Deuteronomy 23:19--24:7

Respect for Others’ Property

23:19 You must not charge interest on a loan to your fellow Israelite, ¹  whether on money, food, or anything else that has been loaned with interest. 23:20 You may lend with interest to a foreigner, but not to your fellow Israelite; if you keep this command the Lord your God will bless you in all you undertake in the land you are about to enter to possess. 23:21 When you make a vow to the Lord your God you must not delay in fulfilling it, for otherwise he ²  will surely ³  hold you accountable as a sinner. ⁴  23:22 If you refrain from making a vow, it will not be sinful. 23:23 Whatever you vow, you must be careful to do what you have promised, such as what you have vowed to the Lord your God as a freewill offering. 23:24 When you enter the vineyard of your neighbor you may eat as many grapes as you please, ⁵  but you must not take away any in a container. ⁶  23:25 When you go into the ripe grain fields of your neighbor you may pluck off the kernels with your hand, ⁷  but you must not use a sickle on your neighbor’s ripe grain.

24:1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive ⁸  in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house. 24:2 When she has left him ⁹  she may go and become someone else’s wife. 24:3 If the second husband rejects ¹⁰  her and then divorces her, ¹¹  gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies, 24:4 her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry ¹²  her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. ¹³  You must not bring guilt on the land ¹⁴  which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into ¹⁵  the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to ¹⁶  the wife he has married.

24:6 One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security. ¹⁷ 

24:7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, ¹⁸  and regards him as mere property ¹⁹  and sells him, that kidnapper ²⁰  must die. In this way you will purge ²¹  evil from among you.

[23:19]  ¹ tn Heb “to your brother” (likewise in the following verse). Since this is not limited to actual siblings, “fellow Israelite” is used in the translation (cf. NAB, NASB “countrymen”).

[23:21]  ² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[23:21]  ³ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which is reflected in the translation by “surely.”

[23:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it will be a sin to you”; NIV, NCV, NLT “be guilty of sin.”

[23:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “grapes according to your appetite, your fullness.”

[23:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “in your container”; NAB, NIV “your basket.”

[23:25]  ⁷ sn For the continuation of these practices into NT times see Matt 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:1-5.

[24:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “nakedness of a thing.” The Hebrew phrase עֶרְוַת דָּבָר (’ervat davar) refers here to some gross sexual impropriety (see note on “indecent” in Deut 23:14). Though the term usually has to do only with indecent exposure of the genitals, it can also include such behavior as adultery (cf. Lev 18:6-18; 20:11, 17, 20-21; Ezek 22:10; 23:29; Hos 2:10).

[24:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “his house.”

[24:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hates.” See note on the word “other” in Deut 21:15.

[24:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”

[24:4]  ¹² tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”

[24:4]  ¹³ sn The issue here is not divorce and its grounds per se but prohibition of remarriage to a mate whom one has previously divorced.

[24:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).

[24:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “go out with.”

[24:5]  ¹⁶ tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).

[24:6]  ¹⁷ sn Taking millstones as security on a loan would amount to taking the owner’s own life in pledge, since the millstones were the owner’s means of earning a living and supporting his family.

[24:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from his brothers, from the sons of Israel.” The terms “brothers” and “sons of Israel” are in apposition; the second defines the first more specifically.

[24:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “and enslaves him.”

[24:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “that thief.”

[24:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “burn.” See note on the word “purge” in Deut 19:19.