Deuteronomy 24:6-16

6 Don't seize a handmill or an upper millstone as collateral for a loan. You'd be seizing someone's very life.
7 If a man is caught kidnapping one of his kinsmen, someone of the People of Israel, to enslave or sell him, the kidnapper must die. Purge that evil from among you.
8 Warning! If a serious skin disease breaks out, follow exactly the rules set down by the Levitical priests. Follow them precisely as I commanded them.
9 Don't forget what God, your God, did to Miriam on your way out of Egypt.
10 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, don't enter his house to claim his pledge.
11 Wait outside. Let the man to whom you made the pledge bring the pledge to you outside.
12 And if he is destitute, don't use his cloak as a bedroll;
13 return it to him at nightfall so that he can sleep in his cloak and bless you. In the sight of God, your God, that will be viewed as a righteous act.
14 Don't abuse a laborer who is destitute and needy, whether he is a fellow Israelite living in your land and in your city.
15 Pay him at the end of each workday; he's living from hand to mouth and needs it now. If you hold back his pay, he'll protest to God and you'll have sin on your books.
16 Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their parents. Each person 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.

Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.