Laws of Home and Neighbor
Laws that guard people at their most exposed: a new husband exempt from war for a year, no millstone taken as security, a poor man's cloak returned by sunset, wages paid the same day. Forgotten sheaves and leftover olives and grapes belong to the foreigner, orphan and widow.
24 1When a man marries a woman, if she no longer pleases him because he finds something indecent in her, he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her from his house, a a v1 Moses permitted divorce because of the hardness of the human heart; Jesus pointed back to our Father's original design of lifelong union (Matthew 19:8). 2and if she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man's wife, 3and her second husband hates her, writes her a divorce certificate, puts it in her hand, and sends her from his house—or if that second husband who took her as his wife dies, 4then her first husband, who sent her away, may not marry her again after she has been made unclean; that is detestable before our Father, and you must not bring guilt on the land your Father gives you as an inheritance.
5When a man takes a new wife, he must not join the army or be given any duty; he is free at home one year, to bring joy to the wife he took.
6No one may take a pair of millstones, or even just the upper one, as security for a debt—that pledges someone's very livelihood.
7If a man is found kidnapping a fellow Israelite, enslaving or selling him, that kidnapper must die. So purge the evil from among you.
8About a defiling skin disease, be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests teach you, just as I commanded them. 9Remember what your Father did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.
10When you lend your neighbor anything, don't enter his house to take his pledge. 11You must stand outside, and the borrower must bring the pledge out to you. 12And if he is a poor man, you must not keep his pledge overnight. 13Return his pledge by sunset, so he can sleep in his cloak and bless you; your Father will credit it to you as righteousness.
14Do not exploit a poor, needy hired worker, whether a brother or a foreigner living in your land, in your towns. 15Pay his wages the same day, before sunset—he is poor and depends on it. Otherwise he may cry out to our Father against you, and it will be sin for you.
16Parents must not be executed for their children, nor children executed for their parents; each is to be executed for his own sin.
17You must not deny justice to the foreigner or fatherless, nor take a widow's cloak as pledge. 18Remember you were slaves in Egypt; your Father redeemed you from there—so I command you to do this.
19When you harvest your field and forget a sheaf, don't go back for it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so your Father blesses you in all the work of your hands. 20When you beat your olive tree, do not go over the branches again; leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
21When you gather your vineyard's grapes, don't strip what's left; leave it for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. 22Remember you were slaves in the land of Egypt; that's why I command you to do this.
