Deuteronomy 24

When a man marries a woman, and later she does not please him because he has found something indecent about her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her out of his house.

1When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

NoteVerses 1-4 are a single long sentence in Hebrew: verses 1-3 set out the situation, and only verse 4 gives the actual command. The law is not authorizing or approving divorce here; it is describing a case that arises and then ruling on one point in it. The phrase translated "something indecent" (Hebrew *ervat davar*, literally "nakedness of a thing") is vague, and its meaning was already disputed in ancient times: some read it narrowly as sexual misconduct, others broadly as anything the husband found objectionable. The vagueness is in the original.

2After she has left his house, she may go and become another man's wife.

2And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.

3Suppose the second husband also turns against her, writes her a certificate of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her out of his house. Or suppose that second husband, who married her, dies.

3And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;

4Then her first husband, the one who sent her away, may not marry her again, because she has been made unclean. That is a detestable thing to the LORD. Do not bring sin on the land the LORD your God is giving you to own.

4Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Note"Made unclean" is a legal and ritual status, not a statement about her character or morals: it means she now falls into a category that bars the first marriage from being resumed. "Detestable thing" (KJV "abomination") is a standard legal term for something ruled out of bounds in Israel, not an expression of disgust at the woman.

5When a man has just married, he must not go out with the army, and no other duty may be laid on him. For one year he is free to stay at home and bring joy to the wife he has married.

5When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.

NoteThe exemption covers both military service and forced public labor, the work crews a king or community could conscript men into. For his first year of marriage the man is excused from both.

6No one may take a pair of millstones, or even just the upper millstone, as security for a loan. Taking them means taking away how a man stays alive.

6No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.

NoteA household hand mill was a pair of stones: a heavy lower stone and a smaller upper stone that was turned by hand to grind grain into flour. Bread was ground fresh daily, so a family without its mill could not eat. Taking either stone as loan security effectively took the family's food supply.

7If a man is caught kidnapping one of his fellow Israelites, treating him as property or selling him, that kidnapper must die. In this way you must remove the evil from among you.

7If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.

Note"Treating him as property" translates a verb meaning to deal in someone as merchandise. The crime is seizing a free Israelite and turning him into a slave or a sale item, what would now be called kidnapping for enslavement.

8In cases of the skin disease called leprosy, be very careful to do exactly what the Levite priests teach you. Be careful to do just as I commanded them.

8Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.

NoteThe Hebrew word traditionally translated "leprosy" (*tsara'at*) is not modern leprosy (Hansen's disease). It covers a range of skin conditions, and the same word is used of discolorations in fabric and in the walls of houses. The priests here act as inspectors, not healers: their job was to examine, then declare a person or object clean or unclean, which determined whether he could remain in the community. The detailed procedure is set out in Leviticus 13-14. "Levite priests" means the priests drawn from the tribe of Levi, the tribe set apart for this work.

9Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam along the way, after you came out of Egypt.

9Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.

NoteMiriam was Moses' sister. According to Numbers 12, she was struck with this skin condition after speaking against Moses and was shut outside the camp for seven days until she was declared clean. The point of the reminder is that even someone of her standing went through the required procedure.

10When you lend your neighbor anything, do not go into his house to take the item he is giving you as security.

10When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.

NoteLending here is between neighbors, not banking. The borrower handed over an item, often a garment or a tool, as a guarantee, to be returned when the debt was paid. This law forbids the lender from walking into the house and choosing the item himself; the borrower keeps the dignity of selecting what he hands over, and the lender waits at the door.

11Stay outside, and let the man you are lending to bring the security out to you.

11Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.

12If the man is poor, do not go to sleep still holding what he gave you as security.

12And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:

13Be sure to give it back to him by sunset, so that he can sleep in his own cloak and bless you. This will count as right living for you before the LORD your God.

13In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.

NoteAn ordinary person's outer cloak was a large rectangle of cloth worn by day and used as a blanket by night; most people owned only one. That is why a cloak taken as security had to be back in the owner's hands before dark.

14Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your own people or a foreigner living in one of your towns.

14Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:

Note"Foreigner" translates *ger*, a resident outsider living permanently among Israelites. Such a person had no ancestral land and no extended family locally to defend his interests, which is why he is named alongside the poor throughout this chapter.

15Pay him his wages each day before the sun goes down, because he is poor and is counting on that pay. If you do not, he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

15At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.

NoteDay laborers were paid at the end of each working day and had no savings to fall back on; withholding a day's wage meant a night without food. "Cry out to the LORD against you" uses the language of a legal appeal: the wronged worker, having no court that will hear him, takes his case directly to God.

16Fathers must not be put to death for what their children have done, and children must not be put to death for what their fathers have done. Each person is to be put to death for his own sin.

16The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

NoteThis concerns what a court may do, not the wider consequences of wrongdoing. Some law codes of the surrounding ancient world allowed an offender's children to be executed in his place or alongside him; this rules that out in Israel's courts.

17Do not deny justice to a foreigner or to a child whose father has died, and do not take a widow's cloak as security for a loan.

17Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:

Note"Fatherless" means a child whose father has died. In this society a father was the one who represented the family in legal disputes and held its land, so a fatherless child, a widow, and a resident foreigner were the three classes of person with no one to argue their case, which is why they appear together again and again in these laws.

18Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God set you free from there. That is why I command you to do this.

18But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.

NoteThe King James word "redeemed" translates a Hebrew term drawn from everyday commerce and family law: buying a person or piece of property back out of another's possession, as a relative might buy a family member out of debt slavery. The exodus is described using that image.

19When you are harvesting your field and you forget a bundle of grain there, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

19When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.

NoteA sheaf is a bundle of cut grain stalks tied together and left standing in the field before being carried to the threshing floor. The command creates a legal right, not a suggestion: whatever is missed on the first pass belongs to the poor, and the owner forfeits his claim to it.

20When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. What is left is for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

20When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

NoteOlives were harvested by striking the branches with long poles so the fruit fell onto cloths spread below. A second, more thorough beating would shake loose what the first pass left; that second pass is what is forbidden.

21When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, do not go back over the vines to pick what you missed. What is left is for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

21When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

Note"Gleaning" is the practice of poor people following behind the harvesters and gathering what was dropped or left. The book of Ruth turns on it: Ruth, a widow and a foreigner, feeds herself and her mother-in-law by gleaning in someone else's field.

22Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.

22And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.