Deuteronomy 24

1 When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a certificate of divorce, put it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

“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.

2 When she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.

And when, having departed, she has married another,

3 If the latter husband hates her, and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband dies, who took her to be his wife;

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,

4 her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled; for that would be an abomination to the LORD. You shall not cause the land to sin, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.

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.

5 When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, neither shall he be assigned any business. He shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.

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.

6 No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone as a pledge, for he takes a life in pledge.

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

7 If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you.

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.

8 Be careful in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently and do according to all that the Levitical priests teach you. As I commanded them, so you shall observe to do.

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.

9 Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam, by the way as you came out of Egypt.

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

10 When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge.

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.

11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge outside to you.

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

12 If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.

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

13 You shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment and bless you. It shall be righteousness to you before the LORD your God.

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.

14 You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the foreigners who are in your land within your gates.

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.

15 In his day you shall give him his wages, 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.

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.

16 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.

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.

17 You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge;

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

18 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.

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.

19 When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

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.

20 When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

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.

21 When you harvest your vineyard, you shall not glean it after yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

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.

22 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this thing.

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