 | Ki Tetse |  |
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| | 25:3 |
Do not go beyond the limit and give him forty lashes. You may not give him a more severe flogging, striking him any more than this, since your brother will then be degraded in your presence.
Arba'im yakenu lo yosif pen-yosif lehakoto al-eleh makah rabah veniklah achicha le'eyneycha. |
| 25:4 |
Do not muzzle an ox when it is treading grain.
Lo-tachsom shor bedisho. |
| 25:5 |
When brothers live together, and one of them dies childless, the dead man's wife shall not be allowed to marry an outsider. Her husband's brother must cohabit with her, making her his wife, and thus performing a brother-in-law's duty to her.
Ki-yeshvu achim yachdav umet achad mehem uven eyn-lo lo-tiheyeh eshet-hamet hachutsah le'ish zar yevamah yavo aleyha ulekachah lo le'ishah veyibmah. |
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Commentary:
Do not go beyond the limit...
Thus, in practice, no more than 39 lashes could be given (Makkoth 22a; Sifri; Targum Yonathan; Josephus, Antiquities 4:8:21). Some dispute this, however, and maintain that a full 40 lashes are given (Rabbi Yehudah, Makkoth 22a).
| husband's brother
Yabham in Hebrew, a specific term denoting a childless man's brother, who has an obligation to marry his dead brother's wife.
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