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Deuteronomy 24

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Divorce, Remarriage, and the Newly Married 1–5

1
When 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. ​
2
And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
3
And 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;
4
Her 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. ​
5
When 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. ​

Protecting Life and Livelihood 6–7

6
No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man's life to pledge. ​
7
If 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. ​

Observance of Leprosy Laws 8–9

8
Take 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. ​
9
Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt. ​

Ethical Practices in Lending 10–13

10
When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. ​
11
Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.
12
And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:
13
In 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. ​

Justice for Hired Servants 14–15

14
Thou 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: ​
15
At 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. ​

Individual Responsibility and Justice for the Vulnerable 16–18

16
The 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. ​
17
Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge: ​
18
But 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. ​

Laws of Gleaning and Charity 19–22

19
When 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. ​
20
When 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.
21
When 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.
22
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 24

Verse 1

some uncleanness in her — Literally ‘a matter of nakedness’ (ervat davar), the words behind ‘unclean thing’ in 23:14. The bill is a sefer keritut, ‘a writing of divorcement’ (keritut, a cutting off). Christ answers the question about this law: ‘Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so’ (Matt 19:7–8).

Verse 4

after that she is defiled — Tame, the verb of uncleanness. The first husband may not ‘take her again’, for ‘that is abomination’ (toebah) before the LORD, and it would ‘cause the land to sin’. Jer 3:1 uses the case against Israel: ‘shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted?’ — and yet the LORD calls, ‘return again to me’.

Verse 5

free at home one year — Naqi is the word translated ‘innocent’ in 19:10. The new husband is clear of war and of ‘any business’ for a year, to ‘cheer up’ (samach, to gladden) his wife. The exemption of the betrothed man in 20:7 is the earlier step, and Prov 5:18 gives the same direction: ‘rejoice with the wife of thy youth’.

Verse 6

the nether or the upper millstone — Rekeb, the upper stone that rides on the lower. A household ground its grain daily, and the law gives the reason: ‘for he taketh a man’s life to pledge’. ‘Life’ is nephesh, the word v.7 uses of the person stolen. ‘Pledge’ is chabal, the verb used again in v.17 for a widow’s raiment.

Verse 7

stealing any of his brethren — Here the thing stolen is a nephesh, a person, the word rendered ‘life’ in v.6. The penalty is death, as in Ex 21:16, ‘he that stealeth a man, and selleth him… shall surely be put to death’, and the formula follows, ‘thou shalt put evil away from among you’. Paul lists ‘menstealers’ among the lawless (1 Tim 1:10).

Verse 8

the plague of leprosy — Nega, a stroke or blow, and tsaraath, the skin disease whose law is in Lev 13–14: the sufferer ‘shall be brought unto Aaron the priest’ (Lev 13:2). The priests judge the case. Christ keeps the order: ‘go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded’ (Matt 8:4), and ‘Go shew yourselves unto the priests’ (Luke 17:14).

Verse 9

what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam — The case is Num 12. Miriam and Aaron ‘spake against Moses’ (Num 12:1); Miriam ‘became leprous, white as snow’ (Num 12:10) and ‘was shut out from the camp seven days’ (Num 12:15). Set beside the leprosy law of v.8, it shows what befell one who spoke against the man the LORD had appointed, on the way out of Egypt.

Verse 10

thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge — Abot, a pawn or pledge. The lender waits outside: ‘Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee’ (v.11). The borrower keeps his own door, and Ex 22:26–27 sets the limit for the raiment taken as security.

Verse 13

it shall be righteousness unto thee — Tsedaqah, righteousness. The cloak is returned at sundown because it is ‘his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep?’ (Ex 22:27). The poor man blesses the lender, and the act counts as righteousness, as keeping ‘all these commandments’ does in 6:25; compare ‘shewing mercy to the poor’ (Dan 4:27).

Verse 14

oppress an hired servant — Ashaq, to press upon or defraud, applied to the hired worker (sakir) who is ‘poor and needy’, whether Israelite or ‘stranger’ (ger). Lev 19:13 says, ‘the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning’. The LORD names those ‘that oppress the hireling in his wages’ among those he will judge (Mal 3:5).

Verse 15

neither shall the sun go down upon it — The hire is paid on the day it is earned, because the labourer ‘setteth his heart upon it’ (literally, lifts up his soul to it). If he ‘cry against thee unto the LORD’, it becomes sin. James takes the same line: ‘the hire of the labourers… kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries… are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth’ (Jas 5:4).

Verse 16

shall be put to death for his own sin — The law is applied in the days of Amaziah, who slew his father’s murderers but ‘the children of the murderers he slew not’, as ‘written in the book of the law of Moses’ (2 Kings 14:6; 2 Chr 25:4). Ezek 18:20 states it for the whole nation: ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father’.

Verse 17

the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless — Natah, to turn aside, as in 16:19, ‘Thou shalt not wrest judgment’. The same three people stand in the curse of 27:19, ‘Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow’, and Isa 1:17 repeats the order: ‘judge the fatherless, plead for the widow’. ‘Take… to pledge’ is chabal, as in v.6.

Verse 18

the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence — Padah, to ransom. The same words stand in Deut 15:15, ‘thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing’. Here the reminder grounds the laws for the stranger, the fatherless and the widow (vv.17–22).

Verse 19

hast forgot a sheaf in the field — Omer, a sheaf, and shakach, to forget. What is left goes ‘for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow’, as in Lev 19:9–10 and 23:22. Boaz gave this law effect when he told his reapers, ‘let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them’ (Ruth 2:16).

Verse 22

thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt — The ground of the command is repeated from v.18, now for the gleaning law. The same memory underlies the sabbath rest for servants (Deut 5:14–15) and the feast of weeks, ‘thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes’ (16:12).