Respect for the Sanctity of Others

25:5 If 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,12 and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.13 25:6 Then14 the first son15 she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel. 25:7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she16 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!” 25:8 Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I don’t want to marry her,” 25:9 then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face.17 She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!”18 25:10 His family name will be referred to19 in Israel as “the family20 of the one whose sandal was removed.”21

25:11 If two men22 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,23 25:12 then you must cut off her hand—do not pity her.

25:13 You must not have in your bag different stone weights,24 a heavy and a light one.25 25:14 You must not have in your house different measuring containers,26 a large and a small one. 25:15 You must have an accurate and correct27 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. 25:16 For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent28 to the Lord your God.