Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 24:2
If, after leaving his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the assembled Israelites on the plains of Moab, delivering covenant statutes that regulate social and marital conduct following their exodus from Egypt.
The words — יָצְאָה (ya.tze.'Ah) denotes "she will go out," and מִבֵּיתוֹ (mi.bei.T/o) specifies "from his house," anchoring the woman's physical departure as the legal trigger for the subsequent sequence.
The thread — The legal status of a divorced woman reappears in Leviticus 21:7 and 21:14, which restrict priests from marrying women who have been divorced, while Leviticus 22:13 notes a divorced priest's daughter returning to her father's house. The immediate narrative thread continues in Deuteronomy 24:3, where the second husband either dismisses her or dies, completing the marital cycle.
Why it lands — The text records a procedural sequence of departure, remarriage, and potential second dismissal without moral commentary, requiring the reader to track the legal consequences of marital transitions rather than infer emotional or theological judgments.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 21:7 A priest must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
- Leviticus 21:14 He is not to marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people,
- Leviticus 22:13 But if a priest’s daughter with no children becomes widowed or divorced and returns to her father’s house, she may share her father’s food as in her youth. But no outsider may share it.
- Numbers 30:9 Every vow a widow or divorced woman pledges to fulfill is binding on her.
- Ezekiel 44:22 And they shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin of the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow of a priest.
- Matthew 5:32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, brings adultery upon her. And he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
- Mark 10:11 So He told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.
- 1 Corinthians 7:15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let him go. The believing brother or sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you to live in peace.