1If there is an argument between men and they go to law with one another, let the judges give their decision for the upright, and against the wrongdoer. 2And if the wrongdoer is to undergo punishment by whipping, the judge will give orders for him to go down on his face and be whipped before him, the number of the blows being in relation to his crime. 3He may be given forty blows, not more; for if more are given, your brother may be shamed before you. 4Do not keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it. 5If brothers are living together and one of them, at his death, has no son, the wife of the dead man is not to be married outside the family to another man: let her husband's brother go in to her and make her his wife, doing as it is right for a brother-in-law to do. 6Then the first male child she has will take the rights of the brother who is dead, so that his name may not come to an end in Israel. 7But if the man says he will not take his brother's wife, then let the wife go to the responsible men of the town, and say, My husband's brother will not keep his brother's name living in Israel; he will not do what it is right for a husband's brother to do. 8Then the responsible men of the town will send for the man, and have talk with him: and if he still says, I will not take her; 9Then his brother's wife is to come to him, before the responsible men of the town, and take his shoe off his foot, and put shame on him, and say, So let it be done to the man who will not take care of his brother's name. 10And his family will be named in Israel, The house of him whose shoe has been taken off. 11If two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them, coming to the help of her husband, takes the other by the private parts; 12Her hand is to be cut off; have no pity on her. 13Do not have in your bag different weights, a great and a small; 14Or in your house different measures, a great and a small. 15But have a true weight and a true measure: so that your life may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. 16For all who do such things, and all whose ways are not upright, are disgusting to the Lord your God. 17Keep in mind what Amalek did to you on your way from Egypt; 18How, meeting you on the way, he made an attack on you when you were tired and without strength, cutting off all the feeble ones at the end of your line; and the fear of God was not in him. 19So when the Lord your God has given you rest from all who are against you on every side, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, see to it that the memory of Amalek is cut off from the earth; keep this in mind.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Extent of punishment. (1-3) The ox that treadeth the corn. (4) Marriage of a brother's wife. (5-12) Of unjust weights. (13-16) War against Amalek. (17-19) 1-3 Every punishment should be with solemnity, that those who see it may be filled with dread, and be warned not to offend in like manner. And though the criminals must be shamed as well as put to pain, for their warning and disgrace, yet care should be taken that they do not appear totally vile. Happy those who are chastened of the Lord to humble them, that they should not be condemned with the world to destruction. 4 This is a charge to husbandmen. It teaches us to make much of the animals that serve us. But we must learn, not only to be just, but kind to all who are employed for the good of our better part, our souls, #1Co 9:9|. 5-12 The custom here regulated seems to have been in the Jewish law in order to keep inheritances distinct; now it is unlawful. 13-16 Dishonest gain always brings a curse on men's property, families, and souls. Happy those who judge themselves, repent of and forsake their sins, and put away evil things, that they may not be condemned of the Lord. 17-19 Let every persecutor and injurer of God's people take warning from the case of the Amalekites. The longer it is before judgement comes, the more dreadful will it be at last. Amalek may remind us of the foes of our souls. May we be enabled to slay all our lusts, all the corruptions both within and without, all the powers of darkness and of the world, which oppose our way to the blessed Saviour.