Deuteronomy 25 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 25:5, 25:6
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Deuteronomy 25
Protection of the Weak and Vulnerable
Limits on Corporal Punishment
Verse 25:1 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:1 If men have a dispute and come to court, the judges shall judge them, acquitting the righteous and condemning the wicked.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:1 If men have a dispute and come for judgment, the judges shall judge, vindicating the righteous and condemning the impious.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Greek characterizes the condemned person as impious; Hebrew wicked or guilty. Both use righteous in a judicial setting, without making this a general account of salvation.
Verse 25:2 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:2 If the wicked man deserves a beating, the judge shall have him lie down and be beaten before him with a counted number of blows proportionate to his wrongdoing.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:2 If the impious man deserves lashes, you shall seat him before the judges, and they shall scourge him before them with a counted number proportionate to his impiety.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Hebrew has one judge and has the offender lie down; Greek addresses you and has him seated before plural judges. καθιεῖς is the future of καθίζω, to seat. These are concrete procedural differences, but the complete unit retains a judicially ordered, proportionate flogging and the prohibition against exceeding forty blows. A major change in the sanction itself is not established. See LSJ, καθίζω.
Verse 25:3 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:3 He may give him forty blows, but no more, lest beating him with more than these many blows degrade your brother in your eyes.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:3 They shall give him forty lashes, but no more. If they add further lashes beyond these, your brother will be disgraced before you.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Hebrew retains a singular administering agent; Greek plural. Both retain forty and the prohibition against excess; later thirty-nine-lash practice does not replace the source numeral.
Rabbinic: Rashi joins the preceding “number” to “forty” and expounds a total of thirty-nine; the running Hebrew and Greek still say forty.
Saints: Paul reports receiving thirty-nine lashes on five occasions, illustrating the practice rather than changing Deuteronomy’s numeral. 2 Corinthians 11:24
The Working Ox
Verse 25:4 Same
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:4 Do not muzzle an ox while it threshes.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:4 Do not muzzle an ox while it threshes.
Classification & Notes
[Same] Text: The command and animal agree. Greek here has bous, ox, unlike its calf terminology in chapter twenty-two.
Saints: Paul applies this law to support for Gospel workers.
Chrysostom explains the ox image as instruction in mercy that also concerns the labor and support of teachers. Chrysostom, 1 Corinthians, Homily 21 §5 (on 9:9–10)
Levirate Marriage and Family Legacy
Verse 25:5 Disparate
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:5 If brothers live together and one dies without a son, the dead man’s wife shall not marry an outsider. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and fulfill a brother-in-law’s duty to her.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:5 If brothers live together and one dies without offspring, the dead man’s wife shall not marry outside to a man who is not a close relative. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and live with her as husband.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] Text: Hebrew says son and names the technical brother-in-law duty; Greek says offspring and marital cohabitation. The broader Greek offspring term has potential legal consequences; later Jewish interpretation must be distinguished from a bare son-only reading.
Verse 25:6 Disparate
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:6 The firstborn she bears shall succeed to the name of his deceased brother, so that his name is not erased from Israel.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:6 The child she bears shall be established under the deceased man’s name, so that his name is not erased from Israel.
Classification & Notes
[Disparate] Text: Greek lacks firstborn and the explicit brother relationship, saying the child and the deceased. The Hebrew relational phrasing refers to the surviving brother’s deceased brother. The draft inserted firstborn into Greek.
Verse 25:7 Divergent
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:7 If the man does not wish to take his brother’s widow, she shall go up to the elders at the gate and say: My husband’s brother refuses to establish his brother’s name in Israel; he will not fulfill his duty as my brother-in-law.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:7 If the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife, she shall go up to the council of elders at the gate and say: My husband’s brother will not raise up his brother’s name in Israel; my husband’s brother was unwilling.
Classification & Notes
[Divergent] Text: Greek’s final refusal lacks Hebrew’s explicit performance of the brother-in-law duty. The earlier draft supplied that technical obligation in the Greek clause.
Verse 25:8 Same
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:8 The elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. If he stands and says, I do not wish to take her,
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:8 The council of elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. If he stands and says, I do not wish to take her,
Classification & Notes
[Same] Text: The summons and maintained refusal agree. Stands is retained without making physical posture and persistence opposing claims.
Verse 25:9 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:9 his brother’s widow shall approach him before the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She shall declare: This is what shall be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:9 his brother’s wife shall approach before the council of elders, remove one sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She shall declare: This is what they shall do to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Greek explicitly specifies one sandal and an active they shall do. Neither selected text adds in Israel to this final clause. Spitting in his face is the direct rendering; later ritual interpretation is separate.
Verse 25:10 Same
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:10 His name in Israel shall be: The House of the Man Whose Sandal Was Removed.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:10 His name in Israel shall be: The House of the Man Whose Sandal Was Removed.
Classification & Notes
[Same] Text: The public designation agrees.
Modesty and Business Honesty
Verse 25:11 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:11 If men fight together, one with his brother, and the wife of one approaches to rescue her husband from the one striking him, reaches out her hand, and seizes his genitals,
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:11 If men fight together, one with his brother, and the wife of one approaches to rescue her husband from the one striking him, reaches out her hand, and seizes his testicles,
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Greek specifies testicles; Hebrew uses a private-parts euphemism. Both include brother; the earlier note falsely treated that relationship as a Greek addition.
Verse 25:12 Same
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:12 cut off her hand; your eye shall show no pity.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:12 cut off her hand; your eye shall show her no pity.
Classification & Notes
[Same] Text: The stated bodily penalty agrees. It is not silently replaced by later compensatory interpretation.
Verse 25:13 Similar
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:13 Do not keep two different stone weights in your pouch, a large one and a small one.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:13 Do not keep two different weights in your pouch, large or small.
Classification & Notes
[Similar] Text: Hebrew names the stone weights; Greek names weights generally. Both prohibit dishonest double standards, not legitimate sets of differently sized weights.
Verse 25:14 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:14 Do not keep two different ephah measures in your house, a large one and a small one.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:14 Do not keep two different measures in your house, large or small.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Hebrew specifies the ephah; Greek uses the general term measure. The named unit is preserved rather than converted to an unqualified modern volume.
Verse 25:15 Divergent
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:15 Keep a full and just stone weight and a full and just ephah, so that your days may be prolonged on the land YHWH your God is giving you.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:15 Keep a true and just weight and a true and just measure, so that you may be long-lived on the land the Lord your God is giving you as an allotment.
Classification & Notes
[Divergent] Text: Greek generalizes the units, uses true for full, and adds as an allotment. The old note incorrectly claimed a Hebrew inheritance noun here.
Verse 25:16 Same
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:16 For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly, is an abomination to YHWH your God.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:16 For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly, is an abomination to the Lord your God.
Classification & Notes
[Same] Text: The condemnation of unjust dealing agrees.
The Command to Blot Out Amalek
Verse 25:17 Similar
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:17 Remember what Amalek did to you on the road when you came out of Egypt,
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:17 Remember what Amalek did to you on the road when you came out of Egypt,
Classification & Notes
[Similar] Text: Hebrew’s coming-out clause addresses the plural community; Greek uses singular you. English does not mark the number distinction.
Verse 25:18 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:18 how he met you on the road and attacked all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; he did not fear God.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:18 how he opposed you on the road and struck your rear, those tiring behind you, when you were hungry and weary; he did not fear God.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Greek says hungry where Hebrew says faint, and opposing where Hebrew says meeting or encountering. Both describe an attack on the vulnerable rear group and a lack of fear of God. The particular descriptions differ without establishing a different assailant, victim group, or outcome.
Verse 25:19 Different
Hebrew–English Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
25:19 When YHWH your God gives you rest from all surrounding enemies in the land YHWH your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, erase Amalek’s remembrance from under heaven. Do not forget.
Greek–English Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
25:19 When the Lord your God gives you rest from all surrounding enemies in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an allotment to inherit, erase Amalek’s name from under heaven. Do not forget.
Classification & Notes
[Different] Text: Hebrew commands erasure of remembrance; Greek of the name. Both defer the command to the described rest in the land.