What Does Deuteronomy 24:1 Mean?
When a man takes a wife and marries her, and if she finds no favor in his eyes, because he finds some nakedness in her, then he writes her a writ of cutting away, places it in her hand, and sends her out of his house.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
What begins as his loss of favor becomes a written severance she holds and a sending-away he enacts.
THE MEANING
His judgment begins in his eyes: he sees no favor in her and names a matter he regards as indecent. The verse makes that judgment material through a written severance placed in her hand, followed by his sending her out of his house. The sequence leaves the decision with him while the woman carries the document of the separation.
THE ROOT
וְשִׁלְּחָהּ
weshilleḥāh
GROWS FROM
שׁלח
shalach
To send forth, dispatch, release, or let go.
The verb makes the separation an act: he sends her out. The same root can name release, but here the man holds the power to decide who goes.
ALSO GROWS
mishloach: Sending or dispatch
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
This noun makes sending visible as an action, not just a change in feeling.
Shiloach: Sent; the name of the waters of Shiloah
שִׁלֹחַ
The related name preserves the sense of what is sent forth, a shade carried by the verb in this verse.
סֵפֶר כְּרִיתֻת
sefer keritut
GROWS FROM
כרת
karat
To cut off or sever.
“writ of cutting away” in this verse is sefer keritut. The Hebrew phrase is a “document of cutting off.” The paper gives the severance a form she can hold; the rupture is more than a feeling of disfavor.
ALSO GROWS
karat: To cut or cut off
כָּרַת
This verb carries the basic image behind the “cutting off” named by keritut.
nikhrat: Is cut off
נִכְרַת
This related form shows the root can describe someone being severed from a bond or place, echoing the sending out from the house.
חֵן
chen
GROWS FROM
חנן
chanan
To show favor or be gracious.
The clause locates favor in his eyes; it does not say that she has become unworthy. The root also gives rise to words for pleading for favor, revealing favor as regard one person may grant or withhold.
ALSO GROWS
chanan: To show favor or be gracious
חָנַן
This verb exposes the action beneath “find favour”: someone shows favor to another.
teḥinnah: Supplication or a plea for favor
תְּחִנָּה
This related word shows favor can be sought from another, underscoring that it is granted through someone’s regard.
THE PATTERN
A sending changes someone’s place and belonging, and its meaning turns on who holds power to send or release.
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.He said to them, Because of the stiffness of your hearts, Moses allowed you to send away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.THE THREAD
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.“Let my people go” uses the same שׁלח (shalach), meaning “send forth” or “release,” as “send her out.” In Exodus, release opens a way out from a ruler’s grip; here, a husband controls the dismissal. The shared root makes the action visible while keeping the power behind it in view.
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