Old Testament · Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 24

Marriage and Divorce Laws

(Matthew 5:31–32; Luke 16:18)

1When a man^a takes a woman^b and marries her, then it shall be, if she does not find favor in his eyes, because he has found in her a nakedness of a thing, that he writes her a scroll of divorce and gives it in her hand and sends her out from his house,

2and she goes out from his house, and goes and becomes to another man; 3and the latter man hates her, and writes her a scroll of divorce and gives it in her hand and sends her out from his house; or if the latter man dies, who took her to himself for a wife; 4her former husband, who sent her away, is not able to return to take her to be to him for a wife, after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD; and you shall not cause the land to sin, which the LORD your God is giving to you as an inheritance.

5When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, and it shall not pass upon him for any matter; free shall he be for his house one year, and he shall gladden his wife whom he has taken.

Additional Laws

6No one shall take to pledge a mill or an upper millstone, for he is taking a soul^c to pledge.

7If a man is found stealing a soul from his brothers, from the sons of Israel, and he deals tyrannically with him and sells him, then that thief shall die; and you shall burn away the evil from your midst.

8Take heed in the plague of leprosy, to keep diligently and to do according to all that the priests, the Levites, teach you; as I commanded^d them, so you shall keep to do. 9Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam, in the way when you came out from Egypt.

10When you lend your neighbor a loan of anything, you shall not go into his house to take his pledge. 11Outside you shall stand, and the man to whom you are lending shall bring out to you the pledge to the outside. 12And if he is a poor man, you shall not lie down in his pledge. 13Returning you shall return to him the pledge when the sun goes in, that he may lie down in his garment and bless you; and to you it shall be righteousness before the LORD your God.

14You shall not oppress a hired-laborer who is poor and needy, from your brothers or from your sojourner who is in your land within your gates. 15In his day you shall give his wages, and the sun shall not go down upon it; for he is poor, and to it he lifts up his soul; lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin in you.

16Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, and sons shall not be put to death for fathers; each man for his own sin shall be put to death.

17You shall not turn aside the judgment^e of a sojourner or a fatherless one; and you shall not take to pledge the garment of a widow. 18And you shall remember that you were a servant in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

19When you reap your harvest in your field, and you forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not turn back to take it; for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow it shall be; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

20When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs after you; for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow it shall be.

21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean after you; for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow it shall be. 22And you shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.