1Stripes must not exceed forty. 4The ox not to be muzzled. 5The law of raising up seed unto a deceased brother. 11Of immodesty in a woman. 13Of unjust weights and measures. 17The memory of Amalek to be blotted out.
1IF there be a controversy between men, 1and they come unto judgment, that 2the judges may judge them; then 3they shall justify the 4righteous, and condemn the wicked.
1 When they cannot well agree or bear with one another. Other, then they shall.
2 Or, they, namely, the judges.
3 The judges.
4 That is, in this place, declare him, who is innocent or who has a righteous cause, to be such, and declare and adjudge him who is guilty or who has an unjust cause, to be such likewise. See further Gen. 44 on verse 16; Num. 35 on verse 31.
2And it shall be, if the wicked man be 5worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten 6before his face, 7according to his fault, by a certain 8number.
5 Hebr. to be a son or a child of beating, that is, be worthy to be beaten, or who has deserved blows and is accordingly sentenced or condemned. Compare Mat. 23:15; John 17:12; Eph. 2:3; 2 Thes. 2:3. See further 2 Sam. 3 on verse 34.
6 Or, in his presence. Hebr. before his face.
7 Hebr. according to the sufficiency of his iniquity.
8 That is, by a certain number of stripes, according as his fault shall require, but not exceeding above forty, as follows.
3Fortya stripes he may 9give him, and 10not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then 11thy brother should seem 12vile unto thee.
a 2 Cor. 11:24.
9 That is, may cause him to be beaten.
10 From this came the custom not to give more than thirty-nine stripes, in order they might not exceed the number of forty. See 2 Cor. 11:24, although many of the Jews seek to prove the thirty-nine stripes from this text, perverting the same according to their usual custom.
11 Who, according as you are, is of the seed of Abraham.
12 That is, would be esteemed less by the judge and others than the law of love requires and is meet among the people of God, and the offender, by immoderate beating, be abhorred and disfigured in the eyes of his brethren, or be likewise in danger of losing his life.
4¶Thou shalt notb muzzle 13the ox when he 14treadeth out the corn.
b 1 Cor. 9:9; 1 Tim. 5:18.
13 So that he is not able to eat his food while he is under hard labor.
14 Treading out the corn with his foot, or (as the Hebrews say) to draw the harrow (which below at the bottom of it was full of hard knobs, branches or notches) over it to separate the corn from the straw and to make the straw to be chaff for the beasts, on which God has regarded further in this law, see 1 Cor. 9:9, 10, etc.
5¶If brethren dwell together, and 15one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without 16unto a stranger: herc husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and 17take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
15 Other, the first, that is, the firstborn, or, the eldest among many, yea, even the next kinsman among many. Compare Gen. 38:6, etc.; Ruth 3; Mat. 22:24, etc.
16 Understand she may not marry outside of the family of her deceased husband or become any man’s wife.
c Mat. 22:24; Mark 12:19; Luke 20:28.
17 Meaning, if he is unmarried. See the law, Lev. 18:18.
6And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth 18shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, 19that his name be not put out of Israel.
18 That is, shall be called the deceased brother’s son and shall succeed in his place as his heir.
19 Hence, as it appears also from the following verse, that this marriage chiefly intended the multiplication of Abraham’s seed, or the increase of the Jewish families unto the coming of the Messiah, and consequently this law does not concern Christians at all.
7And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the 20gate unto the elders, and say, Myd 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.
20 See Gen. 22 on verse 17.
d Ruth 4:7.
8Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he 21stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
21 Compare Ezek. 44 on verse 24.
9Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his 22shoe from off his foot, and 23spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s 24house.
22 Unto a sign that he was not permitted to enter upon his brother’s inheritance. See Ruth 4 on verse 8.
23 To make him ashamed by this public affront and to deter others thereby.
24 See Gen. 16 on verse 2.
10And 25his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
25 Understand: and of his house.
11¶When men 26strive together 27one 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 28secrets:
26 That is, fight.
27 Hebr. the man and his brother.
28 Of the adversary.
12Then thou shalt cut off her hand, 29thine eye shall not pity her.
29 To discourage everyone from all immodesty and impudence.
13¶Thou shalt not have in thy bag 30divers weights, a great and a small.
30 Hebr. not stone and stone, that is, two sorts of weights, or a two-fold weight. See Lev. 19 on verse 36. Also likewise below verse 15; Prov. 20:10.
14Thou shalt not have in thine house divers 31measures, a great and a small.
31 Hebr. an epha and an epha. See Exod. 16 on verse 36.
15But thou shalt have a perfect and 32just 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.
32 Hebr. stone of justice; and so in the sequence.
16For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, 33are ane abomination unto the LORD thy God.
33 Hebr. an abomination of the LORD; see Deut. 17 on verse 1.
e Prov. 11:1.
17¶Remember what 34Amalekf did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;
34 That is, the Amalekites, who indeed descended from Amalek, Esau’s grandchild, but because of their bitter enmity manifested toward Israel, were specially banned of God. Compare Deut. 23:7.
f Exod. 17:8.
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.
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.