Deuteronomy 24

1 “If a man takes a wife, and he has her, and she does not find favor before his eyes because of some vileness, then he shall write a bill of divorce, and he shall give it to her hand, and he shall dismiss her from his house.

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

2 And when, having departed, she has married another,

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

3 and if he likewise hates her, and has given her a bill of divorce, and has dismissed her from his house, or if indeed he has died,

And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorce, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;

4 then the former husband cannot take her back as a wife. For she has been polluted and has become abominable in the sight of the Lord. Otherwise, you may cause your land, which the Lord your God will deliver to you as a possession, to sin.

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 you shall not cause the land to sin, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.

5 When a man has recently taken a wife, he shall not go out to war, nor shall any public office be enjoined upon him. Instead, he shall be free at home without guilt, so that for one year he may rejoice with his wife.

When a man has 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 has taken.

6 You shall not accept an upper or lower millstone as collateral. For then he will have placed his life with you.

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

7 If a man has been caught soliciting his brother among the sons of Israel, and selling him in order to receive a price, then he shall be put to death. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.

If a man be found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and makes merchandise of him, or sells him; then that thief shall die; and you shall put evil away from among you.

8 Observe diligently, lest you incur the wound of leprosy. But you shall do whatever the priests of the Levitical stock shall teach you to do, according to what I have instructed them. And you shall fulfill it carefully.

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

9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam, along the way, as you were departing from Egypt.

Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam by the way, after that you were come forth out of Egypt.

10 When you require from your neighbor anything that he owes to you, you shall not enter into his house in order to take away the collateral.

When you do lend your brother any thing, you shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge.

11 Instead, you shall stand outside, and he will carry out to you what he has.

You shall stand abroad, and the man to whom you do lend shall bring out the pledge abroad to you.

12 But if he is poor, then the collateral shall not remain with you through the night.

And if the man be poor, you shall not sleep with his pledge:

13 Instead, you shall return it to him promptly, before the setting of the sun, so that, sleeping in his own garment, he may bless you, and you may have justice in the presence of the Lord your God.

In any case you shall deliver him the pledge again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless you: and it shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.

14 You shall not refuse the pay of the indigent and the poor, whether he is your brother, or he is a new arrival who dwells with you in the land and is within your gates.

You shall not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of your brothers, or of your strangers that are in your land within your gates:

15 Instead, you shall pay him the price of his labor on the same day, before the setting of the sun. For he is poor, and with it he sustains his life. Otherwise, he may cry out against you to the Lord, and it would be charged to you as a sin.

At his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it; for he is poor, and sets his heart on it: lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you.

16 The fathers shall not be put to death on behalf of the sons, nor the sons on behalf of the fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.

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 You shall not pervert the judgment of the new arrival or the orphan, nor shall you take away the widow’s garment as collateral.

You shall not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:

18 Remember that you served in Egypt, and that the Lord your God rescued you from there. Therefore, I am instructing you to act in this way.

But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you there: therefore I command you to do this thing.

19 When you have reaped the grain in your field, and, having forgotten, you leave behind a sheaf, you shall not return to take it away. Instead, you shall permit the new arrival, and the orphan, and the widow to take it away, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands.

When you cut down your harvest in your field, and have forgot a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

20 If you have gathered the fruit of your olive trees, you shall not return in order to gather whatever may remain on the trees. Instead, you shall leave it behind for the new arrival, the orphan, and the widow.

When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

21 If you harvest the vintage of your vineyard, you shall not gather the remaining clusters. Instead, they shall fall to the use of the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.

When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

22 Remember that you also served in Egypt, and so, for this reason, I am instructing you to act in this way.”

And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt: therefore I command you to do this thing.