Deuteronomy 24:1-5

24:1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something offensive ¹  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 ²  she may go and become someone else’s wife. 24:3 If the second husband rejects ³  her and then divorces her, ⁴  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 ⁵  her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. ⁶  You must not bring guilt on the land ⁷  which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

24:5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into ⁸  the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to ⁹  the wife he has married.

[24:1]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “his house.”

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

[24:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “writes her a document of divorce.”

[24:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”

[24:4]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).

[24:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “go out with.”

[24:5]  ⁹ tc For the MT’s reading Piel שִׂמַּח (simmakh, “bring joy to”), the Syriac and others read שָׂמַח (samakh, “enjoy”).