J3 M1 vš 1-4. Divorce.
w1 5. Remarriage.
x1 6. Pledge.
M2 v2 7. Slavery.
w2 8,9. Leprosy.
x2 10-13. Pledge.
M3 v3 14,15. Service.
w3 16. Punishments.
x3 17,18. Pledge.
1452 B.C.
Deuteronomy 24)
1: When a man has taken a wife (cp. Matt. 5:31; 19:7,8), and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement (see Ex. 17:14. Cp. Matt. 5:31), and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
2: And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
3: And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
4: Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife (cp. Jer. 3:1. Isa. 50:1), after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and you shall not cause the land to sin, which the the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.
5: When a man has taken a new wife (cp. 20:7), 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 has taken.
6: No man shall take a millstone or the upper millstone to pledge (hand mills found in every home. Corn ground daily): for he takes a man's life to pledge (Heb. kabal = something tied up with a cord, hence the term bond [= bound]. Cp. Ex. 22:26 [transferred to the person so bound]. Cp. vv.10-13).
7: If a man be found stealing any (Heb. nephesh = soul. Cp.Ex. 21:16) of his brethren of the children of Israel, and makes merchandise of him, or sells him; then that thief shall die; and you shall put evil away from among you.
8: Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that you observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so you all shall observe to do.
9: Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam by the way (cp. Num. 12:10), after that you all were come forth out of Egypt.
10: When you do lend your neighbor any thing (cp. Ex. 22:25-27), you shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge (Heb. 'abot = a security. Not the same word in vv.10,11,12,13 as in vv.6 and 17).
11: You shall stand abroad, and the man to whom you do lend shall bring out the security abroad to you.
12: And if the man be poor, you shall not sleep with his security:
13: In any case you shall deliver him the security again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own clothing (the mantle given to this day; not only for debt, but as a token that a business promise will be kept), and bless you: and it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.
14: You shall not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy (= defraud, cp. Lev.19:13), whether he be of your brethren, or of your strangers that are in thy land within your gates:
15: At his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it (cp. James 5:4); for he is poor, and sets (= and he lifts up) his heart upon it (= his soul): lest he cry against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.
16: The fathers shall not be put to death for the children (this is the Lord's law for man. His own right of judgment remains. Cp. 2 Kings 14:6. 2 Chron. 25:4), neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
17: You shall not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's clothing to pledge:
18: But you shall remember that you were a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from that place: therefore I command you to do this thing.
K3 N1 y 19-. Harvest. Wheat.
z1 -19-. Prohibition.
a1 -19. Reason.
N2 y2 20-. Harvest. Olives.
z2 -20-. Prohibition.
a2 -20. Reason.
N3 y3 21-. Harvest. Grapes.
z3 -21-. Prohibition.
a3 -21. Reason.19: When you cut down you harvest in your field (put for "corn"), and have forgot a sheaf in the field,
you shall not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow (not the tramp, or ne'er-do-well, or the drunkard. And in kind, not money):
that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
20: When you beat your olive tree,
you shall not go over the boughs again:
it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
21: When you gather the grapes of your vineyard,
you shall not glean it afterward:
it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
22: And you shall remember that you were a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command you to do this thing.