| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 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. | 1“Suppose two people take a dispute to court, and the judges declare that one is right and the other is wrong. |
| 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 person in the wrong is sentenced to be flogged, the judge must command him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate to the 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. | 3But never give more than forty lashes; more than forty lashes would publicly humiliate your neighbor. |
| 4Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. | 4“You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the 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. | 5“If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow may not be married to anyone from outside the family. Instead, her husband’s brother should marry her and have intercourse with her to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law. |
| 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 to him will be considered the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in 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. | 7“But if the man refuses to marry his brother’s widow, she must go to the town gate and say to the elders assembled there, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel—he refuses to fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law by marrying 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 the town will then summon him and talk with him. If he still refuses 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. | 9the widow must walk over to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she must declare, ‘This is what happens to a man who refuses to provide his brother with children.’ |
| 10And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed. | 10Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’! |
| 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: | 11“If two Israelite men get into a fight and the wife of one tries to rescue her husband by grabbing the testicles of the other man, |
| 12Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her. | 12you must cut off her hand. Show her no pity. |
| 13Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. | 13“You must use accurate scales when you weigh out merchandise, |
| 14Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. | 14and you must use full and honest measures. |
| 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. | 15Yes, always use honest weights and measures, so that you may enjoy a long life 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. | 16All who cheat with dishonest weights and measures are detestable to the LORD your God. |
| 17Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; | 17“Never forget what the Amalekites did to you as you came from 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 attacked you when you were exhausted and weary, and they struck down those who were straggling behind. They had no fear of 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. | 19Therefore, when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies in the land he is giving you as a special possession, you must destroy the Amalekites and erase their memory from under heaven. Never forget this! |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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