Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. “‘The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
- BSB You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
- NKJV ‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.
- NASB ‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired worker are not to remain with you all night until morning.
- NLT “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. “Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.
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
Israel must not oppress or rob a neighbor, and must pay a hired worker's wages promptly.
Overview
This command protects the vulnerable laborer who depended on daily wages to survive. Withholding pay overnight was a form of oppression God would not tolerate. The verse reveals God's concern for economic justice and the dignity of workers, a concern the New Testament echoes in its warnings against defrauding laborers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Jas 5:4Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
- Mal 3:5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Deut 24:14–15Thou 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:
- Jer 22:13Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work;
- Prov 20:10Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.
- Jer 22:3Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
- Exod 22:21Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
- Exod 22:15But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire.
- Mark 10:19Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
- Ezek 22:29The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
- Prov 22:22Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
- Job 31:39If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
- 1 Th 4:6That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
- Luke 3:13And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
- Exod 22:24–27And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
- Lev 6:3Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:
- Exod 22:8–9If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour’s goods.
- Exod 22:13If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 19:13 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
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