Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 24:12-17 
Context24:12 If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering. 1 24:13 You must by all means 2 return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just 3 deed by the Lord your God.
24:14 You must not oppress a lowly and poor servant, whether one from among your fellow Israelites 4 or from the resident foreigners who are living in your land and villages. 5 24:15 You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
24:16 Fathers must not be put to death for what their children 6 do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin.
24:17 You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan.
1 tn Heb “may not lie down in his pledge.” What is in view is the use of clothing as guarantee for the repayment of loans, a matter already addressed elsewhere (Deut 23:19-20; 24:6; cf. Exod 22:25-26; Lev 25:35-37). Cf. NAB “you shall not sleep in the mantle he gives as a pledge”; NRSV “in the garment given you as the pledge.”
2 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “by all means.”
3 tn Or “righteous” (so NIV, NLT).
4 tn Heb “your brothers,” but not limited only to actual siblings; cf. NASB “your (+ own NAB) countrymen.”
5 tn Heb “who are in your land in your gates.” The word “living” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB; twice in this verse). Many English versions, including the KJV, read “children” here.
