Deuteronomy 24:1-8

1 And if thou shouldest go into the corn field of thy neighbour, then thou mayest gather the ears with thy hands; but thou shalt not put the sickle to thy neighbour's corn.

2 And if thou shouldest go into the vineyard of thy neighbour, thou shalt eat grapes sufficient to satisfy thy desire; but thou mayest not put them into a vessel.

3 And if any one should take a wife, and should dwell with her, then it shall come to pass if she should not have found favour before him, because he has found some unbecoming thing in her, that he shall write for her a bill of divorcement, and give it into her hands, and he shall send her away out of his house.

4 And she should go away and be married to another man;

5 and the last husband should hate her, and write for her a bill of divorcement; and should give it into her hands, and send her away out of his house, and the last husband should die, who took her to himself for a wife;

6 the former husband who sent her away shall not be able to return and take her to himself for a wife, after she has been defiled; because it is an abomination before the Lord thy God, and ye shall not defile the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit.

7 And if any one should have recently taken a wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall any thing be laid upon him; he shall be free in his house; for one year he shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.

8 Thou shalt not take for a pledge the under millstone, nor the upper millstone; for he who does so takes life for a pledge.

Deuteronomy 24:1-8 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]. book.
• [b]. guiltless.
• [c]. this man.