Deuteronomy 25NASB
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Deuteronomy25

New American Standard

1“If there is a dispute between people and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they declare the righteous innocent and pronounce the wicked guilty,

2then it shall be if the wicked person deserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and have him beaten in his presence with the number of lashes according to his wrongful act.

3He may have him beaten forty times, but not more, so that he does not have him beaten with many more lashes than these, and that your brother does not become contemptible in your eyes.

4“You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.

5“When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall have relations with her and take her to himself as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

6It shall then be that the firstborn to whom she gives birth shall assume the name of his father’s deceased brother, so that his name will not be wiped out from Israel.

7But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’

8Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’

9then his brother’s widow shall come up to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house!’

10And in Israel his family shall be called by the name, ‘The house of him whose sandal was removed.’

11“If two men, a man and his countryman, have a fight with each other, and the wife of one comes up to save her husband from the hand of the one who is hitting him, and she reaches out with her hand and grasps that man’s genitals,

12then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.

13“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small.

14You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.

15You shall have a correct and honest weight; you shall have a correct and honest measure, so that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

16For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.

17“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt,

18how he confronted you on the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God.

19So it shall come about, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, that you shall wipe out the mention of the name Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 25.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: Extent of punishment. (1–3). The ox that treadeth the corn. (4). Marriage of a brother's wife. (5–12). Of unjust weights. (13–16). War against Amalek. (17–19).

vv1-3

Every punishment should be with solemnity, that those who see it may be filled with dread, and be warned not to offend in like manner. And though the criminals must be shamed as well as put to pain, for their warning and disgrace, yet care should be taken that they do not appear totally vile. Happy those who are chastened of the Lord to humble them, that they should not be condemned with the world to destruction.

v4

This is a charge to husbandmen. It teaches us to make much of the animals that serve us. But we must learn, not only to be just, but kind to all who are employed for the good of our better part, our souls, 1Co 9:9.

vv5-12

The custom here regulated seems to have been in the Jewish law in order to keep inheritances distinct; now it is unlawful.

Cross References

Deuteronomy 25

Paul relates his receiving of 'forty stripes save one' to keep strictly within this law's limit.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

Paul explicitly quotes this verse to argue that ministers deserve material support for their labors.

Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB

v41 Timothy 5:18quotation

Paul cites the law of the treading ox alongside Christ's words to command support for elders.

Supported by JFB

v5Matthew 22:24allusion

The Sadducees cite this levirate marriage law to challenge Jesus regarding the resurrection.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v191 Samuel 15:1-35fulfillment

Saul is commissioned to execute God's decree here to completely destroy the memory of Amalek.

Supported by JFB

v19Exodus 17:14fulfillment

God's original oath to utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek, here recalled and enjoined.

Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin

v5Genesis 38:8thematic

Demonstrates the pre-Mosaic existence of the levirate custom with Judah's instruction to Onan.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v13Proverbs 20:10thematic

Condemns divers weights and divers measures as an abomination, echoing Deuteronomy's exact wording.

Supported by JFB

v13Proverbs 16:11thematic

Declares that a just weight and balance are the Lord's, directly reflecting Deuteronomy's standard.

Supported by JFB

v17Exodus 17:8-16thematic

The original historical account of Amalek's unprovoked attack on Israel at Rephidim.

Supported by John Calvin, JFB

v4Hosea 10:11thematic

Prophetic allusion to Ephraim being trained and loving to tread out the corn.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v13Leviticus 19:35thematic

Levitical parallel commanding absolute honesty in meteyard, weight, and measure.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v17Genesis 36:12thematic

Shows Amalek was Esau's grandson, making their attack on Israel a betrayal of kindred.

Supported by John Calvin