Deuteronomy 24:7-17

7 "If a man is {caught} kidnapping somebody from [among] his countrymen, the {Israelites}, and he treats him as a slave or he sells him, then that kidnapper shall die, and [so] you shall purge the evil {from among you}.

8 Be watchful {with respect to} [an] outbreak of [any] infectious skin disease, by being very careful and by acting according to all that the priests and the Levites have instructed you, [just] as I have commanded them, {so you shall diligently observe}.

9 [So] remember what Yahweh your God did to Miriam on the journey {when you went out from Egypt}.

10 "When you make a loan to your neighbor, a loan of any kind, you shall not go into his house {to take his pledge}.

11 You shall wait outside, and the man [to] whom you [are] lending, he shall bring the pledge outside to you.

12 And if [he is] a needy man, you shall not sleep in his pledge.

13 You shall certainly return the pledge to him {as the sun sets}, so that he may sleep in his cloak and may bless you, and it shall be [considered] righteousness {on your behalf} {before} Yahweh your God.

14 "You shall not exploit a hired worker, [who is] needy and poor, from among your fellow men or from [among] your aliens who are in your land [and] in your {towns}.

15 On his day you shall give his wage, and the sun shall not go {down}, because [he is] poor and {his life depends on it}; [do this] so that he does not cry out against you to Yahweh, {and you incur guilt}.

16 "Fathers shall not be put to death because of [their] children, and children shall not be put to death because of [their] fathers; each one shall be put to death for his [own] sin.

17 You shall not subvert the rights of an alien [or] an orphan, and you shall not take as pledge [the] garment of a widow.

Deuteronomy 24:7-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 24

This chapter contains various laws concerning divorces, De 24:1-4; the discharge of a newly married man from war and business, De 24:5; about taking pledges, De 24:6,10-13; man stealing, De 24:7; the plague of leprosy, De 24:8,9; and giving servants their hire in due time, De 24:14,15; concerning doing justice in capital cases, and towards the stranger, fatherless, and widow, De 24:16-18; and of charity to the poor, in allowing them the forgotten sheaf, and the gleanings of their oliveyards and vineyards, De 24:19-22.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "found"
• [b]. Or "brothers"
• [c]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [d]. Literally "from your midst"
• [e]. Or "Be careful"
• [f]. Literally "against"
• [g]. Or "doing"
• [h]. Literally "[so] you shall observe to do"
• [i]. Literally "in you to go out from Egypt"
• [j]. Literally "to pledge [with respect to] his pledge"
• [k]. "His pledge" refers to "a garment given as pledge"
• [l]. Literally "as/at the moment of the going [out] of the sun"
• [m]. Literally "to you"
• [n]. Literally "to the face of"
• [o]. Hebrew "alien"
• [p]. Literally "gates"
• [q]. Literally "over him"
• [r]. Literally "and to him it is a lifting up with respect to his life/soul"
• [s]. Literally "and it becomes against you [as] sin