^24:1If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive¹ in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house. ^24:2When she has left him² she may go and become someone else’s wife. ^24:3If the second husband rejects³ her and then divorces her,⁴ gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies, ^24:4her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry⁵ her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord.⁶ You must not bring guilt on the land⁷ which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

^24:5When a man is newly married, he need not go into⁸ the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to⁹ the wife he has married.

^24:6One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security.¹⁰

^24:7If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites,¹¹ and regards him as mere property¹² and sells him, that kidnapper¹³ must die. In this way you will purge¹⁴ evil from among you.

Respect for Human Dignity

^24:8Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely¹⁵ all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do. ^24:9Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam¹⁶ along the way after you left Egypt.

^24:10When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security.¹⁷^24:11You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security.¹⁸^24:12If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering.¹⁹^24:13You must by all means²⁰ 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 just²¹ deed by the Lord your God.

^24:14You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites²² or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages.²³^24:15You 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.

^24:16Fathers must not be put to death for what their children²⁴ do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.

^24:17You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan. ^24:18Remember 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. ^24:19Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there,²⁵ 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.²⁶^24:20When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure;²⁷ the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. ^24:21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time;²⁸ they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. ^24:22Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this.

^25:1If controversy arises between people,¹ they should go to court for judgment. When the judges² hear the case, they shall exonerate³ the innocent but condemn⁴ the guilty. ^25:2Then,⁵ if the guilty person is sentenced to a beating,⁶ the judge shall force him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of blows his wicked behavior deserves.⁷^25:3The judge⁸ may sentence him to forty blows,⁹ but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite¹⁰ with contempt.

^25:4You must not muzzle your¹¹ ox when it is treading grain.

Respect for the Sanctity of Others

^25:5If brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, the dead man’s wife must not remarry someone outside the family. Instead, her late husband’s brother must go to her, marry her,¹² and perform the duty of a brother-in-law.¹³^25:6Then¹⁴ the first son¹⁵ she bears will continue the name of the dead brother, thus preventing his name from being blotted out of Israel. ^25:7But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she¹⁶ must go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law to me!” ^25:8Then the elders of his city must summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I don’t want to marry her,” ^25:9then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face.¹⁷ She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!”¹⁸^25:10His family name will be referred to¹⁹ in Israel as “the family²⁰ of the one whose sandal was removed.”²¹

^25:11If two men²² get into a hand-to-hand fight, and the wife of one of them gets involved to help her husband against his attacker, and she reaches out her hand and grabs his genitals,²³^25:12then you must cut off her hand—do not pity her.

^25:13You must not have in your bag different stone weights,²⁴ a heavy and a light one.²⁵^25:14You must not have in your house different measuring containers,²⁶ a large and a small one. ^25:15You must have an accurate and correct²⁷ stone weight and an accurate and correct measuring container, so that your life may be extended in the land the Lord your God is about to give you. ^25:16For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent²⁸ to the Lord your God.

Treatment of the Amalekites

^25:17Remember what the Amalekites²⁹ did to you on your way from Egypt, ^25:18how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God.³⁰^25:19So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he³¹ is giving you as an inheritance,³² you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven³³—do not forget!³⁴

Presentation of the First Fruits

^26:1When¹ you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you occupy it and live in it, ^26:2you must take the first of all the ground’s produce you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you, place it in a basket, and go to the place where he² chooses to locate his name.³^26:3You must go to the priest in office at that time and say to him, “I declare today to the Lord your⁴ God that I have come into the land that the Lord⁵ promised⁶ to our ancestors⁷ to give us.” ^26:4The priest will then take the basket from you⁸ and set it before the altar of the Lord your God. ^26:5Then you must affirm before the Lord your God, “A wandering⁹ Aramean¹⁰ was my ancestor,¹¹ and he went down to Egypt and lived there as a foreigner with a household few in number,¹² but there he became a great, powerful, and numerous people. ^26:6But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, forcing us to do burdensome labor. ^26:7So we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and he¹³ heard us and saw our humiliation, toil, and oppression. ^26:8Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power,¹⁴ as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders. ^26:9Then he brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ^26:10So now, look! I have brought the first of the ground’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.” Then you must set it down before the Lord your God and worship before him.¹⁵^26:11You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family,¹⁶ along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.

Presentation of the Third-year Tithe

^26:12When you finish tithing all¹⁷ your income in the third year (the year of tithing), you must give it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows¹⁸ so that they may eat to their satisfaction in your villages.¹⁹^26:13Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering²⁰ from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me.²¹ I have not violated or forgotten your commandments. ^26:14I have not eaten anything when I was in mourning, or removed any of it while ceremonially unclean, or offered any of it to the dead;²² I have obeyed you²³ and have done everything you have commanded me. ^26:15Look down from your holy dwelling place in heaven and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us, just as you promised our ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Narrative Interlude

^26:16Today the Lord your God is commanding you to keep these statutes and ordinances, something you must do with all your heart and soul.²⁴^26:17Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him. ^26:18And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments. ^26:19Then²⁵ he will elevate you above all the nations he has made and you will receive praise, fame, and honor.²⁶ You will²⁷ be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has said.

The Assembly at Shechem

^27:1Then Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Pay attention to all the commandments¹ I am giving² you today. ^27:2When you cross the Jordan River³ to the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must erect great stones and cover⁴ them with plaster. ^27:3Then you must inscribe on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter…

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Footnotes

1 Heb “nakedness of a thing.” The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety (see note on “indecent” in ). Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6–18; 20:11, 17, 20–21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10).
2 Heb “his house.”
3 Heb “hates.” See note on the word “other” in .
4 Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”
5 Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”
6 The issue here is not divorce and its grounds per se but prohibition of remarriage to a mate whom one has previously divorced.
7 Heb “cause the land to sin” (so , ).
8 Heb “go out with.”
9 For the ’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).
10 Taking millstones as security on a loan would amount to taking the owner’s own life in pledge, since the millstones were the owner’s means of earning a living and supporting his family.
11 Heb “from his brothers, from the sons of Israel.” The terms “brothers” and “sons of Israel” are in apposition; the second defines the first more specifically.
12 Or “and enslaves him.”
13 Heb “that thief.”
14 Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in .
15 Heb “to watch carefully and to do.”
16 What the Lord your God did to Miriam. The reference is to Miriam’s having contracted leprosy because of her intemperate challenge to Moses’ leadership (Num 12:1–15). The purpose for the allusion here appears to be the assertion of the theocratic leadership of the priests who, like Moses, should not be despised.
17 Heb “his pledge.” This refers to something offered as pledge of repayment, i.e., as security for the debt.
18 Heb “his pledge.”
19 Heb “may not lie down in his pledge.” What is in view is the use of clothing as guarantee for the repayment of loans, a matter already addressed elsewhere (Deut 23:19–20; 24:6; cf. Exod 22:25–26; Lev 25:35–37). Cf. “you shall not sleep in the mantle he gives as a pledge”; “in the garment given you as the pledge.”
20 The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “by all means.”
21 Or “righteous” (so , ).
22 Heb “your brothers,” but not limited only to actual siblings; cf. “your (+ own ) countrymen.”
23 Heb “who are in your land in your gates.” The word “living” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
24 Heb “sons” (so ; twice in this verse). Many English versions, including the , read “children” here.
25 Heb “in the field.”
26 Heb “of your hands.” This law was later applied in the story of Ruth who, as a poor widow, was allowed by generous Boaz to glean in his fields (Ruth 2:1–13).
27 Heb “knock down after you.”
28 Heb “glean after you.”
1 Heb “men.”
2 Heb “they”; the referent (the judges) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 Heb “declare to be just”; , “justify the righteous”; , “acquitting the innocent.”
4 Heb “declare to be evil”; “condemning the guilty (+ party ).”
5 Heb “and it will be.”
6 Heb “if the evil one is a son of smiting.”
7 Heb “according to his wickedness, by number.”
8 Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 Heb “Forty blows he may strike him”; however, since the judge is to witness the punishment (v. 2) it is unlikely the judge himself administered it.
10 Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. ) “your kinsman”; , “your neighbor.”
11 Heb “an.” By implication this is one’s own animal.
12 Heb “take her as wife”; “taking her in marriage.”
13 This is the so-called “levirate” custom (from the Latin term levir, “brother-in-law”), an ancient provision whereby a man who died without male descendants to carry on his name could have a son by proxy, that is, through a surviving brother who would marry his widow and whose first son would then be attributed to the brother who had died. This is the only reference to this practice in an OT legal text but it is illustrated in the story of Judah and his sons (Gen 38) and possibly in the account of Ruth and Boaz (Ruth 2:8; 3:12; 4:6).
14 Heb “and it will be that.”
15 Heb “the firstborn.” This refers to the oldest male child.
16 Heb “want to take his sister-in-law, then his sister in law.” In the second instance the pronoun (“she”) has been used in the translation to avoid redundancy.
17 The removal of the sandal was likely symbolic of the relinquishment by the man of any claim to his dead brother’s estate since the sandal was associated with the soil or land (cf. Ruth 4:7–8). Spitting in the face was a sign of utmost disgust or disdain, an emotion the rejected widow would feel toward her uncooperative brother-in-law (cf. Num 12:14; Lev 15:8). See W. Bailey, 2:.
18 Heb “build the house of his brother”; “refuses to give his brother a descendant”; “refuses to raise up a son for his brother.”
19 Heb “called,” i.e., “known as.”
20 Heb “house.”
21 Cf. , “The Family of the Unsandaled.”
22 Heb “a man and his brother.”
23 Heb “shameful parts.” Besides the inherent indelicacy of what she has done, the woman has also threatened the progenitive capacity of the injured man. The level of specificity given this term in modern translations varies: “private parts” (, , ); “genitals” (, , ); “sex organs” (); “testicles” ().
24 Heb “a stone and a stone.” The repetition of the singular noun here expresses diversity, as the following phrase indicates. See §7.2.3c.
25 Heb “a large and a small,” but since the issue is the weight, “a heavy and a light one” conveys the idea better in English.
26 Heb “an ephah and an ephah.” An ephah refers to a unit of dry measure roughly equivalent to five U.S. gallons (just under 20 liters). On the repetition of the term to indicate diversity, see §7.2.3c.
27 Or “just”; Heb “righteous.”
28 The Hebrew term translated here “abhorrent” (תּוֹעֵבָה, to’evah) speaks of attitudes and/or behaviors so vile as to be reprehensible to a holy God. See note on the word “abhorrent” in .
29 Heb “what Amalek” (so , ). Here the individual ancestor, the namesake of the tribe, is cited as representative of the entire tribe at the time Israel was entering Canaan. Consistent with this, singular pronouns are used in v. 18 and the singular name appears again in v. 19. Since readers unfamiliar with the tribe of Amalekites might think this refers to an individual, the term “Amalekites” and the corresponding plural pronouns have been used throughout these verses (cf. , , , , ).
31 Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
32 The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”
33 Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
34 This command is fulfilled in 1 Sam 15:1–33.
1 Heb “and it will come to pass that.”
2 Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
3 The place where he chooses to locate his name. This is a circumlocution for the central sanctuary, first the tabernacle and later the Jerusalem temple. See Deut 12:1–14 and especially the note on the word “you” in v. .
4 For the reading “your God,” certain have “my God,” a contextually superior rendition followed by some English versions (e.g., , , ). Perhaps the text reflects dittography of the kaf (ך) at the end of the word with the following preposition כִּי (ki).
5 The adds “your God” to complete the usual formula.
6 Heb “swore on oath.”
7 Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 7, 15).
8 Heb “your hand.”
9 Though the Hebrew term אָבַד (’avad) generally means “to perish” or the like ( ; 1–2 ; cf. “a Syrian ready to perish”), a meaning “to go astray” or “to be lost” is also attested. The ambivalence in the Hebrew text is reflected in the versions where Vaticanus reads ἀπέβαλεν (apebalen, “lose”) for a possibly metathesized reading found in Alexandrinus, Ambrosianus, ἀπέλαβεν (apelaben, “receive”); others attest κατέλειπεν (kateleipen, “leave, abandon”). “Wandering” seems to suit best the contrast with the sedentary life Israel would enjoy in Canaan (v. 9) and is the meaning followed by many English versions.
10 A wandering Aramean. This is a reference to Jacob whose mother Rebekah was an Aramean (Gen 24:10; 25:20, 26) and who himself lived in Aram for at least twenty years (Gen 31:41–42).
11 Heb “father.”
12 Heb “sojourned there few in number.” The words “with a household” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
13 Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in .
14 Heb “by a powerful hand and an extended arm.” These are anthropomorphisms designed to convey God’s tremendously great power in rescuing Israel from their Egyptian bondage. They are preserved literally in many English versions (cf. , , , ).
15 Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in .
16 Or “household” (so , , ); Heb “house” (so , ).
17 Heb includes “the tithes of.” This has not been included in the translation to avoid redundancy.
18 The terms “Levite, resident foreigner, orphan, and widow” are collective singulars in the Hebrew text (also in v. 13).
19 Heb “gates.”
20 Heb “the sacred thing.” The term הַקֹּדֶשׁ (haqqodesh) likely refers to an offering normally set apart for the Lord but, as a third-year tithe, given on this occasion to people in need. Sometimes this is translated as “the sacred portion” (cf. , , ), but that could sound to a modern reader as if a part of the house were being removed and given away.
21 Heb “according to all your commandment that you commanded me.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
22 These practices suggest overtones of pagan ritual, all of which the confessor denies having undertaken. In Canaan they were connected with fertility practices associated with harvest time. See E. H. Merrill, Deuteronomy (), .
23 Heb “the Lord my God.” See note on “he” in .
24 Or “mind and being”; cf. “with your whole being”; “obey them faithfully with all your heart.”
25 Heb “so that.” Verses 18–19 are one sentence in the Hebrew text, but the translation divides it into three sentences for stylistic reasons. The first clause in verse 19 gives a result of the preceding clause. When Israel keeps God’s law, God will bless them with fame and honor (cf. “he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory”; “And if you do, he will make you greater than any other nation”).
26 Heb “for praise and for a name and for glory.”
27 Heb “and to be.” A new sentence was started here for stylistic reasons.
1 Heb “the whole commandment.” See note at .
2 Heb “commanding”; “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 10).
3 The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
4 Heb “plaster” (so , ; likewise in v. 4). In the translation “cover” has been used for stylistic reasons.

Cross references

30 See Exod 17:8–16.