With the beginning of a new section, Moses should be reintroduced as the speaker.

When a man: this kind of legislation chooses one particular matter and says what must be done in that case—“If such and such happens…”; “Suppose that…” is a good way to express the meaning in English (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Revised Standard Version).

A man takes a wife and marries her: this is rather wordy; in many languages it will be enough to say something like “a man takes a wife,” “a man marries” or “a man gets married.” In the culture of that day, it was the man who took the initiative.

She finds no favor in his eyes: again, it is the man’s point of view that is maintained. This may be expressed as “if she doesn’t please him” or “if he isn’t pleased with her.” It is difficult to determine the time element here; this may be something that happened on the wedding night, or it may refer to some physical defect of which the husband was ignorant. Or else it may refer to some moral fault or defect that becomes apparent only with the passing of time. In any case, the text does not mean a serious moral flaw such as adultery, which would be punishable by death, not by divorce. It may be best to imitate BÍBLIA para todos Edição Comum, “later on he stops liking [or, loving] her” or Good News Translation, “later he decides he doesn’t want her.”

He has found some indecency in her: the Hebrew word translated indecency is literally “nakedness.” Good News Translation “something about her that he doesn’t like” is a possibility; the alternative rendering in the footnote offers another possibility: “later she is guilty of some shameful conduct.” New Revised Standard Version has “something objectionable,” Revised English Bible “something offensive,” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “something obnoxious,” Contemporary English Version “something disgraceful about her”; these are all possible models.

He writes her a bill of divorce: a formal statement, presumably stating why he was sending her away. Some suppose that this included some sort of payment, but this cannot be proven. All the text says is that the husband gave his wife a document in which he stated that he was divorcing her. Many languages will have technical terms for the breaking of the marriage relationship. In other languages figurative language will be used, such as “driven out,” “sent away,” “returned to her parents,” and so on. A bill of divorce may be alternatively rendered as “write her a paper to put her out,” or “write a paper concerning sending her away,” and so on.

Puts it in her hand: this is part of the procedure. The man must deliver it to his wife personally.

Sends her out of his house: this is the final step; he orders her to leave. There seems to be no sense of physical force in this action.

And she departs out of his house: in the Hebrew text this is the beginning of verse 2, not the end of verse 1 (New Revised Standard Version repeats the Revised Standard Version mistake). The Septuagint omits this clause. Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, and New International Version also omit it as redundant.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .