Deuteronomy 24:5-25:4

Common English Bible

⁵A newly married man doesn’t have to march in battle. Neither should any related duties be placed on him. He is to live free of such responsibilities for one year, so he can bring joy to his new wife.

Pawning

⁶Millstones or even just the upper millstone must not be pawned, because that would be pawning someone’s livelihood.

Kidnapping

⁷If someone is caught kidnapping their fellow Israelites, intending to enslave the Israelite or sell them, that kidnapper must die. Remove^[a] such evil from your community!

Skin disease

⁸Be on guard against outbreaks of skin disease^[b] by being very careful about what you do. You must carefully do everything the levitical priests teach you, just as I have commanded them. ⁹Remember, after all, what the Lord your God did to Miriam on your departure from Egypt!

Loans

¹⁰When you make any type of loan to your neighbor, don’t enter their house to receive the collateral. ¹¹You must wait outside. The person to whom you are lending will bring the collateral to you out there. ¹²Moreover, if the person is poor, you are not allowed to sleep in their pawned coat. ¹³Instead, be certain to give the pawned coat back by sunset so they can sleep in their own coat. They will bless you, and you will be considered righteous before the Lord your God.

Payment for workers

¹⁴Don’t take advantage of poor or needy workers, whether they are fellow Israelites or immigrants who live in your land or your cities. ¹⁵Pay them their salary the same day, before the sun sets, because they are poor, and their very life depends on that pay, and so they don’t cry out against you to the Lord. That would make you guilty.

Generational punishment

¹⁶Parents shouldn’t be executed because of what their children have done; neither should children be executed because of what their parents have done. Each person should be executed for their own guilty acts.

Rights of widows, orphans, and immigrants

¹⁷Don’t obstruct the legal rights of an immigrant or orphan. Don’t take a widow’s coat as pledge for a loan. ¹⁸Remember how you were a slave in Egypt but how the Lord your God saved you from that. That’s why I’m commanding you to do this thing.

¹⁹Whenever you are reaping the harvest of your field and you leave some grain in the field, don’t go back and get it. Let it go to the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows so that the Lord your God blesses you in all that you do. ²⁰Similarly, when you beat the olives off your olive trees, don’t go back over them twice. Let the leftovers go to the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows. ²¹Again, when you pick the grapes of your vineyard, don’t pick them over twice. Let the leftovers go to the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows. ²²Remember how you were a slave in Egypt. That’s why I am commanding you to do this thing.

Corporal punishment

25 Now two people have a disagreement and they enter into litigation and their case is decided, with the judges declaring one person legally right and the other legally liable. ²If the guilty party is to be beaten, the presiding judge will have that person lie down and be punished in his presence—the number of blows in measure with the guilt determined. ³Give no more than forty blows. If more than that is given, your fellow Israelite would be completely disgraced in your eyes.