Deuteronomy 24:10

10 When thou shalt ask of thy neighbour anything that he oweth to thee, thou shalt not enter into his house, that thou take away from him a wed; (When thou shalt ask thy neighbour for what he oweth thee, thou shalt not enter into his house, to take away a pledge from him;)

Deuteronomy 24:10 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 24:10

When thou dost lend thy brother anything
Any sum of money he stands in need of, or demanded a debt of him, as Jarchi; money he is indebted to thee, which is the sense of the Septuagint version; and he is not able to pay it, but offers something: in pawn till he can pay it:

thou shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge;
which would be an exercise of too much power and authority, to go into a neighbour's house, and take what was liked; and besides, as no doubt he would take the best, so he might take that which the poor man could not spare: and indeed, according to the Jewish canons ^F11, he could not take any pledge at all, but with the knowledge, and by the leave, of the sanhedrim, or court of judicature.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 9. sect. 13.

Deuteronomy 24:10 In-Context

8 Keep thou diligently, lest thou run into the sickness of leprosy, but thou shalt do whatever things that the priests of the kin of Levi teach thee, by that that I commanded to them, and fulfill thou it diligently. (Be thou careful, when thou hast run into the sickness of leprosy, that thou do whatever the levitical priests tell thee to do, yea, what I have commanded to them, and which thou must obey in order to recover.)

9 Have ye mind what things your Lord God did to Marie, in the way, when ye went out of Egypt. (Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam, on the way, when ye went out of Egypt.)

10 When thou shalt ask of thy neighbour anything that he oweth to thee, thou shalt not enter into his house, that thou take away from him a wed; (When thou shalt ask thy neighbour for what he oweth thee, thou shalt not enter into his house, to take away a pledge from him;)

11 but thou shalt stand withoutforth, and he shall bring forth to thee that that he hath.

12 And if he is poor, his wed shall not abide by night with thee (his pledge shall not stay with thee all night),