
Deuteronomy 24
Leave Something Behind for the Stranger
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Regulations on Divorce and Remarriage
24:1If a man takes a wife and lives with her as husband, but she finds no favor before him because he finds something unseemly in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hands, and sends her from his house,
24:2and she departs and becomes another man’s wife,
24:3and the latter husband hates her, writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hands, and sends her from his house, or the latter husband who took her as his wife dies,
24:4then her former husband who sent her away may not return and take her as his wife after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord your God. Do not defile the land the Lord your God is giving you as an allotment.
Exemption for Newlyweds
24:5If a man has recently taken a wife, he shall not go out to war or have any duty imposed on him. He shall be exempt at home for one year and bring joy to the wife he has taken.
Protection of Livelihoods in Lending
24:6Do not take a mill or its upper stone as a pledge, for that would be taking a life as a pledge.
Prohibition of Kidnapping
24:7If a man is caught kidnapping one of his brothers, an Israelite, and subjugates him and sells him, that kidnapper shall die. Remove the evil person from among yourselves.
Instructions on Leprosy
24:8In a case of leprosy, be very careful to follow all the law the Levitical priests declare to you. Carefully do as I commanded you.
24:9Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the road when you came out of Egypt.
Pledges and Collateral
24:10If your neighbor owes a debt, any debt at all, do not enter his house to take the pledge.
24:11Stand outside, and the man who holds your loan shall bring the pledge outside to you.
24:12If he is poor, do not sleep with his pledge in your possession.
24:13You must return his pledge around sunset, so that he may sleep in his garment and bless you. It shall count as an act of mercy for you before the Lord your God.
Fair Wages for Laborers
24:14Do not wrongfully withhold the wages of a poor and needy person, whether one of your brothers or a resident foreigner within your cities.
24:15Pay his wages that same day, before the sun sets, for he is poor and places his hope in them. Otherwise he may cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur sin.
Individual Criminal Responsibility
24:16Fathers shall not die for children, and sons shall not die for fathers. Each shall die for his own sin.
Justice for the Vulnerable
24:17Do not pervert the justice due a resident foreigner, an orphan, or a widow, and do not take a widow’s garment as a pledge.
24:18Remember that you were a household slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I command you to do this.
Gleaning Laws for the Poor
24:19When you reap your field and forget a sheaf there, do not return to take it. It shall be for the poor, the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
24:20When you gather olives, do not return to glean what you left behind. It shall be for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.
Remember that you were a household slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
24:21When you gather your vineyard’s grapes, do not glean it afterward. What remains shall be for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.
24:22Remember that you were a household slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.