Deuteronomy 21:10-14

When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God hands them over to you¹ and you take them captive, suppose you see among the captives a beautiful² woman whom you desire and want to marry, and so you bring her home to your house: she shall shave her head, pare her nails, discard her captive’s garb, and shall remain in your house a full month, mourning for her father and mother;³ after that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.⁴ But if you are not satisfied with her,⁵ you shall let her go free and not sell her for money. You must not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.⁶

1 Again a continuous reminder that God is the one who will win the victories

2 Beauty is assumed to be the standard for desiring to marry.

3 Even the enslaved woman is allowed to mourn her family – there is something of compassion here.

4 The woman doesn't appear to have been given a choice in the matter at all.

5 Again, the husband's decision alone to discard her as well. Jesus appears quite strongly to contradict this in Mark 10:1-12 and the parallels.

6 Again, a hint of compassion within a set of instructions that would generally disturb us today.

Take-home: While assuming the Israelite man's right to take an enslaved foreign women as his wife, conditions are made which acknowledge some degree of self-interest to the woman and prevent some offenses against her.