When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
When a man has married a wife, and later she doesn't please him anymore because he has found something improper about her, then he should write her a certificate of divorce, put it in her hand, and send her away from his house.
This verse establishes a legal procedure for divorce in ancient Israel, requiring a written document rather than allowing men to simply abandon their wives.
📚 Historical Context
In ancient Near Eastern cultures, women had very few legal protections, and men could often abandon wives without any formal process. This law in Deuteronomy actually provided some protection for women by requiring written documentation of divorce, which gave the woman legal proof of her status and the right to remarry. The phrase 'some uncleanness' was deliberately vague and became a matter of great debate among Jewish scholars about what constituted valid grounds for divorce.
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