1This is what you must do whenever two people have a disagreement that is brought into court. The judges will hear the case and decide who’s right and who’s wrong.
2If the person who’s in the wrong deserves to be beaten, the judge will order him to lie down. Then the judge will have him beaten with as many lashes as the crime deserves.
3Forty lashes may be given, but no more. If an Israelite were given more than that, he would be publicly humiliated.
4Never muzzle an ox when it’s threshing grain.
5When brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother must marry her and sleep with her. He must do his duty as her brother–in–law.
6Then the first son she has will carry the dead brother’s name so that his name won’t die out in Israel.
7But if the man doesn’t want to marry his brother’s widow, she must go to the leaders of the city at the city gate. She must say, "My brother–in–law refuses to let his brother’s name continue in Israel. He doesn’t want to do his duty as my brother–in–law."
8Then the leaders of the city must summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying that he doesn’t want to marry her,
9his brother’s widow must go up to him in the presence of the leaders. She must take off one of his sandals and spit in his face. She must make this formal statement: "This is what happens to a man who refuses to continue his brother’s family line."
10Then in Israel his family will be called the Family of the Man Without a Sandal.
11This is what you must do when two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from the man who is beating him. If she tries to stop the fight by grabbing the other man’s genitals,
12cut off her hand. Have no pity on her.
13Never carry two sets of weights, a heavier one and a lighter one.
14Never have two kinds of measures in your house, a larger one and a smaller one.
15Use accurate and honest weights and measures. Then you will live for a long time in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
16Everyone who uses dishonest weights and measures is disgusting to the LORD.
17Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your trip from Egypt.
18They attacked you when you were tired and exhausted and killed all those who were lagging behind. They weren’t afraid of God.
19So when the LORD your God gives you peace from all your enemies around you in the land that he is giving you as your own property, don’t forget to erase every memory of the Amalekites from the earth.