Bible Verse Lookup
Deut 24:19-21
Chapter 24
19
When you harvest the wheat in your fields, if you drop a sheaf, do not return to pick it up, but let it be there for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. The Lord will bless you for this in all your work.
20
When you harvest your olives, do not go back to beat the trees again; what is left shall be for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.
21
When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, do not return to look for what has been left. This will be the share of the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.
Commentaries
Various laws.
These laws generally fall into five main categories.
1. Socio-religious laws: the ban on sacred prostitution, which was common among the neighboring peoples of Israel (23:18f) and was generally connected to fertility and fecundity rituals (cfr. Lv 19:29; 1 Kgs 14:24; 15:12; 22:47; 2 Kgs 23:7); laws on vows (23:22-24; cf. Nm 30:1-16); the law forbidding the execution of children for their parents’ sins (24:16; cf. Ezek 18:1-20); and laws regarding ritual and cultic purity (24:8f; cf. Lv 13:1-14:54).
2. Socio-economic laws aimed at supporting the most vulnerable, including orphans, widows, and emigrants: law on the non-collection of interest (23:20; cf. 15:7-11; Ex 22:25; Lv 25:36f); law on the proper use of neighbors’ goods (23:25f); law on loans and pledges (23:20f; 24:6.10-13.17); law on loans and promises of pawn (23:20f; 24:6, 10-13.17); law on the use of a neighbor’s goods (23:20f; cf. Ezk 15:7-11; cf. Ex 22:25; Lv 25:36f); law about justice with the day laborer (24:14f); law regulating harvest gathering (24:19-22; cf. Lv 19:9f); law on weights and measures (25:13-16; cf. Lv 19:35f; Am 8:5; Mic 6:10f).
3. Socio-familial laws that govern family relationships arising from the institution of marriage include the law on divorce (24:1-4), the regulation of newlyweds (24:5), and the law requiring a brother-in-law to protect the widow, known as the law of levirate marriage (25:5-10; cf. Gn 38:8).
4. Penal laws regarding penalties and sentences for specific crimes: concerning kidnapping (24:7); related to criminal procedure (25:1-3.11f).
5. Socio-political laws that govern relations with specific groups, particularly the Amalekites (25:17-19).