| King James Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. | 1If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court, and the judges will hear their case. They will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty. |
| 2And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. | 2If the guilty party deserves to be flogged, the judge will make him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate for his crime. |
| 3Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee. | 3He may be flogged with 40 lashes, but no more. Otherwise, if he is flogged with more lashes than these, your brother will be degraded in your sight." |
| 4Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. | 4Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain." |
| 5If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her. | 5When brothers live on the same property and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her. |
| 6And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. | 6The first son she bears will carry on the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be blotted out from Israel. |
| 7And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. | 7But if the man doesn't want to marry his sister-in-law, she must go to the elders at the city gate and say, 'My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother's name in Israel. He isn't willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.' |
| 8Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; | 8The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, 'I don't want to marry her,' |
| 9Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house. | 9then his sister-in-law will go up to him in the sight of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she will declare, 'This is what is done to a man who will not build up his brother's house.' |
| 10And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed. | 10And his family name in Israel will be called 'The house of the man whose sandal was removed.'" |
| 11When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: | 11If two men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she puts out her hand and grabs his genitals, |
| 12Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her. | 12you are to cut off her hand. You must not show pity." |
| 13Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. | 13You must not have two different weights in your bag, one heavy and one light. |
| 14Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. | 14You must not have two differing dry measures in your house, a larger and a smaller. |
| 15But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. | 15You must have a full and honest weight, a full and honest dry measure, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. |
| 16For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God. | 16For everyone who does such things and acts unfairly is detestable to the LORD your God." |
| 17Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; | 17Remember what the Amalekites did to you on the journey after you left Egypt. |
| 18How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. | 18They met you along the way and attacked all your stragglers from behind when you were tired and weary. They did not fear God. |
| 19Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it. | 19When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven. Do not forget." |
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