Deuteronomy 24-26

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Laws concerning Marriage and Divorce

24 “Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; ² she then leaves his house and goes off to become another man’s wife.^{(A) 3} Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies): ⁴ her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled, for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.^(B)

Miscellaneous Laws

⁵ “When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any related duty. He shall be free at home one year, to be happy with the wife whom he has married.^(C)

⁶ “No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.

⁷ “If someone is caught kidnaping another Israelite, enslaving or selling the Israelite, then that kidnaper shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.^(D)

⁸ “Guard against an outbreak of a defiling skin disease by being very careful; you shall carefully observe whatever the Levitical priests instruct you, just as I have commanded them.^{(E) 9} Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on your journey out of Egypt.^(F)

¹⁰ “When you make your neighbor a loan of any kind, you shall not go into the house to take the pledge. ¹¹ You shall wait outside while the person to whom you are making the loan brings the pledge out to you. ¹² If the person is poor, you shall not sleep in the garment given you as^[a] the pledge. ¹³ You shall give the pledge back by sunset, so that your neighbor may sleep in the cloak and bless you, and it will be to your credit before the Lord your God.^(G)

¹⁴ “You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns.^{(H) 15} You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt.^(I)

¹⁶ “Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for their own crimes may persons be put to death.^(J)

¹⁷ “You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge.^{(K) 18} Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.^(L)

¹⁹ “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings.^{(M) 20} When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.^(N)

²¹ “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. ²² Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.^(O)

25 “Suppose two persons have a dispute and enter into litigation, and the judges decide between them, declaring one to be in the right and the other to be in the wrong.^{(P) 2} If the one in the wrong deserves to be flogged, the judge shall make that person lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes proportionate to the offense. ³ Forty lashes may be given but not more; if more lashes than these are given, your neighbor will be degraded in your sight.^(Q)

⁴ “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.^(R)

Levirate Marriage

⁵ “When brothers reside together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage and performing the duty of a husband’s brother to her,^{(S) 6} and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.^{(T) 7} But if the man has no desire to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’^{(U) 8} Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, ‘I have no desire to marry her,’^{(V) 9} then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, ‘This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’^{(W) 10} Throughout Israel his family shall be known as ‘the house of him whose sandal was pulled off.’

Various Commands

¹¹ “If men get into a fight with one another and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, ¹² you shall cut off her hand; show no pity.

¹³ “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, large and small.^{(X) 14} You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, large and small. ¹⁵ You shall have only a full and honest weight; you shall have only a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are abhorrent to the Lord your God.^(Y)

¹⁷ “Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt,^{(Z) 18} how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God. ¹⁹ Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies on every hand, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget.^(AA)

First Fruits and Tithes

26 “When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess and you possess it and settle in it, ² you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.^{(AB) 3} You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’ ⁴ When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, ⁵ you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.^{(AC) 6} When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us,^{(AD) 7} we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.^{(AE) 8} The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders;^{(AF) 9} and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(AG) 10} So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. ¹¹ Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.^(AH)

¹² “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year (which is the year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows, so that they may eat their fill within your towns,^{(AI) 13} then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from the house, and I have given it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and the widows, in accordance with your entire commandment that you commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor forgotten any of your commandments:^{(AJ) 14} I have not eaten of it while in mourning; I have not removed any of it while I was unclean; and I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God, doing just as you commanded me.^{(AK) 15} Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

Concluding Exhortation

¹⁶ “This very day the Lord your God is commanding you to observe these statutes and ordinances, so observe them diligently with all your heart and with all your soul.^{(AL) 17} Today you have obtained the Lord’s agreement: to be your God; and for you to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and to obey him. ¹⁸ Today the Lord has obtained your agreement: to be his treasured people, as he promised you, and to keep all his commandments;^{(AM) 19} for him to set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honor; and for you to be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”^(AN)