# Deuteronomy 24 📖: Divorce, Loans, and Fairness [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Deuteronomy Overview]] | [[Deuteronomy 23]] | [[Deuteronomy 25]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) [[#Verse 01.]] If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something indecent in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house.  [[#Verse 02.]] When she has left him she may go and become someone else’s wife.  [[#Verse 03.]] If the second husband rejects her and then divorces her, gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies,  [[#Verse 04.]] her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. You must not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. [[#Verse 05.]] When a man is newly married, he need not go into the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to the wife he has married. [[#Verse 06.]] One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security. [[#Verse 07.]] If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, and regards him as mere property and sells him, that kidnapper must die. In this way you will purge the evil from among you. ### Respect for Human Dignity [[#Verse 08.]] Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do. [[#Verse 09.]] Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you left Egypt. [[#Verse 10.]] When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security.  [[#Verse 11.]] You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security.  [[#Verse 12.]] If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering.  [[#Verse 13.]] You must by all means return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just deed by the Lord your God. [[#Verse 14.]] You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages.  [[#Verse 15.]] You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin. [[#Verse 16.]] Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin. [[#Verse 17.]] You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan.  [[#Verse 18.]] Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this.  [[#Verse 19.]] Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do. [[#Verse 20.]] When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.  [[#Verse 21.]] When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.  [[#Verse 22.]] Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The certificate of divorce (24:1) gave a woman legal proof that she was free to remarry. Jesus discusses this law in Matthew 19:7-8 and Mark 10:4. 2. A millstone could not be taken as a pledge (24:6) because a family needed it every day to make bread. 3. A lender could not go into a borrower's house to take a pledge. He had to wait outside (24:10-11). 4. A poor man's cloak had to be returned by sunset because he slept in it (24:12-13; Exodus 22:26-27). 5. Israel was told to remember what God did to Miriam (24:9), who was struck with a skin disease (Numbers 12:10). 6. Kidnapping a fellow Israelite to sell him was punishable by death (24:7). 7. King Amaziah followed 24:16 when he did not execute the sons of his father's assassins (2 Kings 14:6). 8. Ruth gleaned in Boaz's field under the provision of this law (Ruth 2:2-3). 9. Olives were harvested by beating the branches with sticks. Israel was not to go over the branches a second time (24:20). 10. James warns that withheld wages cry out to the Lord (James 5:4). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who welcomes the poor and the outsider. God told Israel to leave the gleanings for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow (24:19-22), and Jesus came to bring good news to the poor (Luke 4:18). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Jesus said Moses allowed divorce because of hard hearts (24:1-4; Matthew 19:7-8). What does this teach about God's design for marriage? 2. Workers were to be paid before sunset (24:14-15). How can we treat those who work for us fairly? 3. Israel was told to remember that they had been slaves in Egypt (24:18, 22). How does remembering God's rescue make us generous? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 5: A newly married man stays home for a year to bring joy to his wife. - 📖 verse 16: Each person is to be put to death for his own sin. - 📖 verses 19-22: Leave the forgotten sheaf and the leftovers for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Matthew 19#Verse 03.|Matthew 19:3-9]] - Jesus on divorce and the hardness of hearts. - 🔗 [[Ruth 02#Verse 02.|Ruth 2:2-3]] - Ruth gleans in the field. - 🔗 [[James 05#Verse 04.|James 5:4]] - The wages you withheld cry out. - 🔗 [[2 Kings 14#Verse 06.|2 Kings 14:6]] - Amaziah obeys the law of 24:16. - 🔗 [[Luke 04#Verse 18.|Luke 4:18]] - Jesus brings good news to the poor. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 📂 Internal Notes