Deuteronomy24
New International Version
1If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,
2and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man,
3and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies,
4then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
5If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.
6Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.
7If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.
8In cases of defiling skin diseases, be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.
9Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.
10When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge.
11Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you.
12If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession.
13Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbor may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.
14Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
15Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
16Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.
17Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.
18Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.
19When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, 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.
20When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.
21When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.
22Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 24.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Of divorce. (1–4). Of new-married persons, Of man-stealers, Of pledges. (5–13). Of justice and generosity. (14–22).
vv1-4
Where the providence of God, or his own wrong choice in marriage, has allotted to a Christian a trial instead of a help meet; he will from his heart prefer bearing the cross, to such relief as tends to sin, confusion, and misery. Divine grace will sanctify this cross, support under it, and teach so to behave, as will gradually render it more tolerable.
vv5-13
It is of great consequence that love be kept up between husband and wife; that they carefully avoid every thing which might make them strange one to another. Man-stealing was a capital crime, which could not be settled, as other thefts, by restitution. The laws concerning leprosy must be carefully observed. Thus all who feel their consciences under guilt and wrath, must not cover it, or endeavour to shake off their convictions; but by repentance, and prayer, and humble confession, take the way to peace and pardon. Some orders are given about pledges for money lent. This teaches us to consult the comfort and subsistence of others, as much as our own advantage. Let the poor debtor sleep in his own raiment, and praise God for thy kindness to him. Poor debtors ought to feel more than commonly they do, the goodness of creditors who do not take all the advantage of the law against them, nor should this ever be looked upon as weakness.
vv14-22
It is not hard to prove that purity, piety, justice, mercy, fair conduct, kindness to the poor and destitute, consideration for them, and generosity of spirit, are pleasing to God, and becoming in his redeemed people. The difficulty is to attend to them in our daily walk and conversation.
Key Words
אִישׁ: a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation)
לָקַח: to take (in the widest variety of applications)
אִשָּׁה: a woman
בָּעַל: to be master; hence, to marry
מָצָא: properly, to come forth to, i.e. appear or exist; transitively, to attain, i.e. find or acquire; figuratively, to occur, meet or be present
חֵן: graciousness, i.e. subjective (kindness, favor) or objective (beauty)
עַיִן: an eye (literally or figuratively); by analogy, a fountain (as the eye of the landscape)
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
עֶרְוָה: nudity, literally (especially the pudenda) or figuratively (disgrace, blemish)
כָּתַב: to grave, by implication, to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe)
Cross References
Deuteronomy 24Jesus discusses Moses' permission of divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1-4, attributing it to hardness of heart.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jeremiah directly references and applies this law forbidding a remarried woman from returning to her first husband.
Supported by Matthew Poole
King Amaziah explicitly obeys this command by not putting the children of his father's murderers to death.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
The foundational law making kidnapping and selling a fellow Israelite into slavery a capital offense.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The historical account of Miriam being struck with leprosy, which Israel is commanded to remember here.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels the prohibition against withholding the daily wages of a hired servant overnight.
Supported by JFB
Echoes the warning that unpaid wages cry out to God, resulting in judgment upon the oppressor.
Parallels the law requiring the return of a poor man's garment pledge before sunset.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Ezekiel reinforces the principle that individuals are responsible for their own sins, not their parents'.
Supported by John Calvin
Repeats the standard Deuteronomic motive: remembering Egypt's bondage to inspire mercy and obedience.
Establishes the gleaning laws for the poor, stranger, widow, and fatherless in Israel's harvests.
Malachi declares God's hatred of divorce, contrasting with the civil concession in Deuteronomy.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Paul includes 'menstealers' (kidnappers) in his New Testament list of lawbreakers deserving condemnation.
Protects strangers, widows, and orphans from injustice, mirroring the protections in verse 17.