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Friday, August 29th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Bible in Basic English

Deuteronomy 25:12

Her hand is to be cut off; have no pity on her.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Torrey's Topical Textbook - Hands, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Punishment;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Wealth;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Archaeology and Biblical Study;   Crimes and Punishments;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Deuteronomy;   Leviticus;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - Commandments, the 613;   Family and Family Life;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
you are to cut off her hand. Do not show pity.
Hebrew Names Version
then you shall cut off her hand, your eye shall have no pity.
King James Version
Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.
Lexham English Bible
then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not take pity.
English Standard Version
then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall have no pity.
New Century Version
you must cut off her hand. Show her no mercy.
New English Translation
then you must cut off her hand—do not pity her.
Amplified Bible
then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity [for her].
New American Standard Bible
then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then thou shalt cut off her hande: thine eye shall not spare her.
Legacy Standard Bible
then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.
Contemporary English Version
you must cut off her hand. Don't have any mercy.
Complete Jewish Bible
you are to cut off her hand; show no pity.
Darby Translation
thou shalt cut off her hand; thine eye shall not spare.
Easy-to-Read Version
If she does that, cut off her hand. Don't feel sorry for her.
George Lamsa Translation
Then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not pity her.
Good News Translation
show her no mercy; cut off her hand.
Literal Translation
then you shall cut off her palm; your eye shall not pity.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
then shalt thou cut of hir hande, and thine eye shal not pitie her.
American Standard Version
then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou shalt cut of her hande, and let not thyne eye pitie her.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity.
King James Version (1611)
Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pitie her.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
thou shalt cut off her hand; thine eye shall not spare her.
English Revised Version
then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity.
Berean Standard Bible
you are to cut off her hand. You must show her no pity.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
thou schalt kitte awei `the hond of hir, nether thou schalt be bowid on hir bi ony mercy.
Young's Literal Translation
then thou hast cut off her hand, thine eye doth not spare.
Update Bible Version
then you shall cut off her hand, your eye shall have no pity.
Webster's Bible Translation
Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thy eye shall not pity [her].
World English Bible
then you shall cut off her hand, your eye shall have no pity.
New King James Version
then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall not pity her.
New Living Translation
you must cut off her hand. Show her no pity.
New Life Bible
you must cut off her hand. Do not show pity.
New Revised Standard
you shall cut off her hand; show no pity.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
then shalt thou cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt cut off her hand, neither shalt thou be moved with any pity in her regard.
Revised Standard Version
then you shall cut off her hand; your eye shall have no pity.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.

Contextual Overview

5 If brothers are living together and one of them, at his death, has no son, the wife of the dead man is not to be married outside the family to another man: let her husband's brother go in to her and make her his wife, doing as it is right for a brother-in-law to do. 6 Then the first male child she has will take the rights of the brother who is dead, so that his name may not come to an end in Israel. 7 But if the man says he will not take his brother's wife, then let the wife go to the responsible men of the town, and say, My husband's brother will not keep his brother's name living in Israel; he will not do what it is right for a husband's brother to do. 8 Then the responsible men of the town will send for the man, and have talk with him: and if he still says, I will not take her; 9 Then his brother's wife is to come to him, before the responsible men of the town, and take his shoe off his foot, and put shame on him, and say, So let it be done to the man who will not take care of his brother's name. 10 And his family will be named in Israel, The house of him whose shoe has been taken off. 11 If two men are fighting, and the wife of one of them, coming to the help of her husband, takes the other by the private parts; 12 Her hand is to be cut off; have no pity on her.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Deuteronomy 19:13, Deuteronomy 19:21

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 7:16 - thine eye

Cross-References

Genesis 17:20
As for Ishmael, I have given ear to your prayer: truly I have given him my blessing and I will make him fertile and give him great increase; he will be the father of twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.
Genesis 21:13
And I will make a nation of the son of your servant-woman, because he is your seed.
Genesis 25:10
The same field which Abraham got from the children of Heth: there Abraham was put to rest with Sarah, his wife.
Genesis 25:15
Hadad and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:
Psalms 83:6
The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagarites;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then thou shall cut off her hand,.... Which was to be done not by the man that strove with her husband, or by any bystander, but by the civil magistrate or his order. This severity was used to deter women from such an immodest as well as injurious action, who on such an occasion are very passionate and inconsiderate. Our Lord is thought to refer to this law, Matthew 5:30; though the Jewish writers interpret this not of actual cutting off the hand, but of paying a valuable consideration, a price put upon it; so Jarchi; and Aben Ezra compares it with the law of retaliation, "eye for eye", Exodus 21:24; which they commonly understand of paying a price for the both, c. lost and who adds, if she does not redeem her hand (i.e. by a price) it must be cut off:

thine eye shall not pity [her]; on account of the tenderness of her sex, or because of the plausible excuse that might be made for her action, being done hastily and in a passion, and out of affection to her husband; but these considerations were to have no place with the magistrate, who was to order the punishment inflicted, either in the strict literal sense, or by paying a sum of money.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This is the only mutilation prescribed by the Law of Moses, unless we except the retaliation prescribed as a punishment for the infliction on another of bodily injuries Leviticus 24:19-20. The act in question was probably not rare in the times and countries for which the Law of Moses was designed. It is of course to be understood that the act was willful, and that the prescribed punishment would be inflicted according to the sentence of the judges.


 
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