Deuteronomy 24–27

Law Concerning Divorce

24“When a ^aman takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some ¹uncleanness in her, and he writes her a ^bcertificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, ²when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, ^4cthen her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is ²an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Miscellaneous Laws

^5d“When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war or be charged with any business; he shall be free at home one year, and ^ebring happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

⁶“No man shall take the lower or the upper millstone in pledge, for he takes ³one’s living in pledge.

⁷“If a man is ^ffound ⁴kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; ^gand you shall put away the evil from among you.

⁸“Take heed in ^han outbreak of leprosy, that you carefully observe and do according to all that the priests, the Levites, shall teach you; just as I commanded them, so you shall be careful to do. ⁹ⁱRemember what the Lord your God did ^jto Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt!

¹⁰“When you ^klend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. ¹¹You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. ¹²And if the man is poor, you shall not ⁵keep his pledge overnight. ^13lYou shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and ^mbless you; and ⁿit shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.

¹⁴“You shall not ^ooppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. ¹⁵Each day ^pyou shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; ^qlest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.

^16r“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.

^17s“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, ^tnor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. ¹⁸But ^uyou shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.

^19v“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 for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may ^wbless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. ²²And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing.

25“If there is a ^adispute between men, and they come to ¹court, that the judges may judge them, and they ^bjustify the righteous and condemn the wicked, ²then it shall be, if the wicked man ^cdeserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down ^dand be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. ^3eForty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother ^fbe humiliated in your sight.

^4g“You shall not muzzle an ox while it ²treads out the grain.

Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother

^5h“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. ⁶And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears ⁱwill succeed to the name of his dead brother, that ^jhis name may not be blotted out of Israel. ⁷But if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the ^kgate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Israel; he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ ⁸Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. But if he stands firm and says, ^l‘I do not want to take her,’ ⁹then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, ^mremove his sandal from his foot, spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not ⁿbuild up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’

Miscellaneous Laws

¹¹“If two men fight together, and the wife of one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one attacking him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the genitals, ¹²then you shall cut off her hand; ^oyour eye shall not pity her.

^13p“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. ¹⁴You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. ¹⁵You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, ^qthat your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶For ^rall who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are ³an abomination to the Lord your God.

Destroy the Amalekites

^17s“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, ¹⁸how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he ^tdid not fear God. ¹⁹Therefore it shall be, ^uwhen the Lord your God has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, that you will ^vblot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.

Offerings of Firstfruits and Tithes

26“And it shall be, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, ^2athat you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and ^bgo to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. ³And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord ¹your God that I have come to the country which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’

⁴“Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was ^ca ²Syrian, ^dabout to perish, and ^ehe went down to Egypt and ³dwelt there, ^ffew in number; and there he became a nation, ^ggreat, mighty, and populous. ⁶But the ^hEgyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. ⁷ⁱThen we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. ⁸So ^jthe Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, ^kwith great terror and with signs and wonders. ⁹He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, ^l“a land flowing with milk and honey”; ¹⁰and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O Lord, have given me.’

“Then you shall set it before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God. ¹¹So ^myou shall rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you.

¹²“When you have finished laying aside all the ⁿtithe of your increase in the third year—^othe year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, ¹³then you shall say before the Lord your God: ‘I have removed the ⁴holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, ^pnor have I forgotten them. ^14qI have not eaten any of it ⁵when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it ⁶for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that You have commanded me. ^15rLook down from Your holy ⁷habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, ^s“a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

A Special People of God

¹⁶“This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷Today you have ^tproclaimed the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will ^uobey His voice. ¹⁸Also today ^vthe Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, ¹⁹and that He will set you ^whigh above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be ^xa ⁸holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.”

The Law Inscribed on Stones

27Now Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying: “Keep all the commandments which I command you today. ²And it shall be, on the day ^awhen you cross over the Jordan to the…