Deuteronomy 24–27

24“When^a a man takes a wife and he marries her and then^b she does not please him,^c because he found something objectionable^d and writes her a letter of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her away from his house, ²and she goes from his house, and she goes out and becomes a wife for another man,^{e 3}and then the second man dislikes her and he writes her a letter of divorce and places it into her hand and sends her from his house, or if the second man dies who took her to himself^f as a wife, ⁴her first husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again^g to become a wife to him after she has been defiled,^h for that is a detestable thing beforeⁱ Yahweh, and so you shall not mislead into sin the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance.

⁵“When^j a man takes a new wife he shall not go out with the army, and he shall not be obligated with anything;^k he shall be free from obligation, to stay at home^l for one year, and he shall bring joy to his wife that he took.

⁶“A person^m shall not takeⁿ a pair of millstones or an upper millstone, for he is taking necessities of life as a pledge.^o

⁷“If a man is caught^p kidnapping somebody from among his countrymen,^q the Israelites,^r and he treats him as a slave or he sells him, then that kidnapper shall die, and so you shall purge the evil from among you.^s

⁸Be watchful^t with respect to^u an outbreak of any infectious skin disease, by being very careful and by acting^v according to all that the priests and the Levites have instructed you, just as I have commanded them, so you shall diligently observe.^{w 9}So remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam on the journey when you went out from Egypt.^x

¹⁰“When you make a loan to your neighbor, a loan of any kind, you shall not go into his house to take his pledge.^{y 11}You shall wait outside, and the man to whom you are lending, he shall bring the pledge outside to you. ¹²And if he is a needy man, you shall not sleep in his pledge.^{z 13}You shall certainly return the pledge to him as the sun sets,^a so that he may sleep in his cloak and may bless you, and it shall be considered righteousness on your behalf^b before^c Yahweh your God.

¹⁴“You shall not exploit a hired worker, who is needy and poor, from among your fellow men or from among your aliens^d who are in your land and in your towns.^{e 15}On his day you shall give his wage, and the sun shall not go down,^f because he is poor and his life depends on it;^g do this so that he does not cry out against you to Yahweh, and you incur guilt.^h

¹⁶“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, and children shall not be put to death because of their fathers; each one shall be put to death for his own sin. ¹⁷You shall not subvert the rights of an alien or an orphan, and you shall not take as pledge the garment of a widow. ¹⁸And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that Yahweh your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this commandment.

¹⁹“Whenⁱ you reap your harvest in your field and you forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not return to get it, for it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰When you beat off the fruit of your olive trees you shall not search through the branches afterward, for it^j shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

²¹When you harvest grapes, you shall not glean your vineyards again;^k it^l shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. ²²And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.”

25“When a legal dispute takes place^a between men and they come near to the court, and the judges judge with respect to them, then they shall declare the righteous to be in the right and they shall condemn the wicked, ²then it will happen if the guilty one deserves beating,^b then the judge shall make him lie, and he shall beat him before him,^c according to^d the prescribed number of lashes proportionate to the offense.^{e 3}He may beat him with forty lashes, and he shall not do more than these, so that he will not beat more in addition to these many blows,^f and your countryman^g would be^h degraded before your eyes.

⁴“You shall not muzzle an ox when he is threshing.ⁱ

⁵“When brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not become the wife of a man of another family;^j her brother-in-law shall have sex with her,^k and he shall take her to himself^l as a wife, and he shall perform his duty as a brother-in-law with respect to her. ⁶And then the firstborn that she bears shall represent his dead brother,^m so that his name is not blotted out from Israel. ⁷But if the man does not want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister-in-law shall go up to the gate, to the elders, and she shall say, ‘My brother-in-law refused to perpetuate his brother’s nameⁿ in Israel, for he is not willing to marry me.’^{o 8}Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him, and if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to^p marry her’ ⁹then his sister-in-law shall go near him before the eyes of the elders, and she shall pull off his sandal from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall declare^q and she shall say, ‘This is how it is done to the man who does not build the house of his brother.’ ¹⁰And his family^r shall be called in Israel, ‘The house where the sandal was pulled off.’^s

¹¹“If a man and his brother fight each other and the wife of the one man comes near to rescue her husband from the hand of his attacker and she stretches out her hand and she seizes his genitals, ¹²then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not take pity.

¹³“There shall not be for your use^t in your bag two kinds of stone weights, a large one and a small one.^{u 14}There shall not be in your house for your use^v two kinds of measures.^{w 15}Rather a full and honest weight shall be for your use;^x there shall be for you a full and honest measure,^y so that your days on the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you may be long. ¹⁶For detestable to^z Yahweh your God is everyone who is doing such things,^a everyone who is acting^b dishonestly.

¹⁷“Remember what Amalek did to you on the journey when^c you went out from Egypt, ¹⁸that he met you on the journey and attacked you, all those lagging behind you and when you were weary and worn out, and he did not fear God. ¹⁹And when^d Yahweh your God gives rest to you from all your enemies from around about you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance to take possession of it, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens; you shall not forget!”

26“And then^a when you come to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and you settle in it, ²then you shall take from the firstfruit of all the fruit of the ground that you harvest from your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose to make his name to dwell there. ³And you shall go to the priest who is in office in those days, and you shall say, ‘I declare today^b to Yahweh your God that I have come into the land that Yahweh swore to our ancestors^c to give to us.’ ⁴Then the priest takes the basket from your hand and places it before^d the altar of Yahweh your God. ⁵And you shall declare^e and you shall say before^f your God, ‘My ancestor^g was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt, and there he dwelt as an alien few in number,^h and there he became a great nation, mighty and numerous. ⁶And the Egyptians treated us badly, and they oppressed us and imposed on us hard labor. ⁷And we cried to Yahweh, the God of our ancestors,ⁱ and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression. ⁸And Yahweh brought us out from Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and with wonders. ⁹And he brought us to this place and gave to us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰And now, look, I am bringing^j the firstfruit of the fruit of the ground that you gave to me, Yahweh,’ and you shall place it before^k Yahweh your God, and you shall bow down before^l Yahweh your God. ¹¹And you shall celebrate with all of the bounty that Yahweh your God gave to you and to your family, you and the Levite and the alien who is in your midst.

¹²“When you are finished giving a tithe,^m all of the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you shall give to the Levite, to the alien, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and they may be satisfied. ¹³And you shall say beforeⁿ Yahweh your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from the^o house and, moreover, I have given it to the Levite and to the alien and to the orphan and to the widow according to all your commandment that you commanded me; I have not transgressed any of your commandments, and I have not forgotten any of them. ¹⁴I have not eaten during my time of mourning, and I have not removed anything from it while being unclean, and I have not offered any of it^p to someone who has died. I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I have done all that you commanded me to do. ¹⁵Look down from the dwelling place of your holiness, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land that you have given to us, as you swore to our ancestors,^q a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁶“This day Yahweh your God is commanding you to do these rules and regulations, and you must observe them diligently^r with all your heart and with all your soul.^{s 17}Yahweh you have declared today^t to be for you as your God, and to go^u in his ways and to observe his rules and his commandments and his regulations and to listen to his voice. ¹⁸And Yahweh has declared you today^v…