1If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.
2If, after leaving his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife,
3and the second man hates her, writes her a certificate of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house, or if he dies,
4then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the LORD. You must not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
5If a man is newly married, he must not be sent to war or be pressed into any duty. For one year he is free to stay at home and bring joy to the wife he has married.
6Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security.
7If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. So you must purge the evil from among you.
8In cases of infectious skin diseases, be careful to diligently follow everything the Levitical priests instruct you. Be careful to do as I have commanded them.
9Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the journey after you came out of Egypt.
10When you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect security.
11You are to stand outside while the man to whom you are lending brings the security out to you.
12If he is a poor man, you must not go to sleep with the security in your possession;
13be sure to return it to him by sunset, so that he may sleep in his own cloak and bless you, and this will be credited to you as righteousness before the LORD your God.
14Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
15You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
16Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.
17Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security.
18Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from that place. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.
19If you are harvesting in your field and forget a sheaf there, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
20When you beat the olives from your trees, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not go over the vines again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
22Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.
Deuteronomy 24 Verse Notes
Deut 24:1
Jesus Restores Original Divine Intention on Divorce
Ptolemy addresses the apparent contradiction between Moses' permission for divorce in Deuteronomy 24 and Jesus' prohibition in Matthew 5. He argues that Moses' allowance was an accommodation for human 'hardness of heart,' a 'baseness' added to the law. Jesus, however, restores God's original intention for marriage as an indissoluble union, as seen in Genesis.
Summarized by AI · Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years · Lecture 6: Christians, the High God, and the Jews | Valentinus, Ptolemy, and the God of this Age · watch the clip
Deut 24:12
Matthew's Earlier Version of the Cloak Saying
Matthew's version of the saying about giving one's cloak in a lawsuit presupposes specific Palestinian law (Deuteronomy 24:12), making it the earlier and more context-specific version. Luke's version, which describes a general robbery scenario, is a more generalized and thus likely derivative account.
Summarized by AI · Did Q Exist? · Lecture 3: The Case for Q · watch the clip
Deut 24:19-22
Foraging as a means of survival
Jesus and his followers may have survived by foraging, an practice allowed and even mandated by Old Testament laws for the poor and foreigners. Passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy instruct farmers to leave gleanings from their fields and vineyards for those in need. Biblical examples like Ruth and John the Baptist (eating locusts and wild honey) illustrate foraging. Jesus' disciples picking grain on the Sabbath and Jesus seeking figs from a tree suggest they engaged in similar practices.
Summarized by AI · Through the Eye of a Needle: Jesus's Teachings on Wealth and Their Modern Relevance · Lecture 5: Jesus' Life, Wealth, and Priorities · watch the clip
Deut 24:19-21
Biblical Stereotypes vs. Individual Portrayals of Widows
While biblical laws in Exodus 22, Deuteronomy 24, and Isaiah 1 generally portray widows as vulnerable, needy, and requiring protection and advocacy, individual stories like Tamar (Genesis 38), Ruth, Abigail (1 Samuel), and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17) depict them as strong, self-determined, and capable of taking bold, sometimes morally ambiguous, actions to achieve their goals.
Summarized by AI · The Parables of Jesus: Jewish Insights into Gospel Ethics, Humor, and Provocation · Lecture 4: Persevering Widow and Unjust Judge | How Parables Promote and Demote Women · watch the clip
