Deuteronomy 24 — Dead Sea Scrolls
2 attestation entries • 0 variants • 4QDeut family
Manuscript Overview
Summary
Deuteronomy 24 contains the divorce-and-remarriage law (vv. 1–4) cited at Matt 19:7 / Mark 10:4 in Jesus' debate with the Pharisees. Multiple Qumran scrolls preserve fragments. 4QDeutᵃ preserves vv. 1–3 — directly the divorce-certificate text. 4QDeutⁱ and 4QDeutᵏ² provide additional coverage.
Notable Variants
No significant content variants. The 'something indecent' (ervat dabar, ערות דבר) phrase that became the locus of the Hillel/Shammai school controversy reads exactly as in MT.
Manuscripts
4QDeutᵃ (4Q28), 4QDeutᵍ (4Q34), 4QDeutⁱ (4Q36), 4QDeutᶠ (4Q33), 4QDeutᵏ² (4Q38a)
Scroll Condition
Good coverage of vv. 1-3 and 14-22.
If a man takes a wife and marries her, and she does not find favor in his eyes because he has found something indecent about her, then he must write her a certificate of divorce, place it in her hand, and send her from his house.
The divorce-certificate law and the ervat dabar phrase tracks MT. The Hebrew Vorlage of the Hillel-vs-Shammai debate (m. Gittin 9:10) and of Jesus' citation (Matt 19:7) is the same as our MT.
4QDeutᵃ frag. 1
Fathers must not be put to death for the sins of their children, and children must not be put to death for the sins of their fathers. Each person must be put to death only for his own sin.
'Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor children because of their fathers' tracks MT. Cited at 2 Kgs 14:6 / 2 Chr 25:4.
4QDeutᵍ frag.