5.Mose 24 | New International Reader’s Version

1 Suppose a man marries a woman. But later he decides he doesn’t like her. He finds something shameful about her. So he gives her a letter of divorce and sends her away from his house. 2 Then after she leaves his house she becomes another man’s wife. 3 But her second husband doesn’t like her either. So he gives her a letter of divorce and sends her away from his house. Or perhaps he dies. 4 Then her first husband isn’t allowed to marry her again. The LORD would hate that. When her first husband divorced her, she became ‘unclean’. Don’t bring sin on the land the LORD your God is giving you as your own. 5 Suppose a man has just married his wife. Then don’t send him into battle. Don’t give him any other duty either. He’s free to stay home for one year. He needs time to make his new wife happy. 6 Someone might borrow money from you and give you two millstones to keep until you are paid back. Don’t keep them. Don’t even keep the upper one. That person needs both millstones to make a living. 7 Suppose someone is caught kidnapping another Israelite. And they sell or treat that person as a slave. Then the kidnapper must die. Get rid of that evil person. 8 What about skin diseases? Be very careful to do exactly what the priests, who are Levites, tell you to do. You must be careful to obey the commands I’ve given them. 9 Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on your way out of Egypt. 10 Suppose your neighbour borrows something from you. And he offers you something to keep until you get paid back. Then don’t go into their house to get it. 11 Stay outside. Let the neighbour bring it out to you. 12 The neighbour might be poor. You might be given their coat to keep until you get paid back. Don’t go to sleep while you still have it. 13 Return it before the sun goes down. They need it to sleep in and will thank you for returning it. The LORD your God will see it and know that you have done the right thing. 14 Don’t take advantage of any hired worker who is poor and needy. That applies to your own people. It also applies to outsiders living in one of your towns. 15 Give them their pay every day. They are poor and are counting on it. If you don’t pay them, they might cry out to the LORD against you. Then you will be guilty of committing a sin. 16 Parents must not be put to death because of what their children do. And children must not be put to death because of what their parents do. People must die because of their own sins. 17 Do what is right and fair for outsiders and for children whose fathers have died. Suppose a widow borrows something from you. And she offers to give you her coat until she pays you back. Don’t take it. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. Remember that the LORD your God set you free from there. That’s why I’m commanding you to do those things. 19 When you are gathering crops in your field, you might leave some corn behind by mistake. Don’t go back to get it. Leave it behind for outsiders and widows. Leave it for children whose fathers have died. Then the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. 20 When you knock olives off your trees, don’t go back over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for outsiders and widows. Leave it for children whose fathers have died. 21 When you pick grapes in your vineyard, don’t go back over the vines a second time. Leave what remains for outsiders and widows. Leave it for children whose fathers have died. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That’s why I’m commanding you to do these things.

English Standard Version

Laws Concerning Divorce

1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, 2 and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Miscellaneous Laws

5 “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife* whom he has taken. 6 “No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge. 7 “If a man is found stealing one of his brothers of the people of Israel, and if he treats him as a slave or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 8 “Take care, in a case of leprous* disease, to be very careful to do according to all that the Levitical priests shall direct you. As I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. 9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt. 10 “When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not go into his house to collect his pledge. 11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. 12 And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep in his pledge. 13 You shall restore to him the pledge as the sun sets, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. And it shall be righteousness for you before the Lord your God. 14 “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. 15 You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin. 16 “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin. 17 “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, 18 but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. 19 “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. 22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

5.Mose 24 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Laws Concerning Divorce

Miscellaneous Laws