Deuteronomy 24:14

14 Don't cheat hired servants who are poor and needy, whether they are fellow Israelites or foreigners living in one of your towns.

Deuteronomy 24:14 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 24:14

Thou shall not oppress an hired servant
That is hired by the day, as appears by ( Deuteronomy 24:15 ) ; though the law may include such as are hired by the week, or month, or year; neither of whom are to be oppressed by any means, and chiefly by detaining their wages; so the Jerusalem Targum explains the phrase,

``ye shall not detain by force the hire of the hired servant;''

nor by fraud, as in ( James 5:4 ) ;

[that is] poor and needy;
and so cannot bear the lest oppression of this kind, nor to have his wages detained from him any time, and much less wholly to be defrauded of them:

[whether he be] of thy brethren;
an Israelite, and so a brother both by nation and religion:

or of thy strangers that [are] in thy land, within thy gates;
Jarchi interprets this, both of proselytes of righteousness, and of proselytes of the gate; which latter are plainly described by this clause, and the former must be included; for, if proselytes of the gate are not to be oppressed, much less proselytes of righteousness, who were in all respects as Israelites, the same law was to them both. Jarchi says, the phrase "in thy land" is intended to comprehend the hire of beasts, and of vessels; and these in the Misnah ^F15 are said to be comprehended in this precept, as well as the hire of man.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Bava Metzia, c. 9. sect. 12.

Deuteronomy 24:14 In-Context

12 If a poor person gives you a coat to show he will pay the loan back, don't keep it overnight.

13 Give the coat back at sunset, because your neighbor needs that coat to sleep in, and he will be grateful to you. And the Lord your God will see that you have done a good thing.

14 Don't cheat hired servants who are poor and needy, whether they are fellow Israelites or foreigners living in one of your towns.

15 Pay them each day before sunset, because they are poor and need the money. Otherwise,they may complain to the Lord about you, and you will be guilty of sin.

16 Parents must not be put to death if their children do wrong, and children must not be put to death if their parents do wrong. Each person must die for his own sin.