Marriage and Divorce Laws
(Matthew 5:31–32; Luke 16:18)

1“If a man takes a wife, and he has her, and she does not find favor before his eyes because of some vileness, then he shall write a bill of divorce, and he shall give it to her hand, and he shall dismiss her from his house. 2And when, having departed, she has married another, 3and if he likewise hates her, and has given her a bill of divorce, and has dismissed her from his house, or if indeed he has died, 4then the former husband cannot take her back as a wife. For she has been polluted and has become abominable in the sight of the Lord. Otherwise, you may cause your land, which the Lord your God will deliver to you as a possession, to sin.

5When a man has recently taken a wife, he shall not go out to war, nor shall any public office be enjoined upon him. Instead, he shall be free at home without guilt, so that for one year he may rejoice with his wife.

Additional Laws

6You shall not accept an upper or lower millstone as collateral. For then he will have placed his life with you.

7If a man has been caught soliciting his brother among the sons of Israel, and selling him in order to receive a price, then he shall be put to death. And so shall you take away the evil from your midst.

8Observe diligently, lest you incur the wound of leprosy. But you shall do whatever the priests of the Levitical stock shall teach you to do, according to what I have instructed them. And you shall fulfill it carefully. 9Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam, along the way, as you were departing from Egypt.

10When you require from your neighbor anything that he owes to you, you shall not enter into his house in order to take away the collateral. 11Instead, you shall stand outside, and he will carry out to you what he has. 12But if he is poor, then the collateral shall not remain with you through the night. 13Instead, you shall return it to him promptly, before the setting of the sun, so that, sleeping in his own garment, he may bless you, and you may have justice in the presence of the Lord your God.

14You shall not refuse the pay of the indigent and the poor, whether he is your brother, or he is a new arrival who dwells with you in the land and is within your gates. 15Instead, you shall pay him the price of his labor on the same day, before the setting of the sun. For he is poor, and with it he sustains his life. Otherwise, he may cry out against you to the Lord, and it would be charged to you as a sin.

16The fathers shall not be put to death on behalf of the sons, nor the sons on behalf of the fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.

17You shall not pervert the judgment of the new arrival or the orphan, nor shall you take away the widow’s garment as collateral. 18Remember that you served in Egypt, and that the Lord your God rescued you from there. Therefore, I am instructing you to act in this way.

19When you have reaped the grain in your field, and, having forgotten, you leave behind a sheaf, you shall not return to take it away. Instead, you shall permit the new arrival, and the orphan, and the widow to take it away, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands. 20If you have gathered the fruit of your olive trees, you shall not return in order to gather whatever may remain on the trees. Instead, you shall leave it behind for the new arrival, the orphan, and the widow.

21If you harvest the vintage of your vineyard, you shall not gather the remaining clusters. Instead, they shall fall to the use of the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. 22Remember that you also served in Egypt, and so, for this reason, I am instructing you to act in this way.”