| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1If controversy arises between people, they should go to court for judgment. When the judges hear the case, they shall exonerate the innocent but condemn the guilty. | 1“Suppose two people take a dispute to court, and the judges declare that one is right and the other is wrong. |
| 2Then, if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. | 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. |
| 3The judge may sentence him to forty blows, but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite with contempt. | 3But never give more than forty lashes; more than forty lashes would publicly humiliate your neighbor. |
| 4You must not muzzle your ox when it is treading grain. | 4“You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain. |
| 5If 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, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law. | 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. |
| 6Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted 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. |
| 7But if the man does not want to marry his brother's widow, then she 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!" | 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 must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, "I don't want to marry 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 his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond, "Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother's family line!" | 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.’ |
| 10His family name will be referred to in Israel as "the family of the one whose sandal was removed." | 10Ever afterward in Israel his family will be referred to as ‘the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off’! |
| 11If two men 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, | 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 you must cut off her hand--do not pity her. | 12you must cut off her hand. Show her no pity. |
| 13You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one. | 13“You must use accurate scales when you weigh out merchandise, |
| 14You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one. | 14and you must use full and honest measures. |
| 15You must have an accurate and correct 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. | 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 anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the LORD your God. | 16All who cheat with dishonest weights and measures are detestable to the LORD your God. |
| 17Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way from Egypt, | 17“Never forget what the Amalekites did to you as you came from Egypt. |
| 18how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of 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. |
| 19So when the LORD your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he is giving you as an inheritance, you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven--do not forget! | 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! |
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