Deuteronomy 24

1Suppose a man marries a woman, but she does not please him because he has found something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, hands it to her and sends her out of his house, 2and she leaves his house and becomes the wife of another man, 3and the second husband turns against her too, writes out a certificate of divorce for her, puts it in her hand and sends her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies, 4then her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her back to be his wife, since she has been made unclean. That would be detestable in the sight of the LORD. You must not bring sin on the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

5When a man has just married, he is not to go out with the army or have any other duty laid on him. He is to be free to stay at home for a year and give joy to his new wife.

6Do not take a hand mill, or even its upper millstone, in pledge for a debt. That would be taking in pledge the very means a person lives by.

7If anyone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating the victim as a slave or selling him, that kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you. 8When a serious skin disease breaks out, take great care to do exactly what the Levitical priests teach you. Be careful to follow what I commanded them.

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

10When you lend your neighbor anything, do not go into his house to pick out what he will give you as security. 11Wait outside, and let the borrower bring the pledge out to you. 12If he is poor, do not go to bed with his pledge still in your keeping. 13Be sure to give the pledge back to him at sunset, so that he can sleep in his cloak and bless you. It will be counted as righteousness for you in the sight of the LORD your God.

14Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether a fellow Israelite or an outsider living in one of the towns of your land. 15Give him his pay on the day he works, before the sun sets, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may call on the LORD against you, and the sin will be counted against you.

16Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents. Each one is to be put to death only for their own sin.

17Do not deny justice to the outsider or the fatherless child, and do not take a widow’s cloak in pledge. 18Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

19When you are harvesting your field and leave a sheaf behind by mistake, do not go back for it. Let it go to the outsider, the fatherless child and the widow. That way the LORD your God will bless all the work of your hands. 20When you knock the olives from your trees, do not go back over the branches a second time. What is left is for the outsider, the fatherless child and the widow.

21When you pick the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over it again for what remains. That is for the outsider, the fatherless child and the widow. 22Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.