New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Deuteronomy 24
1
Suppose a man gets married to a woman. But later he decides he doesn't like her. He finds something shameful about her. So he gives her a letter of divorce and sends her away from his house.
Reference
2
Then after she leaves his house she becomes another man's wife.
3
But her second husband doesn't like her either. So he gives her a letter of divorce and sends her away from his house. Or perhaps he dies.
4
Then her first husband isn't allowed to marry her again. The Lord would hate that. When her first husband divorced her, she became "unclean." Don't bring sin on the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own.
Reference
References Lord
Jeremiah 3:1
5
Suppose a man has just gotten married. Then don't send him into battle. Don't give him any other duty either. He's free to stay home for one year. He needs time to make his new wife happy.
Reference
6
Someone might borrow money from you and give you two millstones to keep until you are paid back. Don't keep them. Don't even keep the upper one. That person depends on the millstones to make a living.
Reference
7
Suppose a man is caught kidnapping another Israelite. And he sells or treats that person as a slave. Then the kidnapper must die. Get rid of that evil person.
Reference
Parallel theme
Exodus 21:16
8
What about skin diseases? Be very careful to do exactly what the priests, who are Levites, tell you to do. You must be careful to follow the commands I've given them.
Reference
Parallel theme
Leviticus 14:2
10
Suppose your neighbor borrows something from you. And he offers you something to keep until you get paid back. Then don't go into his house to get it.
Reference
11
Stay outside. Let the man bring it out to you.
12
He might be poor. You might be given his coat to keep until you get paid back. Don't go to sleep while you still have it.
Reference
Parallel theme
Deuteronomy 24:17
13
Return it before the sun goes down. He needs it to sleep in and will thank you for returning it. The Lord your God will see it and know that you have done the right thing.
Reference
14
Don't take advantage of any hired worker who is poor and needy. That applies to your own people. It also applies to outsiders who are living in one of your towns.
Reference
Parallel theme
Malachi 3:5
Proverbs 14:31
Proverbs 22:16
Amos 4:1
Luke 10:7
Amos 2:7
Amos 8:4
Ezekiel 22:7
15
Give them their pay every day. They are poor and are counting on it. If you don't pay them, they might cry out to the Lord against you. Then you will be guilty of committing a sin.
Reference
Parallel theme
Leviticus 19:13
Jeremiah 22:13
Job 35:9
Job 34:28
Psalm 24:4
References Lord
James 5:4
Isaiah 5:7
Psalm 86:4
Psalm 25:1
Sin
Deuteronomy 15:9
16
Parents must not be put to death because of what their children do. And children must not be put to death because of what their parents do. People must die because of their own sins.
Reference
17
Do what is right and fair for outsiders and for children whose fathers have died. Suppose a widow borrows something from you. And she offers to give you her coat until she pays you back. Don't take it.
Reference
Judgment
Deuteronomy 16:19
Exodus 23:6
Deuteronomy 27:19
Isaiah 1:23
Jeremiah 5:28
Exodus 23:2
Deuteronomy 1:17
Micah 7:3
Parallel theme
Exodus 23:9
18
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. Remember that the Lord your God set you free from there. That's why I'm commanding you to do those things.
Reference
Redemption
Deuteronomy 15:15
References Egypt
Deuteronomy 24:22
Deuteronomy 16:12
References God
Deuteronomy 5:15
19
When you are gathering crops in your field, you might leave some grain behind by mistake. Don't go back to get it. Leave it for outsiders and widows. Leave it for children whose fathers have died. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
Reference
Blessing
Deuteronomy 14:29
Job 42:12
Deuteronomy 15:10
Parallel theme
Isaiah 32:8
Psalm 112:9
Luke 6:38
Proverbs 14:21
References God
Leviticus 23:22
Deuteronomy 26:13
References Lord
Proverbs 19:17
20
When you knock olives off your trees, don't go back over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for outsiders and widows. Leave it for children whose fathers have died.
Reference
Parallel theme
Leviticus 19:10
21
When you pick grapes in your vineyard, don't go back over the vines a second time. Leave what remains for outsiders and widows. Leave it for children whose fathers have died.
22
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That's why I'm commanding you to do those things.
Reference
References Egypt
Deuteronomy 24:18
Summary of Deuteronomy 24
Deuteronomy 24 contains laws relating to marriage, divorce, family relations, personal belongings, employees, and the rights of the poor or vulnerable. The laws cover common circumstances that could occur in people’s lives, but also show a focus on issues of justice and the rights of the vulnerable.
The passage opens with a law relating to divorce. Should a man discover some ‘unlawful’ aspect of his wife’s nature, he could provide her with a ‘bill of divorce’, hand it to her, and send her away. If she later married another man, and was divorced or widowed again, it was forbidden for her former husband to re-marry her. The law considered the second marriage to have changed the relationship between the first husband and wife. The law was meant to prevent men returning a woman who had already been married.
The next law related to a man who had newly married. He was to be exempt from any public duty or service for the first year of his marriage. He was to stay at home and bring happiness to his wife. The year was considered a time in which the two could build a new home.
A law then protected a person’s livelihood. No one was permitted to take a person’s millstone (or even the upper part of one) for a pledge. This was a tool necessary to make food, so it was an unjust act to collect it as a pledge. If a person needed to collect their pledge, they had to take it from the belongings of the debtor, not from the man who owed them something. Collecting a debt was a matter of justice, but not a person’s entire livelihood.
Kidnapping was also strongly condemned. Should an Israelite kidnap another Israelite and treat them as a slave, forcing them to work for them, they could suffer the punishment of death. The people were commanded to purge this evil from their midst. They were not to treat their fellow Israelites as a means to their own wealth, by using them as slaves.
Deuteronomy 24 then reminded the people of the law about leprosy Moses had given them. The priests were to examine those who suffered the disease. Israel was commanded to remember the punishment which God administered to Miriam for speaking against Moses and suffering from her condition. The Israelites had to treat leprosy as a matter of God’s law. They did not have to associate with those suffering from the disease, lest they incur the punishment themselves.
The law also ensured the rights of the poor were not infringed upon. If a man lent something to his neighbour, he could not enter their houses to take a pledge. They were to bring something outside, and their lender was to take it as his due. The Israelites had to respect even the poor, and not enter private residences at will. A man who had taken a garment as a pledge was to return it before sunset, so it could be used for warmth. The man who owed the garment was a poor man, and should not be hindered from surviving.
Deuteronomy 24 then spoke of the rights of employees. A poor and needy hired servant was to be released, and he was to be paid his wages on the same day as he had worked. If the worker hired himself out for the day, and the employer received the produce of his work, he had to pay him his wages. The worker had to be able to pay for his own meals and lodging, and so had to be given the wages he required for survival. The employer was thus bound to pay him, in order to ensure his welfare.
The laws then spoke of a man’s actions not being used against him. A parent was not to be put to death for the sins of his child, and a child was not to be put to death for the sins of his parent: each man had to be held responsible for their own sins.
Laws were then given relating to the vulnerable. Israel was commanded not to pervert the judgment of a stranger, or an orphan. Israel was not to withhold a widow’s pledge. The vulnerable in society had the potential to be oppressed, and so they needed specific protections in Israelite law.
When these laws were given, the people were reminded of their own situation as servants in Egypt. God had taken them out of the country, and they were to ensure a fair and kind treatment of strangers, widows, orphans, and the poor. The people had once been servants, and they had to remember this and not treat their own citizens as lower than themselves.
The last part of Deuteronomy 24 spoke of harvests. If an Israelite owned a field and reaped its harvest, they were not to re-enter the field, in the event they found sheaves which had been forgotten. They were to leave them for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. Similarly, when an Israelite harvested his olives, and was finished, he was not to re-enter the tree again to collect the olives that had been missed. The same went for a vineyard. The harvests were to be shared, as a way to provide for Israel’s poor.
Once more, the law reminded the Israelites that they had once been servants in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 24 contains a number of laws relating to different aspects of everyday life. Marriage, debt, employees and the poor all appear in the passage. It seems that the Israelites were being strongly told to consider the rights of the poor and vulnerable.
Laws were given to limit the power a person with more resources could have on a poorer person. A lender could not take the tools of another person which enabled them to make food; a lender could not enter a man’s house and take a pledge. A worker was to be paid wages on the day he worked, for a person relying on that day’s earnings to feed his family. A widow’s garment was not to be taken for a pledge. Finally, a man’s harvest was not to be entirely gathered, but was to be left for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow who had no means of supporting themselves.
The Israelites were given numerous reminders that their society was to operate with principles of justice. They were to treat people as they would wish to be treated, and so the Israelites were to consider how the people they interacted with would feel. The Israelites were to remember that they too had once been slaves in Egypt, and they were not to forget what it was like to be without support. This is the message of Deuteronomy 24: the laws of Israel were to ensure that individuals had to operate based on principles of justice towards their fellow Israelites.
The passage opens with a law relating to divorce. Should a man discover some ‘unlawful’ aspect of his wife’s nature, he could provide her with a ‘bill of divorce’, hand it to her, and send her away. If she later married another man, and was divorced or widowed again, it was forbidden for her former husband to re-marry her. The law considered the second marriage to have changed the relationship between the first husband and wife. The law was meant to prevent men returning a woman who had already been married.
The next law related to a man who had newly married. He was to be exempt from any public duty or service for the first year of his marriage. He was to stay at home and bring happiness to his wife. The year was considered a time in which the two could build a new home.
A law then protected a person’s livelihood. No one was permitted to take a person’s millstone (or even the upper part of one) for a pledge. This was a tool necessary to make food, so it was an unjust act to collect it as a pledge. If a person needed to collect their pledge, they had to take it from the belongings of the debtor, not from the man who owed them something. Collecting a debt was a matter of justice, but not a person’s entire livelihood.
Kidnapping was also strongly condemned. Should an Israelite kidnap another Israelite and treat them as a slave, forcing them to work for them, they could suffer the punishment of death. The people were commanded to purge this evil from their midst. They were not to treat their fellow Israelites as a means to their own wealth, by using them as slaves.
Deuteronomy 24 then reminded the people of the law about leprosy Moses had given them. The priests were to examine those who suffered the disease. Israel was commanded to remember the punishment which God administered to Miriam for speaking against Moses and suffering from her condition. The Israelites had to treat leprosy as a matter of God’s law. They did not have to associate with those suffering from the disease, lest they incur the punishment themselves.
The law also ensured the rights of the poor were not infringed upon. If a man lent something to his neighbour, he could not enter their houses to take a pledge. They were to bring something outside, and their lender was to take it as his due. The Israelites had to respect even the poor, and not enter private residences at will. A man who had taken a garment as a pledge was to return it before sunset, so it could be used for warmth. The man who owed the garment was a poor man, and should not be hindered from surviving.
Deuteronomy 24 then spoke of the rights of employees. A poor and needy hired servant was to be released, and he was to be paid his wages on the same day as he had worked. If the worker hired himself out for the day, and the employer received the produce of his work, he had to pay him his wages. The worker had to be able to pay for his own meals and lodging, and so had to be given the wages he required for survival. The employer was thus bound to pay him, in order to ensure his welfare.
The laws then spoke of a man’s actions not being used against him. A parent was not to be put to death for the sins of his child, and a child was not to be put to death for the sins of his parent: each man had to be held responsible for their own sins.
Laws were then given relating to the vulnerable. Israel was commanded not to pervert the judgment of a stranger, or an orphan. Israel was not to withhold a widow’s pledge. The vulnerable in society had the potential to be oppressed, and so they needed specific protections in Israelite law.
When these laws were given, the people were reminded of their own situation as servants in Egypt. God had taken them out of the country, and they were to ensure a fair and kind treatment of strangers, widows, orphans, and the poor. The people had once been servants, and they had to remember this and not treat their own citizens as lower than themselves.
The last part of Deuteronomy 24 spoke of harvests. If an Israelite owned a field and reaped its harvest, they were not to re-enter the field, in the event they found sheaves which had been forgotten. They were to leave them for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. Similarly, when an Israelite harvested his olives, and was finished, he was not to re-enter the tree again to collect the olives that had been missed. The same went for a vineyard. The harvests were to be shared, as a way to provide for Israel’s poor.
Once more, the law reminded the Israelites that they had once been servants in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 24 contains a number of laws relating to different aspects of everyday life. Marriage, debt, employees and the poor all appear in the passage. It seems that the Israelites were being strongly told to consider the rights of the poor and vulnerable.
Laws were given to limit the power a person with more resources could have on a poorer person. A lender could not take the tools of another person which enabled them to make food; a lender could not enter a man’s house and take a pledge. A worker was to be paid wages on the day he worked, for a person relying on that day’s earnings to feed his family. A widow’s garment was not to be taken for a pledge. Finally, a man’s harvest was not to be entirely gathered, but was to be left for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow who had no means of supporting themselves.
The Israelites were given numerous reminders that their society was to operate with principles of justice. They were to treat people as they would wish to be treated, and so the Israelites were to consider how the people they interacted with would feel. The Israelites were to remember that they too had once been slaves in Egypt, and they were not to forget what it was like to be without support. This is the message of Deuteronomy 24: the laws of Israel were to ensure that individuals had to operate based on principles of justice towards their fellow Israelites.