| King James Bible | NET 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 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 4Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. | 4You must not muzzle your ox when it is treading 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 6Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of 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 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!" |
| 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; | 8Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, "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 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!" |
| 10And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed. | 10His family name will be referred to in Israel as "the family of the one 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 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, |
| 12Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her. | 12then you must cut off her hand--do not pity her. |
| 13Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. | 13You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one. |
| 14Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. | 14You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one. |
| 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 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. |
| 16For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God. | 16For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent 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 your way 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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! |
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