Deuteronomy 24:1-6

1 "When a man takes a wife and he marries her {and then} {she does not please him}, because he found {something objectionable} and writes her a letter of divorce and puts [it] in her hand and sends her [away] from his house,

2 and she goes from his house, and she goes [out] and becomes [a wife] {for another man},

3 and [then] the second man dislikes her and he writes her a letter of divorce and places [it] into her hand and sends her from his house, or if the second man dies who took her {to himself} as a wife,

4 her first husband who sent her [away] is not allowed {to take her again} to become a wife to him after she has {been defiled}, for that [is] a detestable thing {before} Yahweh, and [so] you shall not mislead into sin the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance.

5 "When a man takes a new wife he shall not go out with the army, and {he shall not be obligated with anything}; he shall be free from obligation, {to stay at home} for one year, and he shall bring joy [to] his wife that he took.

6 "A person shall not take a pair of millstones or an upper millstone, for {he is taking necessities of life as a pledge}.

Deuteronomy 24:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 24

This chapter contains various laws concerning divorces, De 24:1-4; the discharge of a newly married man from war and business, De 24:5; about taking pledges, De 24:6,10-13; man stealing, De 24:7; the plague of leprosy, De 24:8,9; and giving servants their hire in due time, De 24:14,15; concerning doing justice in capital cases, and towards the stranger, fatherless, and widow, De 24:16-18; and of charity to the poor, in allowing them the forgotten sheaf, and the gleanings of their oliveyards and vineyards, De 24:19-22.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "If"
• [b]. Literally "and it will happen"
• [c]. Literally "if not she finds favor in his eyes"
• [d]. Literally "shameful/repulsive thing"
• [e]. Literally "for a man other"
• [f]. Literally "to for him"
• [g]. Literally "to return to take her"
• [h]. Literally "become unclean"
• [i]. Literally "to the face of"
• [j]. Or "If"
• [k]. Literally "he shall not come across [come over] upon him to anything"
• [l]. Literally "for his house"
• [m]. Hebrew "he"
• [n]. Or "require"
• [o]. Literally "for a life [he] is taking as a pledge"