# Protecting the vulnerable Deuteronomy · Draft · BSB Content revision: ff3d755696818e5a · No editorial review date recorded [Citation / readable page](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/studies/deuteronomy/protecting-the-vulnerable/) [Open interactive map](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/?study=deuteronomy§ion=protecting-the-vulnerable) [Markdown](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/studies/deuteronomy/protecting-the-vulnerable/index.md) [JSON](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/studies/deuteronomy/protecting-the-vulnerable/index.json) Date: c. 1406 BC · Year 40, month 11 (Deuteronomy 1:3). Dated from 1 Kings 6:1 (the Exodus c. 1446 BC). Many scholars instead date the Exodus to about 1260 BC, placing these speeches about 1220 BC. The chapter regulates divorce and remarriage, frees a newly married man from military duty for a year, and forbids taking a millstone as a pledge or kidnapping a fellow Israelite. Israel must remember what the LORD did to Miriam, treat borrowers and hired workers fairly, pay wages the same day, and leave gleanings of the harvest for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, remembering they were slaves in Egypt. Deuteronomy records Moses’ last speeches to the new generation of Israel on the plains of Moab, in the fortieth year after the Exodus (1:3). It looks back over the journey from Egypt and Horeb and forward to life in the land, calling Israel to love the LORD and remember what he has done. Each section below lists what Moses recalls, with links to those events on the timeline, and where the rest of Scripture takes up the passage. The Ten Commandments, the great commandment, and the statutes for life in the land, ending with blessings and curses (4:44–28:68). ## Primary Scripture [Deuteronomy 24:1–22 (BSB)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2024%3A1%E2%80%9322&version=BSB) 24:1 If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house. 24:2 If, after leaving his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife, 24:3 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, 24:4 then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the LORD. You must not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. 24:5 If a man is newly married, he must not be sent to war or be pressed into any duty. For one year he is free to stay at home and bring joy to the wife he has married. 24:6 Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security. 24:7 If a man is caught kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. So you must purge the evil from among you. 24:8 In cases of infectious skin diseases, be careful to diligently follow everything the Levitical priests instruct you. Be careful to do as I have commanded them. 24:9 Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the journey after you came out of Egypt. 24:10 When you lend anything to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect security. 24:11 You are to stand outside while the man to whom you are lending brings the security out to you. 24:12 If he is a poor man, you must not go to sleep with the security in your possession; 24:13 be sure to return it to him by sunset, so that he may sleep in his own cloak and bless you, and this will be credited to you as righteousness before the LORD your God. 24:14 Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. 24:15 You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin. 24:16 Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. 24:17 Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security. 24:18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from that place. Therefore I am commanding you to do this. 24:19 If you are harvesting in your field and forget a sheaf there, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 24:20 When you beat the olives from your trees, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. 24:21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not go over the vines again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. 24:22 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this. ## Moses looks back [Deuteronomy 24:9](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2024%3A9&version=BSB) What the LORD did to Miriam (Numbers 12). [Miriam and Aaron oppose Moses](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/miriam-and-aaron/) [Deuteronomy 24:18](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2024%3A18&version=BSB) Remember you were slaves in Egypt. [Oppression in Egypt; Moses is born](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/israel-oppressed/) ## Where Scripture takes it up [Matthew 19:3–9](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019%3A3%E2%80%939&version=BSB) Jesus on divorce. [Teaching on the way to Jerusalem](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/jesus-teaches-in-perea/) [James 5:4](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%205%3A4&version=BSB) James condemns withholding workers’ wages. [Ruth 2:2–3](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ruth%202%3A2%E2%80%933&version=BSB) Ruth gleans in Boaz’s field. [Ruth gleans in Boaz’s field](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/ruth-gleans/) ## Location evidence Plains of Moab: Approximate region. Coordinates \[longitude, latitude\]: \[35.64, 31.85\]. Classification source: editorial. Illustrative regional extent: \[\[35.56,31.77\],\[35.7,31.91\]\]; not a measured confidence interval. [Numbers 33:48–49 · extent of the camp](https://ebible.org/eng-web/NUM33.htm) ## For the class Why does remembering slavery in Egypt make Israel generous at harvest? ## Interpretation and reuse Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review. Record source: editorial Study guide: original editorial writing for Scripture Atlas. Place coordinates: OpenBible.info, CC BY 4.0. Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm [Use this atlas with AI / data documentation](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/ai/)