The Wilderness Years

Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, “I do not want to marry her,”

his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and declare, “This is what is done to the man who will not maintain his brother’s line.”

And his family name in Israel will be called “The House of the Unsandaled.”

If two men are fighting, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,

you are to cut off her hand. You must show her no pity.

You shall not have two differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light.

You shall not have two differing measures in your house, one large and one small.

You must maintain accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

For everyone who behaves dishonestly in regard to these things is detestable to the LORD your God.

Remember what the Amalekites did to you along your way from Egypt,

how they met you on your journey when you were tired and weary, and they attacked all your stragglers; they had no fear of God.

When the LORD your God gives you rest from the enemies around you in the land that He is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you are to blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!

When you enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you take possession of it and settle in it,

you are to take some of the firstfruits of all your produce from the soil of the land that the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name,

to the priest who is serving at that time, and say to him, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have entered the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.”

Then the priest shall take the basket from your hands and place it before the altar of the LORD your God,

and you are to declare before the LORD your God, “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt few in number and lived there and became a great nation, mighty and numerous.

But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, putting us to hard labor.

So we called out to the LORD, the God of our fathers; and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, toil, and oppression.

Then the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, signs, and wonders.

And He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land that You, O LORD, have given me.” Then you are to place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before Him.

So you shall rejoice—you, the Levite, and the foreigner dwelling among you—in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.

When you have finished laying aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you are to give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat and be filled within your gates.

Then you shall declare in the presence of the LORD your God, “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all the commandments You have given me. I have not transgressed or forgotten Your commandments.