Go to Related Reading
About this book

Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 24

1 If a man marries a woman and she does not please him because he has found something indecent in her, then he may draw up a divorce document, give it to her, and evict her from his house.⁠ 2 When she has left him she may go and become someone else’s wife. 3 If the second husband rejects her and then divorces her, gives her the papers, and evicts her from his house, or if the second husband who married her dies,⁠ 4 her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. You must not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 5 When a man is newly married, he need not go into the army nor be obligated in any way; he must be free to stay at home for a full year and bring joy to the wife he has married. 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. 7 If a man is found kidnapping a person from among his fellow Israelites, and regards him as mere property and sells him, that kidnapper must die. In this way you will purge the evil from among you. 8 Be careful during an outbreak of leprosy to follow precisely all that the Levitical priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, so you should do.⁠ 9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you left Egypt. 10 When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security.⁠ 11 You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security. 12 If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering. 13 You must by all means return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just deed by the Lord your God. 14 You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages. 15 You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.⁠ 16 Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.⁠ 17 You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan.⁠ 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this. 19 Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do.⁠ 20 When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. 21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.⁠ 22 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt; therefore, I am commanding you to do all this.

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 24:16 and Jeremiah 31:30

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Jeremiah echoes Deuteronomy to describe accountability for sin as personal rather than communal. This conflicts with earlier traditions in the Torah that describe inherited guilt for sin.

Passages

Deuteronomy 24:16

Hebrew Bible
14 You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages. 15 You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin. 16 Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin. 17 You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Jeremiah 31:30

Hebrew Bible
28 In the past I saw to it that they were uprooted and torn down, that they were destroyed and demolished and brought disaster. But now I will see to it that they are built up and firmly planted. I, the Lord, affirm it! 29 “When that time comes, people will no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes, but the children’s teeth have grown numb.’ 30 Rather, each person will die for his own sins. The teeth of the person who eats the sour grapes will themselves grow numb. 31 “Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I delivered them from Egypt. For they violated that covenant, even though I was like a faithful husband to them,” says the Lord.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jeremiah

References

"... The principle is stated in Deuteronomy 24:16: 'The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.' According to Boecker, this law was promulgated in order to put an end to blood revenge. It was put into practice by King Amaziah of Judah, who, in avenging the death of his father, put the conspirators to death but spared their children (2 Kings 14:5-6; 2 Chronicles 25:1-4). Ezekiel states as a principle: 'The soul that sins shall die' (Ezekiel 18:4, 20). The Hebrew here in the present verse may be elliptical - i.e., ('but') may intend a repetition of ('they shall say') in verse 29, since its constructions introduce new declarations in 7:32; 16:14-15; and 19:6. Schoneveld's reading here is, 'But they will say, "Each person in his own iniquity shall die."' According to this interpretation, people in future days will speak a new proverb in place of the old one. See also 3:16b-17, where another new declaration will replace an old one in future day ..."
Jack R. Lundbom, Jeremiah 21-36: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, AB 21B (New York: Doubleday, 2004), 462–463.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Deuteronomy 24:16 and Jeremiah 31:30

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library