Deuteronomy 24:20

20 When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

Deuteronomy 24:20 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 24:20

When thou beatest thine olive tree
With sticks and staves, to get off the olives when ripe:

thou shall not go over the boughs again;
to beat off some few that may remain; they were not nicely to examine the boughs over again, whether there were any left or not:

it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow;
who might come into their oliveyards after the trees had been beaten, and gather what were left.

Deuteronomy 24:20 In-Context

18 but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence. Therefore I command thee to do this thing.

19 "When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field and hast forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.

20 When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

21 When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

22 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command thee to do this thing.