Deuteronomy 25

Deuteronomy 25, Catholic Public Domain Version

1. “If there is a case between persons, and they apply to the judges, they shall give the palm of justice to the one whom they perceive to be just, and they shall condemn of impiety the one who is impious.

   Si fuerit causa inter aliquos, et interpellaverint judices: quem justum esse perspexerint, illi justitiæ palmam dabunt: quem impium, condemnabunt impietatis.

2. 2

   But if they see that the one who has sinned is worthy of stripes, they shall prostrate him and cause him to be beaten before them. According to the measure of the sin, so shall the measure of the stripes be.

   Sin autem eum, qui peccavit, dignum viderint plagis: prosternent, et coram se facient verberari. Pro mensura peccati erit et plagarum modus:

3. 3

   Even so, these shall not exceed the number of forty. Otherwise, your brother may depart, having been wounded shamefully before your eyes.

   ita dumtaxat, ut quadragenarium numerum non excedant: ne fœde laceratus ante oculos tuos abeat frater tuus.

4. 4

   You shall not muzzle an ox as it is treading out your crops in the field.†

   Non ligabis os bovis terentis in area fruges tuas.

5. 5

   When brothers are living together, and one of them dies without children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry another. Instead, his brother shall take her, and he shall raise up offspring for his brother.

   Quando habitaverint fratres simul, et unus ex eis absque liberis mortuus fuerit, uxor defuncti non nubet alteri: sed accipiet eam frater ejus, et suscitabit semen fratris sui:

6. 6

   And the first son from her, he shall call by his brother’s name, so that his name will not be abolished from Israel.

   et primogenitum ex ea filium nomine illius appellabit, ut non deleatur nomen ejus ex Israël.

7. 7

   But if he is not willing to take his brother’s wife, who by law must go to him, the woman shall go to the gate of the city, and she shall call upon those greater by birth, and she shall say: ‘The brother of my husband is not willing to raise up his brother’s name in Israel; nor will he join with me.’

   Sin autem noluerit accipere uxorem fratris sui, quæ ei lege debetur, perget mulier ad portam civitatis, et interpellabit majores natu, dicetque: Non vult frater viri mei suscitare nomen fratris sui in Israël, nec me in conjugem sumere.

8. 8

   And immediately, they shall summon him to be sent, and they shall question him. If he responds, ‘I am not willing to accept her as a wife,’

   Statimque accersiri eum facient, et interrogabunt. Si responderit: Nolo eam uxorem accipere:

9. 9

   then the woman shall approach him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from his foot, and she shall spit in his face, and she shall say: ‘So shall it be done to the man who was not willing to build up his brother’s house.’

   accedet mulier ad eum coram senioribus, et tollet calceamentum de pede ejus, spuetque in faciem illius, et dicet: Sic fiet homini, qui non ædificat domum fratris sui.

10. 10

    And his name shall be called in Israel: The House of the Unshod.

    Et vocabitur nomen illius in Israël, Domus discalceati.

11. 11

    If two men have a conflict between themselves, and one begins to do violence to the other, and if the other’s wife, wanting to rescue her husband from the hand of the stronger one, extends her hand and grasps him by his private parts,

    Si habuerint inter se jurgium viri duo, et unus contra alterum rixari cœperit, volensque uxor alterius eruere virum suum de manu fortioris, miseritque manum, et apprehenderit verenda ejus:

12. 12

    then you shall cut off her hand. Neither shall you weep over her with any mercy.

    abscides manum illius, nec flecteris super eam ulla misericordia.

13. 13

    You shall not have differing weights, greater and lesser, in your bag.

    Non habebis in sacculo diversa pondera, majus et minus:

14. 14

    Neither shall there be in your house a greater and a lesser measure.

    nec erit in domo tua modius major, et minor.

15. 15

    You shall have a just and a true weight, and your measure shall be equal and true, so that you may live for a long time upon the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.

    Pondus habebis justum et verum, et modius æqualis et verus erit tibi: ut multo vivas tempore super terram, quam Dominus Deus tuus dederit tibi.

16. 16

    For the Lord your God abominates him who does these things, and he loathes all injustice.

    Abominatur enim Dominus tuus eum qui facit hæc, et aversatur omnem injustitiam.

17. 17

    Remember what Amalek did to you, along the way, when you were departing from Egypt:†

    Memento quæ fecerit tibi Amalec in via quando egrediebaris ex Ægypto:

18. 18

    how he met you and cut down the stragglers of the troops, who were sitting down, exhausted, when you were consumed by hunger and hardship, and how he did not fear God.

    quomodo occurrerit tibi, et extremos agminis tui, qui lassi residebant, ceciderit, quando tu eras fame et labore confectus: et non timuerit Deum.

19. 19

    Therefore, when the Lord your God will give you rest, and you will have subdued all the surrounding nations, in the land which he has promised to you, you shall delete his name from under heaven. Take care not to forget this.”

    Cum ergo Dominus Deus tuus dederit tibi requiem, et subjecerit cunctas per circuitum nationes in terra, quam tibi pollicitus est: delebis nomen ejus sub cælo. Cave ne obliviscaris.

Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain · Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592)