Add parallel Print Page Options

24 “When[a] a man takes a wife and he marries her and then[b] she does not please him,[c] because he found something objectionable[d] and writes her a letter of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her away from his house, and she goes from his house, and she goes out and becomes a wife for another man,[e] and then the second man dislikes her and he writes her a letter of divorce and places it into her hand and sends her from his house, or if the second man dies who took her to himself[f] as a wife, her first husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again[g] to become a wife to him after she has been defiled,[h] for that is a detestable thing before[i] Yahweh, and so you shall not mislead into sin the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance.

“When[j] a man takes a new wife he shall not go out with the army, and he shall not be obligated with anything;[k] he shall be free from obligation, to stay at home[l] for one year, and he shall bring joy to his wife that he took.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 24:1 Or “If”
  2. Deuteronomy 24:1 Literally “and it will happen”
  3. Deuteronomy 24:1 Literally “if not she finds favor in his eyes”
  4. Deuteronomy 24:1 Literally “shameful/repulsive thing”
  5. Deuteronomy 24:2 Literally “for a man other”
  6. Deuteronomy 24:3 Literally “to for him”
  7. Deuteronomy 24:4 Literally “to return to take her”
  8. Deuteronomy 24:4 Literally “become unclean”
  9. Deuteronomy 24:4 Literally “to the face of”
  10. Deuteronomy 24:5 Or “If”
  11. Deuteronomy 24:5 Literally “he shall not come across come over upon him to anything”
  12. Deuteronomy 24:5 Literally “for his house”

24 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something indecent[a] in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house. When she has left him[b] she may go and become someone else’s wife. If the second husband rejects[c] her and then divorces her,[d] gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies, her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry[e] her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord.[f] You must not bring guilt on the land[g] that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

When a man is newly married, he need not go into[h] the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to[i] the wife he has married.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 24:1 tn The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (ʿervat davar) involves a genitive of specification, something characterized by עֶרְוָה (ʿervah). עֶרְוָה means “nakedness,” and by extension means “shame, sexual impropriety, sexual organs, indecency” (NIDOTTE III 528, Jastrow 1114-15).
  2. Deuteronomy 24:2 tn Heb “his house.”
  3. Deuteronomy 24:3 tn Heb “hates.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.
  4. Deuteronomy 24:3 tn Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”
  5. Deuteronomy 24:4 tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”
  6. Deuteronomy 24:4 sn The issue here is not divorce and its grounds per se but prohibition of remarriage to a mate whom one has previously divorced.
  7. Deuteronomy 24:4 tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).
  8. Deuteronomy 24:5 tn Heb “go out with.”
  9. Deuteronomy 24:5 tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).