Deuteronomy 24:10-20

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.

18 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and [that] Yahweh your God redeemed you from there; therefore I [am] commanding you to do this commandment.

19 "When you reap your harvest in your field and you forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not return to get it, for it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

20 When you beat off the fruit of your olive trees you shall not search through the branches afterward, for it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

Deuteronomy 24:10-20 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 "to pledge [with respect to] his pledge"
• [b]. "His pledge" refers to "a garment given as pledge"
• [c]. Literally "as/at the moment of the going [out] of the sun"
• [d]. Literally "to you"
• [e]. Literally "to the face of"
• [f]. Hebrew "alien"
• [g]. Literally "gates"
• [h]. Literally "over him"
• [i]. Literally "and to him it is a lifting up with respect to his life/soul"
• [j]. Literally "and it becomes against you [as] sin
• [k]. Or "If"
• [l]. That is, what is left