Just Judgment and the Unmuzzled Ox

Deuteronomy 25:1–4 is the movement “Just Judgment and the Unmuzzled Ox.” Read it inside Moses’ final covenant instruction to Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan as the people prepare for life in the land. The section opens with: “If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.” It closes with: “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.”

Within the book’s larger story, this section advances several important biblical threads. Truth and Witness: Measured punishment and the unmuzzled ox join proportional justice to fair treatment of labor.