Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Deuteronomy 24:3

in Deuteronomy 24

and the second man hates her, writes her a certificate of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house, or if he dies,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife;

KJV

And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;

⋯

This verse in Deuteronomy 24

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

And write her a bill of divorcement - These bills, though varying in expression, are the same in substance among the Jews in all places. The following, collected from Maimonides and others, is a general form, and contains all the particulars of such instruments. The reader who is curious may find a full account of divorces in the Biblioth.

This site's exposition

When a man hath taken a wife, and married her

on Deuteronomy 24:1-4

Verses 1 to 3 set out a case and verse 4 alone carries the command, so what the statute forbids is the first husband taking her back after a second marriage. The Pharisees quote it at Matthew 19:7 as though Moses had commanded the writing of divorcement, and Jesus answers that Moses suffered it for the hardness of your hearts and that from the beginning it was not so. The schools of Shammai and Hillel divided over how much the phrase some uncleanness covers, which is why the question at Matthew 19:3 is put in the form of every cause. Jeremiah 3:1 reasons from this same law about Israel and her lovers.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And if the latter husband hate her,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

"No" (says this law) "you shall not have her, you should have kept her when you had her." Note, It is best to be content with such things as we have, since changes made by discontent often prove for the worse. The uneasiness we know is commonly better, though we are apt to think it worse, than that which we do not know.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes--It appears that the practice of divorces was at this early period very prevalent amongst the Israelites, who had in all probability become familiar with it in Egypt [LANE]. The usage, being too deep-rooted to be soon or easily abolished, was tolerated by Moses (Mt 19:8).

How the passage was read

On Deuteronomy 24:1-4

On Deuteronomy 24:1-4

Two Hebrew words the schools split over

This is the Torah's divorce text: a man who finds “some indecency” (Hebrew ervat davar, literally “a matter of nakedness”) in his wife writes her “a bill of divorcement,” the sefer keritut, later called the get: a formal written document whose careful delivery protected the woman's proven right to remarry. What exactly ervat davar covers became the most famous legal dispute of the generation before Jesus, between the two great Pharisaic teaching schools. The Mishnah records it verbatim: the house of Shammai permits divorce only for unchastity; the house of Hillel “even if she spoiled his dish”; Rabbi Akiva, later, “even if he found another fairer than she” (Gittin 9:10).

That standing debate is why the Pharisees' test question in Matthew 19:3, “is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?”, is not a cold question: “for any cause” is the Hillelite position quoted back at Jesus. He is being asked to pick a school. His answer reaches behind Moses to creation itself (Genesis 1:27, 2:24).

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Sources: Mishnah Gittin 9:10 (the Shammai, Hillel, and Akiva positions verbatim)

The words behind it

20 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וּשְׂנֵאָהּ֮and he will hate her

    useneahH8130 →146 times

  • הָאִ֣ישׁthe man

    haishH376 →1663 times

  • הָאַחֲרוֹן֒<the> latter

    haacharonH314 →51 times

  • וְכָ֨תַבand he will write

    vekhatavH3789 →224 times

  • לָ֜הּfor <the> her

    lah

  • סֵ֤פֶרa document of

    seferH5612 →186 times

  • כְּרִיתֻת֙divorce

    keritutH3748 →

  • וְנָתַ֣ןand he will give [it]

    venatanH5414 →2011 times

  • בְּיָדָ֔הּin hand her

    beyadahH3027 →1618 times

  • וְשִׁלְּחָ֖הּand he will send away her

    veshilechahH7971 →845 times

  • מִבֵּית֑וֹfrom house his

    mibeitoH1004 →2046 times

  • א֣וֹor

    ʾoH176 →321 times

  • כִ֤יif

    khiH3588 →4482 times

  • יָמוּת֙he will die

    yamutH4191 →839 times

  • הָאִ֣ישׁthe man

    haishH376 →1663 times

  • הָאַחֲר֔וֹן<the> latter

    haacharonH314 →51 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־who

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • לְקָחָ֥הּhe has taken her

    lekachahH3947 →966 times

  • ל֖וֹfor <the> himself

    lo

  • לְאִשָּֽׁה׃to a wife

    leishahH802 →781 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 24 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 24 →