Deuteronomy 24

1Suppose a man marries a woman and becomes her husband, and she does not please him because he has found something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her away from his house.

2She leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife.

3Then the second husband turns against her, writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her away from his house, or the second husband who married her dies.

4In that case her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled, for that is detestable before Yahweh. You must not bring sin on the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance.

5When a man has recently married, he is not to go out with the army or be assigned any other duty. He is to be free to stay at home for one year and bring joy to the wife he has married.

6No one is to take a pair of millstones, or even the upper millstone, as security for a debt, for that would be taking a life as security.

7If someone is found kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating him as a slave or selling him, that kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.

8In cases of serious skin disease, be very careful to do everything the Levitical priests instruct you. Be careful to do just as I have commanded them.

9Remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam on the way after you came out of Egypt.

10When you make your neighbor a loan of any kind, do not go into his house to take what he offers as security.

11Stay outside, and let the man you are lending to bring the security out to you.

12If he is poor, do not go to sleep with his security in your possession.

13Be sure to return it to him by sunset, so that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you. It will be counted as righteousness for you before Yahweh your God.

14Do not exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner living in one of the towns in your land.

15Pay him his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on them. Otherwise he may cry out to Yahweh against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

16Fathers are not to be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; each one is to be put to death for his own sin.

17Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s garment as security.

18Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that Yahweh your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.

19When you reap the harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

20When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go back over the branches. What is left is for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not go back over the vines. What is left is for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.

22Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am commanding you to do this.