March 4

Deuteronomy 25:1 — 28:14

25 “In case a dispute arises between men, and they have presented themselves for the judgment, they must also judge them and pronounce the righteous one righteous and pronounce the wicked one wicked. 2 And it must occur that if the wicked one deserves to be beaten, the judge must also have him laid prostrate and given strokes before him by number to correspond with his wicked deed. 3 With forty strokes he may beat him. He should add none, for fear he should continue to beat him with many strokes in addition to these and your brother is actually disgraced in your eyes.

4 “You must not muzzle a bull while it is threshing.

5 “In case brothers dwell together and one of them has died without his having a son, the wife of the dead one should not become a strange man’s outside. Her brother-in-law should go to her, and he must take her as his wife and perform brother-in-law marriage with her. 6 And it must occur that the firstborn whom she will bear should succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be wiped out of Israel.

7 “Now if the man finds no delight in taking his brother’s widow, his brother’s widow must then go up to the gate to the older men and say, ‘My husband’s brother has refused to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He has not consented to perform brother-in-law marriage with me.’ 8 And the older men of his city must call him and speak to him, and he must stand and say, ‘I have found no delight in taking her.’ 9 At that his brother’s widow must approach him before the eyes of the older men and draw his sandal off his foot and spit in his face and answer and say, ‘That is the way it should be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s household.’ 10 And his name must be called in Israel ‘The house of the one who had his sandal drawn off.’

11 “In case men struggle together with one another, and the wife of the one has come near to deliver her husband out of the hand of the one striking him, and she has thrust out her hand and grabbed hold of him by his privates, 12 you must then amputate her hand. Your eye must feel no sorrow.

13 “You must not come to have in your bag two sorts of weights, a great one and a small one. 14 You must not come to have in your house two sorts of ephahs, a great one and a small one. 15 A weight accurate and just you should continue to have. An ephah accurate and just you should continue to have, in order that your days may become long on the soil that Jehovah your God is giving you. 16 For everyone doing these things, every doer of injustice, is something detestable to Jehovah your God.

17 “There should be a remembering of what Amalek did to you in the way when YOU were coming out of Egypt, 18 how he met you in the way and proceeded to strike in the rear of you all those straggling after you, while you were exhausted and weary; and he did not fear God. 19 And it must occur that when Jehovah your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance to take possession of it, you should wipe out the mention of Amalek from under the heavens. You must not forget.

26 “And it must occur that when at last you enter into the land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you have taken possession of it and dwelt in it, 2 you must also take some of the firstfruits of all the fruitage of the soil, which you will bring in from the land of yours that Jehovah your God is giving you, and you must put them in a basket and go to the place that Jehovah your God will choose to have his name reside there. 3 And you must come to the priest who will be acting in those days and say to him, ‘I must report today to Jehovah your God that I have come into the land that Jehovah swore to our forefathers to give to us.’

4 “And the priest must take the basket out of your hand and deposit it before the altar of Jehovah your God. 5 And you must answer and say before Jehovah your God, ‘My father was a perishing Syrian; and he proceeded to go down to Egypt and to reside there as an alien with very few in number; but there he became a great nation, mighty and numerous. 6 And the Egyptians went treating us badly and afflicting us and putting hard slavery upon us. 7 And we began to cry out to Jehovah the God of our forefathers, and Jehovah proceeded to hear our voice and to look on our affliction and our trouble and our oppression. 8 Finally Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and with great fearsomeness and with signs and miracles. 9 Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And now here I have brought the firstfruits of the fruitage of the ground that Jehovah has given me.’

“You must also deposit it before Jehovah your God and bow down before Jehovah your God. 11 And you must rejoice over all the good that Jehovah your God has given you and your household, you and the Levite and the alien resident who is in your midst.

12 “When you finish with tithing the entire tenth of your produce in the third year, the year of the tenth, you must also give it to the Levite, the alien resident, the fatherless boy and the widow, and they must eat it within your gates and satisfy themselves. 13 And you must say before Jehovah your God, ‘I have cleared away what is holy from the house and I have also given it to the Levite and the alien resident, the fatherless boy and the widow, in accord with all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not overstepped your commandments, nor have I forgotten. 14 I have not eaten of it during my mourning, nor have I removed any of it while unclean, nor have I given any of it for anyone dead. I have listened to the voice of Jehovah my God. I have done in accord with all that you have commanded me. 15 Do look down from your holy dwelling, the heavens, and bless your people Israel and the soil that you have given us, just as you swore to our forefathers, the land flowing with milk and honey.’

16 “This day Jehovah your God is commanding you to carry out these regulations and judicial decisions; and you must observe and carry them out with all your heart and all your soul. 17 Jehovah you have induced to say today that he will become your God while you walk in his ways and observe his regulations and his commandments and his judicial decisions and listen to his voice. 18 As for Jehovah, he has induced you to say today that you will become his people, a special property, just as he has promised you, and that you will observe all his commandments, 19 and that he will put you high above all the other nations that he has made, resulting in praise and reputation and beauty, while you prove yourself a people holy to Jehovah your God, just as he has promised.”


27 And Moses together with the older men of Israel went on to command the people, saying: “There should be an observing of every commandment that I am commanding YOU today. 2 And it must occur that in the day when YOU will cross the Jordan into the land that Jehovah your God is giving you, you must also set up for yourself great stones and whitewash them with lime. 3 And you must write upon them all the words of this law when you have crossed, in order that you may enter into the land that Jehovah your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, according to what Jehovah the God of your forefathers has spoken to you. 4 And it must occur that when YOU have crossed the Jordan, YOU should set up these stones, just as I am commanding YOU today, in Mount Ebal, and you must whitewash them with lime. 5 You must also build an altar there to Jehovah your God, an altar of stones. You must not wield an iron tool upon them. 6 With whole stones you should build the altar of Jehovah your God, and you must offer burnt offerings to Jehovah your God on it. 7 And you must sacrifice communion sacrifices and eat them there, and you must rejoice before Jehovah your God. 8 And you must write on the stones all the words of this law, making them quite clear.”

9 Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying: “Keep silent and listen, O Israel. This day you have become the people of Jehovah your God. 10 And you must listen to the voice of Jehovah your God and carry out his commandments and his regulations, which I am commanding you today.”

11 And Moses went on to command the people on that day, saying: 12 “The following are the ones who will stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when YOU have crossed the Jordan: Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin. 13 And the following are the ones who will stand for the malediction on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad and Asher and Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. 14 And the Levites must answer and say with raised voice to every man of Israel:

15 “‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved image or a molten statue, a thing detestable to Jehovah, the manufacture of the hands of a wood-and-metal worker, and who has put it in a hiding place.’ (And all the people must answer and say, ‘Amen!’)
        16 “‘Cursed is the one who treats his father or his mother with contempt.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)

17 “‘Cursed is the one who moves back the boundary mark of his fellowman.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)
        18 “‘Cursed is the one who causes the blind to go astray in the way.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)
        19 “‘Cursed is the one who perverts the judgment of an alien resident, a fatherless boy and a widow.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)
        20 “‘Cursed is the one who lies down with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered the skirt of his father.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)
        21 “‘Cursed is the one who lies down with any beast.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)
        22 “‘Cursed is the one who lies down with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)
        23 “‘Cursed is the one who lies down with his mother-in-law.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)
        24 “‘Cursed is the one who fatally strikes his fellowman from a hiding place.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)
        25 “‘Cursed is the one who accepts a bribe to strike a soul fatally, when it is innocent blood.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)
        26 “‘Cursed is the one who will not put the words of this law in force by doing them.’ (And all the people must say, ‘Amen!’)

28 “And it must occur that if you will without fail listen to the voice of Jehovah your God by being careful to do all his commandments that I am commanding you today, Jehovah your God also will certainly put you high above all other nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings must come upon you and overtake you, because you keep listening to the voice of Jehovah your God:

3 “Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be in the field.
        4 “Blessed will be the fruit of your belly and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your domestic beast, the young of your cattle and the progeny of your flock.
        5 “Blessed will be your basket and your kneading trough.
        6 “Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.

7 “Jehovah will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. By one way they will come out against you, but by seven ways they will flee before you. 8 Jehovah will decree for you the blessing on your stores of supply and every undertaking of yours, and he will certainly bless you in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you. 9 Jehovah will establish you as a holy people to himself, just as he swore to you, because you continue to keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and you have walked in his ways. 10 And all the peoples of the earth will have to see that Jehovah’s name has been called upon you, and they will indeed be afraid of you.

11 “Jehovah will also make you overflow indeed with prosperity in the fruit of your belly and the fruit of your domestic animals and the fruitage of your ground, on the ground that Jehovah swore to your forefathers to give you. 12 Jehovah will open up to you his good storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain on your land in its season and to bless every deed of your hand; and you will certainly lend to many nations, while you yourself will not borrow. 13 And Jehovah will indeed put you at the head and not at the tail; and you must come to be only on top, and you will not come to be on the bottom, because you keep obeying the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I am commanding you today to observe and to do. 14 And you must not turn aside from all the words that I am commanding YOU today, to the right or to the left, to walk after other gods to serve them.