Deuteronomy 24:6-16

6 No man shall take the hand-mill or the upper millstone in pledge; for it would be taking life in pledge.
7 If a man be found who hath stolen one of his brethren of the children of Israel, and who hath treated him as a slave and sold him, that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.
8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou take great heed, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them shall ye take heed to do.
9 Remember what Jehovah thy God did unto Miriam on the way, after that ye came forth out of Egypt.
10 When thou dost lend thy brother anything, thou shalt not go into his house to secure his pledge.
11 Thou shalt stand outside, and the man to whom thou hast made a loan shall bring out the pledge to thee without.
12 And if the man be needy, thou shalt not lie down with his pledge;
13 in any case thou shalt return him the pledge at the going down of the sun, that he may sleep in his own upper garment and bless thee; and it shall be righteousness unto thee before Jehovah thy God.
14 Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant [who is] poor and needy of thy brethren, or of thy sojourners who are in thy land within thy gates:
15 on his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and his soul yearneth after it; lest he cry against thee to Jehovah, and it be a sin in thee.
16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, neither shall the sons be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

Deuteronomy 24:6-16 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 6

  • [a]. i.e. the mobile stone; the lower part was fixed.
  • [b]. Lit. 'a soul.'
  • [c]. Or 'strangers.'
  • [d]. Or 'afflicted,' as ch. 15.11.
  • [e]. Lit. 'he lifteth his soul to it.'
  • [f]. Or 'there be sin upon.'
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.