If your neighbor is poor and gives you his cloak as security for a loan, do not keep the cloak overnight.
Parallel translations
- WEB If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.
- KJV And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:
- BSB If he is a poor man, you must not go to sleep with the security in your possession;
- NKJV And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight.
- NASB And if he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If a poor man pledges his cloak, the lender must not keep it overnight. Compassion outweighs the lender's claim when survival is at stake.
Overview
A poor man's outer garment was often his only blanket against the cold of night, so holding it overnight would inflict real suffering. The law subordinates a creditor's rights to a neighbor's basic needs. This anticipates verse 13's promise of blessing and reflects the merciful heart of God, who clothes and cares for the destitute.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Deut 24:17You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge;
- Job 24:3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
- Job 24:9There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
- Job 22:6For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 24:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.