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.
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Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it. 4:2
Trivia: What does Deuteronomy 23:17 say there shall be none of among the sons and daughters of Israel?
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.
If there is a controversy between men, judges will justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.
2 And 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.
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.
If the wicked man should be beaten, the judge will make him lie down and be beaten. [1]Forty stripes may be given, but no more.
4Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
Don't muzzle an ox while it treads the corn.
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.
6 And 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.
If a married man dies without having children, his brother must have sex with his dead brother's wife. [2]
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.
If the dead man's brother doesn't want to have sex with his brother's wife, then she will say to the elders,My husband's brother refuses to have sex with me.
8 Then 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;
The elders will talk to him, but if he says,I refuse to have sex with 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.
Then his brother's wife will come to him in the presence of the elders, take off his shoe, spit in his face, and say,This is what happens to a man who refuses to have sex with his dead brother's wife.
10And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
And everyone in Israel will call him, "The house of him that had his shoe taken 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:
12Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.
When two men are fighting and the wife of one of the men tries to help her husband,and while doing so, touches the private parts of other the man,
then her hand must be cut off. [3]
13Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.
14Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small.
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.
16 For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Be honest when you deal with others. Don't cheat.
Cheaters are abominations to God.
17Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;
18 How 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.
Remember what Amalek did to you when you were coming out of Egypt. [4]
19 Therefore 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.
After God has defeated all of your enemies and given you the land that he promised, blot out the remembrance of Amalek.
And don't forget it.
Legal disputes are settled by a judge who determines guilt or innocence. No lawyers or jury are needed.
Those found guilty will be beaten with 40 stripes.
If a man dies before his wife has a child, then the widow must marry her husband's brother -- whether she likes him or not, and whether she wants to or not. If he refuses to "go in unto" his dead brother's wife, the she must loosen his shoe and spit in his face.
When two men fight and the wife of one grabs the "secrets" of the other, "then thou shalt cut off her hand" and "thine eye shall not pity her."
What the Bible says about amputation and fighting
Amalek fought to save his land from the Israelites. (Ex 17:8-16
A few hundred years later God orders Saul to kill all of the Amalekites "both man and woman, infant and suckling." (1 Sam 15:2-3)