff from the grain, do not ◄muzzle it/put a covering on its mouth► to prevent it from eating some of the grain.

Responsibility to a dead brother

5If two brothers live on the same property, and one of them who has no son dies, the man’s widow should not marry someone who is not a member of his family. The dead man’s brother must marry her and have sex [EUP] with her. It is his duty to do that.

6If she later gives birth to a son, that son is to be considered [MTY] the son of the man who died, in order that the dead man’s name will not disappear from Israel.

7“But if the dead man’s brother does not want to marry that woman, she must stand at the ◄gate/central meeting place► of the town and say to the town elders, ‘My husband’s brother will not do ◄his duty/what he is supposed to do►. He refuses to marry me in order that I may give birth to a son who will prevent my dead husband’s name from disappearing in Israel.’

8Then the elders must summon that man and talk to him. If he still refuses to marry that widow,

9she must go up to him while the elders are watching, and take off one of his sandals to symbolize/show that he would not receive any of her property, and spit in his face, and say to him, ‘This is what happens to the man who refuses to do what is needed to allow his dead brother to have a son in order that our family name does not disappear.’

10After that happens, that man’s family will be known as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’.

Two other laws

11When two men are fighting with each other, and the one man’s wife comes near to help her husband by grabbing hold of the other man’s genitals,

12do not act mercifully toward her; cut off her hand.

13“When you are buying or selling things, do not try to cheat people by having two kinds of weights, one which you use when you buy something and one which you use when you sell something, and two kinds of measuring baskets, one which you use when you buy something and one which you use when you sell something.

15Always use correct weights and correct measuring baskets, in order that Yahweh our God will allow you to live a long time in the land that he is giving to you.

16Yahweh hates all those who act dishonestly, and he will punish them.

Getting revenge on the Amalek people-group

17Continue to remember what the Amalek people-group did to your ancestors when they were coming out of Egypt.

18They attacked your ancestors as your ancestors were traveling, when they were weak and exhausted. Those people were not afraid of God at all, so they attacked your ancestors from the rear and killed all those who were unable to walk as fast as the others.

19Therefore, when Yahweh our God has given you the land that he promised to give you, and when he has enabled you to rest from fighting all your enemies around you, kill all the Amalek people-group, with the result that no one will remember them any more. Do not forget to do this!”