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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 25

1 If controversy arises between people, they should go to court for judgment. When the judges hear the case, they shall exonerate the innocent but condemn the guilty.⁠ 2 Then, if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating, the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves. 3 The judge may sentence him to 40 blows, but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite with contempt.⁠ 4 You must not muzzle your ox when it is treading grain. 5 If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.⁠ 6 Then the first son she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel. 7 But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she must go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!” 8 Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I don’t want to marry her,” 9 then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!” 10 His family name will be referred to in Israel as “the family of the one whose sandal was removed.” 11 If two men get into a hand-to-hand fight, and the wife of one of them gets involved to help her husband against his attacker, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his private parts, 12 then you must cut off her hand—do not pity her. 13 You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one. 14 You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one. 15 You must have an accurate and correct stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you.⁠ 16 For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the Lord your God. 17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way from Egypt,⁠ 18 how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God. 19 So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he is giving you as an inheritance, you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven—do not forget!

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 25:15 and Proverbs 11:1

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Deuteronomy and Proverbs follow an ancient Near Eastern tradition that values fair weights and measures. Deuteronomy says honest trade is a legal duty that protects the community and Proverbs reflects on it as an expression of justice.

Passages

Deuteronomy 25:15

Hebrew Bible
13 You must not have in your bag different stone weights, a heavy and a light one. 14 You must not have in your house different measuring containers, a large and a small one. 15 You must have an accurate and correct stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you. 16 For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the Lord your God. 17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way from Egypt,
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Proverbs 11:1

Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but an accurate weight is his delight. 2 After pride came, disgrace followed; but wisdom came with humility. 3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Proverbs

References

"... Honesty Is Yahweh’s Policy, 11:1-2 ... The opening saying reminds readers of both prophetic and legal texts that express a desire for honest transactions in the marketplace. The eighth-century prophet Micah, as one example, condemned evil balances (e.g., 6:11), and such views were later legislated in the Josianic reforms (e.g., Deuteronomy 25:15). The saying is revisited in various forms throughout the entire collection of proverbs (e.g., 16:11; 20:10, 23). The symbolism of a balance may be expanded for the modern reader. The use of a balance in the afterlife to determine one’s final fate was common in Egyptian mythology. That this verse should open several collections of sayings on the fates of the righteous and the wicked is therefore doubly appropriate. (Balances in the Egyptian Book of the Dead) Verse 2, however, stands on its own and does not share any thematic, semantic, or syntactic similarity with the immediate context. Nevertheless, it articulates a familiar adage, colloquially expressed as “pride goes before a fall” (compare 15:33; 16:18; 18:12) ..."
Milton P. Horne, The Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary: Proverbs-Ecclesiastes (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2003), 154.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Deuteronomy 25:15 and Proverbs 11:1

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