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10 “When you go out for battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God gives them into your hand, and you lead the captives[a] away, 11 and you see among the captives[b] a woman beautiful in appearance, and you become attached to her and you want to take her as a wife, 12 then you shall bring her into your household, and she shall shave her head, and she shall trim her nails. 13 And she shall remove the clothing of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in your house, and she shall mourn her father and her mother a full month,[c] and after this you may have sex with her,[d] and you may marry her, and she may become your wife.[e] 14 And then if you do not take delight in her, then you shall let her go to do whatever she wants,[f] but you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored[g] her.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 21:10 Hebrew “his captive” but singular pronoun refers to the many captives taken with plural sense
  2. Deuteronomy 21:11 Hebrew “captive”
  3. Deuteronomy 21:13 Literally “a month of days”
  4. Deuteronomy 21:13 Literally “you may go into her”
  5. Deuteronomy 21:13 Literally “become for you as wife”
  6. Deuteronomy 21:14 Literally “according to her desire/soul”
  7. Deuteronomy 21:14 Or “humbled”

Foreign wives

10 When you wage war against your enemies and the Lord hands them over to you and you take prisoners, 11 if you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you fall in love with her and take her as your wife, 12 bringing her into your home, she must shave her head, cut her nails, 13 remove her prisoner’s clothing, and live in your house, mourning her father and her mother for one month. After that, you may consummate the marriage. You will be her husband, and she will be your wife. 14 But if you aren’t pleased with her, you must send her away as she wishes. You are not allowed to sell her for money or treat her as a slave because you have humiliated her.

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