- 1When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
- 2And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
- 3And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
- 4Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
- 5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.
- 6 No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge.
- 7 If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.
- 8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.
- 9Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.
- 10 When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.
- 11Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.
- 12And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:
- 13In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.
- 14 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:
- 15At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.
- 16The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
- 17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:
- 18But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.
- 19 When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.
- 20When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
- 21When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
- 22And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.
KING JAMES VERSION
DEUTERONOMY 24
Read the chapter, follow a linked verse, and continue into related Watchman 33 teaching.
CHAPTER VISUAL
Deuteronomy 24 — Remembering bondage, Israel must protect pledges, pay workers promptly, judge rightly, and leave gleanings.
About this illustration
Restitution and gleaning share one merciful village scene; divorce, kidnapping, and disease stay offscreen.
Scripture basis: Deuteronomy 24:1–22King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom
EXPLORE THE MESSAGE
Related Watchman 33 Resources
Archaeological Evidence
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEInscription
Late seventh century BC
The Mesad Hashavyahu Worker’s Petition
A late seventh-century Hebrew ostracon records a harvest worker asking a fortress official to restore his confiscated garment, offering a rare first-person case from Judah whose legal world closely parallels biblical protections for laborers and pledges.
Exodus 22:26–27 · Deuteronomy 24:10–15
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
250–150 BC
4QDeuteronomya (4Q28): An Early Deuteronomy Law Fragment
One of the earlier Qumran Deuteronomy copies preserves the linked laws of Deuteronomy 23:25–24:8, carrying a compact legal sequence into the Hellenistic period.
Deuteronomy 23:25 · Deuteronomy 24:1–8
ARCHAEOLOGY EVIDENCEManuscript
Original composition about 2100 BC; surviving copies chiefly Old Babylonian
The Laws of Ur-Nammu
Damaged Sumerian tablets preserve the earliest substantially surviving royal law collection, placing biblical case laws within a much older Mesopotamian tradition of justice, compensation, and calibrated penalties.
Exodus 21:1–36 · Exodus 22:1–31 · Deuteronomy 24:17–22
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Ephraim Awakening or Apostasy - Torah Observance vs. the Law of Christ
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Doctrine and DiscernmentApostasy and DeceptionChrist AloneScripture AloneSalvation and the Gospel
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