Chapter 24

Law of Divorce

1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens 1that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some aindecency in her, and bhe writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house,

2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife,

3 and if the latter husband 1turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife,

4 then her aformer husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

5 “aWhen a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the army nor be charged with any duty; he shall be free at home one year and shall bgive happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

Sundry Laws

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

7 “aIf a man is 1caught kidnapping any of his 2countrymen of the sons of Israel, and he deals with him violently or sells him, then that thief shall die; so you shall purge the evil from among you.

8 “aBe careful against 1an infection of leprosy, that you diligently observe and do according to all that the Levitical priests teach you; as I have commanded them, so you shall be careful to do.

9 “Remember what the Lord your God did ato Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.

10 “aWhen you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge.

11 “You shall remain outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you.

12 “If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.

13 “aWhen the sun goes down you shall surely return the pledge to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and bit will be righteousness for you before the Lord your God.

14 “aYou shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your 1countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your 2towns.

15 “aYou shall give him his wages on his day 1before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his 2heart on it; so that bhe will not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you.

16 “aFathers shall not be put to death 1for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death 1for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.

17 “aYou shall not pervert the justice 1due an alien or 2an orphan, nor btake a widow’s garment in pledge.

18 “But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

19 “aWhen you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be bfor the alien, for the 1orphan, and for the widow, in order that the Lord your God cmay bless you in all the work of your hands.

20 “aWhen you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs 1again; it shall be bfor the alien, for the 2orphan, and for the widow.

21 “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not 1go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the 2orphan, and for the widow.

22 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

Chapter 25

Sundry Laws

1 “aIf there is a dispute between men and they go to 1court, and 2the judges decide their case, band they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked,

2 then it shall be if the wicked man 1adeserves to be beaten, the judge shall then make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of stripes according to his 2guilt.

3 “aHe may beat him forty times but no more, so that he does not beat him with many more stripes than these and your brother is not bdegraded in your eyes.

4 “aYou shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.

5 “When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. aHer husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.

6 “It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall 1assume the name of his dead brother, so that ahis name will not be blotted out from Israel.

7 “aBut if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’

8 “Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’

9 athen his brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and bspit in his face; and she shall 1declare, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’

10 “In Israel his name shall be called, ‘The house of him whose sandal is removed.’

11 “If two men, a man and his 1countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals,

12 then you shall cut off her 1hand; 2ayou shall not show pity.

13 “aYou shall not have in your bag 1differing weights, a large and a small.

14 “You shall not have in your house 1differing measures, a large and a small.

15 “You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just 1measure, athat your days may be prolonged in the 2land which the Lord your God gives you.

16 “For aeveryone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the Lord your God.

17 “aRemember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt,

18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary; and he adid not 1fear God.

19 “Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you arest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to 1possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

Chapter 26

Offering First Fruits

1 “Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it,

2 that you shall take some of athe first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and bgo to the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name.

3 “You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare this day to the Lord 1my God that I have entered the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

4 “Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

5 “You shall answer and say before the Lord your God, ‘aMy father was a 1wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and 2sojourned there, bfew in number; but there he became a cgreat, mighty and populous nation.

6 ‘And the aEgyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.

7 ‘Then awe cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression;

8 aand the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders;

9 and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, aa land flowing with milk and honey.

10 ‘Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground awhich You, O Lord have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God;

11 and you and athe Levite and the alien who is among you shall brejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.

12 “aWhen you have finished 1paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the 2orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your 3towns and be satisfied.

13 “You shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the 1orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; aI have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.

14 ‘I have not eaten of it 1while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me.

15 ‘aLook down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, ba land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.’

16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them awith all your heart and with all your soul.

17 “aYou have today declared the Lord to be your God, and 1that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.

18 “The Lord has today declared you to be aHis people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and 1that you should keep all His commandments;

19 and 1that He will aset you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be ba consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.”