Deuteronomy 25

¹⁵Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—both are detestable to the Lord.

¹⁶At that time I charged your judges: “Hear the disputes between your brothers, and judge fairly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.

¹⁷Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.”

⁸If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the Lord your God will choose.

⁹You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you a verdict in the case.

¹⁷both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time.

¹⁸The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother,

¹⁸So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

²⁴In any dispute, they shall officiate as judges and judge according to My ordinances. They must keep My laws and statutes regarding all My appointed feasts, and they must keep My Sabbaths holy.

⁴⁷That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows.

⁴⁸But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded.

²⁰How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

¹⁷But beware of men, for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues.

²⁴He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

⁴⁰At this, they yielded to Gamaliel. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.

²⁶So Pilate released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.

³Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?

²Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.

³If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,”

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

³⁰But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

⁹To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:

¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

¹⁷Elders who lead effectively are worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

¹⁸For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”

⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?

¹⁰Isn’t He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest.

¹⁰A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are only cruelty.

¹¹Ephraim is a well-trained heifer that loves to thresh; but I will place a yoke on her fair neck. I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, and Jacob will break the hard ground.

²⁷Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

²⁸“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.

²⁴“Teacher,” they said, “Moses declared that if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.

¹⁹“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.

⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”

⁹But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

¹²Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons,

¹³would you wait for them to grow up? Would you refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”

⁹“Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she replied. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.”

¹⁹his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

¹³May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.

⁵You have rebuked the nations; You have destroyed the wicked; You have erased their name forever and ever.

⁸And seeing that his father Isaac disapproved of the Canaanite women,

⁹Esau went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, in addition to the wives he already had.

¹Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

²Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.

²⁰The Lord will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The Lord will blot out his name from under heaven

¹Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

²Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.

⁵Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi and also from Ruth the Moabitess, you must also acquire the widow of the deceased in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.”

⁶The kinsman-redeemer replied, “I cannot redeem it myself, or I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I cannot redeem it.”

⁶The kinsman-redeemer replied, “I cannot redeem it myself, or I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I cannot redeem it.”

⁷Now in former times in Israel, concerning the redemption or exchange of property, to make any matter legally binding a man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party, and this was a confirmation in Israel.

⁸So the kinsman-redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.”

¹⁴But the Lord answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.”

²the Lord had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.

⁶I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.

³⁴who will mock Him and spit on Him and flog Him and kill Him. And after three days He will rise again.”

⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”

⁹But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

¹³You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

²and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

²¹You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

¹Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate weight is His delight.

¹¹Honest scales and balances are from the Lord; all the weights in the bag are His concern.

³⁵You must not use dishonest measures of length, weight, or volume.

³⁶You shall maintain honest scales and weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

⁵asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.

¹⁰You must use honest scales, a just ephah, and a just bath.

¹¹The ephah and the bath shall be the same quantity so that the bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure for both.

¹¹Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

¹²For the wealthy of the city are full of violence, and its residents speak lies; their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.

¹²Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

⁴⁰Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.

³³You must walk in all the ways that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

⁹and so that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

³“that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.”

¹²Who is the man who delights in life, who desires to see good days?

¹Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate weight is His delight.

²⁷But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

⁶and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.

⁵A woman must not wear men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord your God.

¹²For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord. And because of these detestable things, the Lord your God is driving out the nations before you.

⁹Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

⁸After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

⁹So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”

¹⁷“Attack the Midianites and strike them dead.

¹⁸For they assailed you deceitfully when they seduced you in the matter of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite leader, the woman who was killed on the day the plague came because of Peor.”

²⁰Then Balaam saw Amalek and lifted up an oracle, saying: “Amalek was first among the nations, but his end is destruction.”

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. An oracle is in my heart regarding the transgression of the wicked man: There is no fear of God before his eyes.

¹⁸“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

¹⁵The governors before me had heavily burdened the people, taking from them bread and wine plus forty shekels of silver. Their servants also oppressed the people. But I did not do this, because of my fear of God.

⁶By loving devotion and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns aside from evil.

⁹So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our foreign enemies?

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁴Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.”

⁴⁸He fought valiantly and defeated the Amalekites, delivering Israel from the hands of its plunderers.

¹⁶“Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the Lord. The Lord will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”

⁷of Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, of Philistia with the people of Tyre.

⁸Even Assyria has joined them, lending strength to the sons of Lot. Selah

⁸Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)