Deuteronomy 24:14

14 Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.

Deuteronomy 24:14 in Other Translations

14 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:

14 "You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.

14 “Never take advantage of poor and destitute laborers, whether they are fellow Israelites or foreigners living in your towns.

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.

14 Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy sojourners that are in thy land within thy gates:

14 Don't withhold pay from hired workers who are poor and needy, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living in one of your cities.

14 "Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or one of the foreigners residing within a town in your land.

14 Don't take advantage of any hired worker who is poor and needy. That applies to your own people. It also applies to outsiders who are living in one of your towns.

Deuteronomy 24:14 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 24:14

Thou shall not oppress an hired servant
That is hired by the day, as appears by ( Deuteronomy 24:15 ) ; though the law may include such as are hired by the week, or month, or year; neither of whom are to be oppressed by any means, and chiefly by detaining their wages; so the Jerusalem Targum explains the phrase,

``ye shall not detain by force the hire of the hired servant;''

nor by fraud, as in ( James 5:4 ) ;

[that is] poor and needy;
and so cannot bear the lest oppression of this kind, nor to have his wages detained from him any time, and much less wholly to be defrauded of them:

[whether he be] of thy brethren;
an Israelite, and so a brother both by nation and religion:

or of thy strangers that [are] in thy land, within thy gates;
Jarchi interprets this, both of proselytes of righteousness, and of proselytes of the gate; which latter are plainly described by this clause, and the former must be included; for, if proselytes of the gate are not to be oppressed, much less proselytes of righteousness, who were in all respects as Israelites, the same law was to them both. Jarchi says, the phrase "in thy land" is intended to comprehend the hire of beasts, and of vessels; and these in the Misnah ^F15 are said to be comprehended in this precept, as well as the hire of man.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Bava Metzia, c. 9. sect. 12.

Deuteronomy 24:14 In-Context

12 If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession.

13 Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbor may sleep in it. Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the LORD your God.

14 Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.

15 Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

16 Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 19:13; Leviticus 25:35-43; Deuteronomy 15:12-18; Job 24:4; Proverbs 14:31; Proverbs 19:17; Amos 4:1; 1 Timothy 5:18