“You shall not exploit a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your strangers who are in your land in your towns.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers, or one of the foreigners who are in your land within your gates.
- KJV 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:
- BSB Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
- NKJV “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates.
- NLT “Never take advantage of poor and destitute laborers, whether they are fellow Israelites or foreigners living in your towns.
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
Employers must not oppress poor and needy hired workers, whether fellow Israelites or foreigners. Justice for the laborer is required regardless of his status.
Overview
Hired servants lived hand-to-mouth and were vulnerable to exploitation, so God forbids any oppression of them, explicitly including the resident foreigner. This reflects the consistent biblical demand that the powerful deal justly with the weak. The New Testament repeats the warning against withholding wages (James 5:4), showing God's enduring care for the worker.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Mal 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Prov 14:31He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.
- Prov 22:16Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.
- Job 24:10–11So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
- Amos 4:1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”
- Job 31:13–15“If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me;
- Luke 10:7Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house.
- Deut 15:12–18If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.
- Lev 25:35–43“‘If your brother has become poor, and his hand can’t support himself among you; then you shall uphold him. He shall live with you like an alien and a temporary resident.
- Amos 2:7They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;
- Ezek 22:7In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.
- Amos 8:4Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail,
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 24:14 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.