Old Testament · Law

Deuteronomy 24

Protecting the Vulnerable

Don't go back for the forgotten sheaf — leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, the widow. Generosity is built into the harvest.

Berean Standard Bible BSB KJV

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.

Understand This

Deuteronomy 24, explained

What Deuteronomy 24 is saying

The chapter addresses divorce and remarriage restrictions, exemptions for newlyweds from military service, protections against exploiting the poor (millstone pledges, kidnapping, treatment of hired workers), and laws requiring that gleaning be left for foreigners, orphans, and widows. The recurring refrain is: 'Remember that you were a slave in Egypt.'

The background behind it

The divorce provision (vv. 1–4) becomes the text Jesus engages in Matthew 19, where He describes it as a concession to 'hardness of heart' rather than God's ideal. The gleaning laws provide the legal framework for the book of Ruth. The prohibition of holding a millstone as pledge protects basic survival—grinding grain was essential for daily bread.

Themes running underneath

The thread connecting these diverse laws is the protection of the vulnerable from exploitation by the powerful. The Egyptian slavery memory serves as the motivational foundation: because you know what powerlessness feels like, treat the powerless with dignity. Empathy born of experience becomes the basis for ethics.

Why it still matters

Every act of compassion toward the vulnerable is an act of remembrance—remembering your own vulnerability before God. The laws' insistence on leaving something for the gleaner challenges any economic system that maximizes extraction at the expense of the poor.

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Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible — used by permission, Bible Hub.