24 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him^(A) because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce,^(B) gives it to her and sends her from his house, ² and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, ³ and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, ⁴ then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord^(C) your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵ If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.^(D)

⁶ Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.^(E)

⁷ If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die.^(F) You must purge the evil from among you.^(G)

⁸ In cases of defiling skin diseases,^[a] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical^(H) priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.^{(I) 9} Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.^(J)

¹⁰ When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge.^{(K) 11} Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. ¹² If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge^(L) in your possession. ¹³ Return their cloak by sunset^(M) so that your neighbor may sleep in it.^(N) Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.^(O)

¹⁴ Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.^{(P) 15} Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor^(Q) and are counting on it.^(R) Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.^(S)

¹⁶ Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.^(T)

¹⁷ Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless^(U) of justice,^(V) or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. ¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt^(W) and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

¹⁹ When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.^(X) Leave it for the foreigner,^(Y) the fatherless and the widow,^(Z) so that the Lord your God may bless^(AA) you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time.^(AB) Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²¹ When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.^(AC)

Day of Disaster

16 Then the word of the Lord came to me: ² “You must not marry^(A) and have sons or daughters in this place.” ³ For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:^{(B) 4} “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried^(C) but will be like dung lying on the ground.^(D) They will perish by sword and famine,^(E) and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”^(F)

⁵ For this is what the Lord says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal; do not go to mourn or show sympathy, because I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity^(G) from this people,” declares the Lord. ⁶ “Both high and low will die in this land.^(H) They will not be buried or mourned,^(I) and no one will cut^(J) themselves or shave^(K) their head for the dead. ⁷ No one will offer food^(L) to comfort those who mourn^(M) for the dead—not even for a father or a mother—nor will anyone give them a drink to console^(N) them.

⁸ “And do not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down to eat and drink.^{(O) 9} For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Before your eyes and in your days I will bring an end to the sounds^(P) of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride^(Q) and bridegroom in this place.^(R)

¹⁰ “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’^{(S) 11} then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped^(T) them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.^{(U) 12} But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors.^(V) See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts^(W) instead of obeying me. ¹³ So I will throw you out of this land^(X) into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known,^(Y) and there you will serve other gods^(Z) day and night, for I will show you no favor.’^(AA)

¹⁴ “However, the days are coming,”^(AB) declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’^{(AC) 15} but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north^(AD) and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’^(AE) For I will restore^(AF) them to the land I gave their ancestors.^(AG)

¹⁶ “But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them.^(AH) After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt^(AI) them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.^{(AJ) 17} My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden^(AK) from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.^{(AL) 18} I will repay^(AM) them double^(AN) for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land^(AO) with the lifeless forms of their vile images^(AP) and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.^(AQ)”^(AR)

2 ¹ So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you.^{(A) 2} For if I grieve you,^(B) who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? ³ I wrote as I did,^(C) so that when I came I would not be distressed^(D) by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence^(E) in all of you, that you would all share my joy. ⁴ For I wrote you^(F) out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

Forgiveness for the Offender

⁵ If anyone has caused grief,^(G) he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent—not to put it too severely. ⁶ The punishment^(H) inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. ⁷ Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him,^(I) so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸ I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹ Another reason I wrote you^(J) was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.^{(K) 10} Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, ¹¹ in order that Satan^(L) might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.^(M)

Ministers of the New Covenant

¹² Now when I went to Troas^(N) to preach the gospel of Christ^(O) and found that the Lord had opened a door^(P) for me, ¹³ I still had no peace of mind,^(Q) because I did not find my brother Titus^(R) there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.^(S)

¹⁴ But thanks be to God,^(T) who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma^(U) of the knowledge^(V) of him everywhere. ¹⁵ For we are to God the pleasing aroma^(W) of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.^{(X) 16} To the one we are an aroma that brings death;^(Y) to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?^{(Z) 17} Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit.^(AA) On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity,^(AB) as those sent from God.^(AC)