Various Commands
11If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, 12you shall cut off her hand; show no pity.
13You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, large and small. 14You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, large and small. 15You shall have only a full and honest weight; you shall have only a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 16For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are abhorrent to the LORD your God.
17Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt, 18how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God. 19Therefore when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies on every hand, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget.
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25.1–3 Flogging, administered as punishment by a court, should be proportionate to the offense (cf. the rule of talion, note on 19.19–21), with forty stripes fixed as a maximum in order to protect the culprit from cruel humiliation (cf. 2 Cor 11.24; Josephus, Antiquities 4.238; Mishnah Makkot 3).
25.4 Social equity is exemplified by humane treatment of a working ox (cf. 5.14; Prov 12.10; also 1 Cor 9.9; 1 Tim 5.18).
25.5–10 As drafted, this legislation is concerned with resolving the anomalous relationship between a childless but still youthful widow and her deceased husband’s family. Custom preferred an endogamous remarriage of the woman to her husband’s brother, levir in Latin, whence the practice is commonly called “levirate marriage.” (Cf. the related practices in Gen 38.6–26; Ruth 3–4; also cf. Lev 18.16; 20.21.)
25.5 Though context supports the literal rendering son, the sense was later understood to include female offspring (e.g., Septuagint; Josephus, Antiquities 4.254; Lk 20.28; cf. Num 27.8–11).
25.6 Lineage succession of the male firstborn to the name of the deceased brother implicitly includes claim to patrimony (cf. 21.15–17; Num 27.4; Ruth 4.5, 10; also 2 Sam 14.7).
25.7–8 Jurisdiction of elders in familial disputes; see 19.12; 21.19–20; 22.17–19.
25.9–10 Public degradation of the unwilling levir (husband’s brother; see note on 25.5–10). Spitting is an act of contempt (cf. Num 12.14; Job 17.6; 30.10; Isa 50.6); removal of his sandal is a rite of quittance, freeing the widow from further obligation to the husband’s family (house).
25.11–12 The severe penalty, comparable to talion (see note on 19.19–21), presumes the woman has recklessly endangered the man’s procreative capacity (cf. 19.21; Ex 21.22–25; Mishnah Bava Kamma 8.1).
25.13–16 Such injunctions and the commercial abuses they address are well attested; e.g., Lev 19.35–36; Prov 16.11; 20.23; Ezek 45.10–12; Hos 12.7; Mic 6.10–11; Instruction of Amenemope 17.17–19; 18.14–19.2.
25.16 Abhorrent. See note on 7.25–26.
25.17–19 A codicil to 23.3–6 reflecting Ex 17.14–15. On the tradition of enmity between Israel and the Amalekites of northern Sinai, see Num 24.20; Judg 6.3; 10.12; 1 Sam 15.2–33.
25.18 This perfidy goes unreported in Ex 17.8–13.
25.19 Rest. Cf. 3.20; 12.9. Blot out the remembrance. Cf. 9.14; 25.6; 29.20; 1 Sam 24.21; Pss 9.5–6; 109.13.
DEUTERONOMY 26
First Fruits and Tithes
1When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, 2you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. 3You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, “Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.” 4When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God, 5you shall make this response before the LORD your God: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, 7we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me.” You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God. 11Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.
12When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year (which is the year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, so that they may eat their fill within your towns, 13then you shall say before the LORD your God: “I have removed the sacred portion from the house, and I have given it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows, in accordance with your entire commandment that you commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor forgotten any of your commandments: 14I have not eaten of it while in mourning; I have not removed any of it while I was unclean; and I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God, doing just as you commanded me. 15Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Concluding Exhortation
16This very day the LORD your God is commanding you to observe these statutes and ordinances; so observe them diligently with all your heart and with all your soul. 17Today you have obtained the LORD’s agreement: to be your God; and for you to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and to obey him. 18Today the LORD has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep his commandments; 19for him to set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honor; and for you to be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.
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26.1–15 This brief concluding section of the polity, which is a counterpart of 12.2–28, prescribes affirmations of covenantal identity that worshipers are to make on particular occasions of pilgrimage to the single sanctuary.
26.1–11 Creedal declarations associated with presentations of first fruits (cf. Lev 23.9–21; Num 28.26–31; Mishnah Bikkurim).
26.2 First (or “choicest” cf. Ex 23.19; 34.26) of all the fruit, token presentation of each agricultural crop at the sanctuary (the place; see 12.5), apparently in conjunction with the annual pilgrimage feasts and as pledge on full payment of tithes (cf. 14.22–23; 16.1–17; 18.4; Ex 22.29; Tob 1.6–7; Philo, Special Laws 2.216–20). As a dwelling for his name. See notes on 12.5; 12.11.
26.3 Priest. Cf. 17.9, 12; 18.3–5; 19.17; 20.2. Swore to our ancestors. See 1.8, 20–21.
26.5 Wandering Aramean refers to Israel’s north Syrian ancestry, traced through Abram (Abraham) (cf. Gen 11.31; 12.1–9; 20.13) as well as Jacob (Israel), who is probably meant here (cf. Gen 29–32). Few in number. See 28.62; Ps 105.12 (cf. Gen 34.30; 46.8–27). Great nation. See 4.6–8 (cf. Ex 1.7, 9).
26.6 Hard labor. See Ex 1.13–14; 6.9 (cf. 1 Kings 12.4).
26.7 Cried to the LORD. See Ex 14.10, 15; Num 20.16; Josh 24.7. God of our ancestors. See, e.g., 1.11; 6.3; 12.1 (cf.Ex 3.15–16).
26.8 Cf. 4.34; 6.21.
26.9 This place. Cf. Ex 15.17.
26.12–15 The worshiper’s positive and negative declarations of compliance with the rules of triennial tithing (see 14.28–29; cf. Mishnah Ma‘aser Sheni 5.10–13) are followed by a prayer for continuance of divine blessing on Israel.
26.13 Before the LORD, at the single sanctuary (see, e.g., 14.23; 16.16).
26.14 Protestations of innocence (cf. Job 31.5–40; Ps 26.4–7) regarding misuse of tithed produce in mortuary rites. Mourning. Cf. Jer 16.7; Ezek 24.17, 22. Unclean. Cf. Lev 11.24–25; 22.3; Num 19.11–22; Hos 9.4; Hag 2.13. To the dead may refer to a cult of ancestors (cf. 14.1; Tob 4.17; Sir 30.18–20).
26.15 Holy habitation…heaven. See, e.g., 1 Kings 8.39, 43, 49; Jer 25.30; Ps 102.19.
26.16–28.68 An archival collection of covenant rites and sanctions concludes the primary corpus of Deuteronomic torah (see 4.44–45) and also seals the relationship between God and people previewed in Ex 19.3–8.
26.16–19 The alliance between the Lord and Israel is formally joined or reaffirmed when each party declares its acceptance of reciprocal roles and obligations. See the succinct formulation of covenantal identities in, e.g., 29.13; Ex 6.7; Lev 26.12; 2 Sam 7.24; Jer 7.23; 31.33; Ezek 11.20; Hos 2.23.
26.16 This very day, the liturgical present, or anytime the Israel of subsequent generations is gathered in solemn assembly to hear and recommit itself to the covenant (cf. 4.4; 5.1–3; 11.32; 27.9).
26.17 Cf. 8.6; 10.12; 11.22.
26.18–19 Cf. 7.6; 14.2; 28.9; Ex 19.5–6; Jer 13.11; 33.9.
DEUTERONOMY 27
The Inscribed Stones and Altar on Mount Ebal
1Then Moses and the elders of Israel charged all the people as follows: Keep the entire commandment that I am commanding you today. 2On the day that you cross over the Jordan into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and cover them with plaster. 3You shall write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over, to enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4So when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, about which I am commanding you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall cover them with plaster. 5And you shall build an altar there to the LORD your God, an altar of stones on which you have not used an iron tool. 6You must build the altar of the LORD your God of unhewna stones. Then offer up burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God, 7make sacrifices of well-being, and eat them there, rejoicing before the LORD your God. 8You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very clearly.
9Then Moses and the levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep silence and hear, O Israel! This very day you have become the people of the LORD your God. 10Therefore obey the LORD your God, observing his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today.
Twelve Curses
11The same day Moses charged the people as follows: 12When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim for the blessing of the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. 13And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14Then the Levites shall declare in a loud voice to all the Israelites:
15“Cursed be anyone who makes an idol or casts an image, anything abhorrent to the LORD, the work of an artisan, and sets it up in secret.” All the people shall respond, saying, “Amen!”
16“Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
17“Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbor’s boundary marker.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
18“Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind person on the road.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
19“Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
20“Cursed be anyone who lies with his father’s wife, because he has violated his father’s rights.”b All the people shall say, “Amen!”
21“Cursed be anyone who lies with any animal.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
22“Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
23“Cursed be anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
24“Cursed be anyone who strikes down a neighbor in secret.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
25“Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
26“Cursed be anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by observing them.” All the people shall say, “Amen!”
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a Heb whole
b Heb uncovered his father’s skirt
27.1–26 The narrative transition to the blessings and curses in ch. 28 is augmented with ceremonial lore, apparently gleaned from various sources and loosely conflated to encourage observance of covenant obligations.
27.1 The consortium of Moses and the elders of Israel (cf. 31.9) may attest a tradition stratum also evident in Ex 3.16–18; 17.5–6; 19.7; 24.1, 9–14; Num 11.16–30.
27.2–3, 8 Memorial stones, erected after crossing the Jordan, suggest the shrine at Gilgal (cf. 11.30; Josh 4). Cover them with plaster, i.e., to produce a stuccoed writing surface. All the words of this law (vv. 3, 8): the articles of Deuteronomic polity (cf. 17.19; 27.26; 28.58; 29.29; 31.12).
27.4 The location at Mount Ebal (see 11.29) promotes linkage of vv. 2–3 with vv. 5–7, 12–13 (cf. Josh 8.30–32).
27.5–7 Cf. the covenant-making rites depicted in Ex 24.3–8.
27.5 Altar of [unhewn] stones. Cf. Ex 20.24–26; Mishnah Middot 3.4.
27.7 The term rendered sacrifices of well-being (e.g., Ex 20.24; 24.5; 32.6; Lev 3.1–5) is otherwise unattested in the book of Deuteronomy (cf. 12.6, 11, 26–27).
27.9–10 Rhetorical connection is made between 26.16–19 and 28.1. (Cf. 5.32–6.1; 11.31–12.1.)
27.11–13 Further instruction on promulgation of covenant sanctions in the region of Shechem (see 11.26–30; cf. Josephus, Antiquities 4.305–308; Mishnah Sota 7.5). Implementation, as reported in Josh 8.33–35, relates the blessing and the curse to the contents of ch. 28.
27.14–26 This liturgy of imprecations and antiphonal responses comprises a loyalty oath, apparently administered by officiating Levites to the membership of Israel’s tribal “assembly” (cf. 10.8; 23.1–8; 33.4–5, 8–10). By anathematizing any member who commits one of these clandestine offenses (in secret, vv. 15, 24; cf. 13.6; 29.17–21), the list reinforces the basic communal ethos. Specific items are paralleled in the Decalogue and other biblical codes of law; the whole Deuteronomic polity is encompassed by the final curse (cf. vv. 3, 8).
27.15 See, e.g., 4.15–20; 5.8–9; Ex 20.23; 34.17; Lev 19.4; 26.1; Hos 13.2. On private cults and secretive idolatry, see Judg 17.1–5; Ezek 8.7–13; cf. Job 31.26–27; Ps 64.5–6. Amen, or “so be it” (cf. Num 5.22; Jer 11.5; Neh 5.13).
27.16 Cf. 5.16; 21.18–20; Ex 21.17; Lev 20.9.
27.17 See note on 19.14.
27.18 Cf. Lev 19.14.
27.19 See 24.17 (cf. Ex 22.21–22; 23.9; Lev 19.33–34).
27.20–23 Proscribed sexual relations; cf. 22.30; Ex 22.19; Lev 18.7–9, 17, 23; 20.11, 14–17.
27.24 Surreptitious homicide; cf. 21.1; Ex 21.12.
27.25 Abuse of judicial power; cf. 1.16–17; 16.19; Ex 23.6–8.
27.26 Cf. Jer 11.3–5; also Gal 3.10.
DEUTERONOMY 28
Blessings for Obedience
1If you will only obey the LORD your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; 2all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the LORD your God:
3Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in t
he field.
4Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.
5Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. 8The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 9The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. 11The LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give you. 12The LORD will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. 13The LORD will make you the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom—if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today, by diligently observing them, 14and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I am commanding you today, either to the right or to the left, following other gods to serve them.
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