1. Two people may have an argument. They should go to the court. And the judges will decide the case. They will declare one person to be right. And they will punish the one who is guilty.
2. The guilty person might have to be punished with a beating. If so, the judge will make him lie down. They will beat him in front of the judge. The number of lashes should match the crime.
3. But don’t hit him more than 40 times. If he is beaten more than that, it would disgrace him before others.
4. When an ox is working in the grain, do not cover its mouth to keep it from eating.
5. Two brothers might be living together. One of them might die without having a son. His widow must not marry someone outside her husband’s family. Her husband’s brother must marry her. This is his duty for her as a brother-in-law.
6. The first son she has must be named for the dead brother. Then his name will not be forgotten in Israel.
7. But a man might not want to marry his brother’s widow. Then she should go to the elders at the town gate. And she should say, “My brother-in-law will not carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He refuses to do his duty for me.”
8. Then the elders of the town must call for the man and talk to him. But he might be stubborn and say, “I don’t want to marry her.”
9. If he does, the woman must go up to him in front of the elders. She must take off one of his sandals. She must spit in his face and say, “This is for the man who won’t continue his brother’s family!”