17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, [or] of the fatherless; and thou shalt not take in pledge a widow's garment.
Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for the bribe blindeth the eyes of the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow! And all the people shall say, Amen.
Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him; for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.
When the ear heard [me], then it blessed me, and when the eye saw [me], it gave witness to me; For I delivered the afflicted that cried, and the fatherless who had no helper. The blessing of him that was perishing came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was as a mantle and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame; I was a father to the needy, and the cause which I knew not I searched out; And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
And the stranger thou shalt not oppress; for ye know the spirit of the stranger, for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt.
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment: ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's; and the matter that is too hard for you shall ye bring to me, that I may hear it.
They are become fat, they shine, yea, they surpass in deeds of wickedness; they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, and they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not adjudge.
Both hands are for evil, to do it well. The prince asketh, and the judge [is there] for a reward; and the great [man] uttereth his soul's greed: and [together] they combine it.
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, [seek him] that made the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: Jehovah is his name. He causeth destruction to break forth suddenly upon the strong, and bringeth destruction upon the fortress. They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Forasmuch, therefore, as ye trample upon the poor, and take from him presents of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them. For I know how manifold are your transgressions and your sins mighty: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside [the right of] the needy in the gate.
But *ye* have despised the poor [man]. Do not the rich oppress you, and [do not] *they* drag you before [the] tribunals?
And persons engaged in military service also asked him saying, And we, what should we do? And he said to them, Oppress no one, nor accuse falsely, and be satisfied with your pay.
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hired servant in [his] wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger [from his right], and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.
and oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the stranger and the afflicted; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away; and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
For Jehovah your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, the great ùGod, the mighty and the terrible, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward; who executeth the judgment of the fatherless and the widow, and loveth the stranger, to give him food and clothing.
No man shall take the hand-mill or the upper millstone in pledge; for it would be taking life in pledge.
Here I am: testify against me before Jehovah, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I injured? or of whose hand have I received any ransom and blinded mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it to you. And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, and thou hast not injured us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand.
But the powerful man, he had the land; and the man of high rank dwelt in it. Widows hast thou sent empty away, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
{A Psalm of Asaph.} God standeth in the assembly of ùGod, he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unrighteously, and accept the person of the wicked? Selah. Judge the poor and the fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and the destitute; Rescue the poor and needy, deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither do they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are moved.
How long shall the wicked, O Jehovah, how long shall the wicked triumph? [How long] shall they utter [and] speak insolence -- all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? They crush thy people, O Jehovah, and afflict thine inheritance; They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless,
Shall the throne of wickedness be united to thee, which frameth mischief into a law? They band together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn innocent blood.
-- If thou at all take thy neighbour's garment in pledge, thou shalt return it to him before the sun goes down; for that is his only covering, his garment for his skin: on what shall he lie down? And it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
-- lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the children of affliction.
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for a higher than the high is watching, and there are higher than they.
-- He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from taking hold of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil:
Thus saith Jehovah: Execute 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, or the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 24
Commentary on Deuteronomy 24 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 24
In this chapter we have,
Deu 24:1-4
This is that permission which the Pharisees erroneously referred to as a precept, Mt. 19:7, Moses commanded to give a writing of divorcement. It was not so; our Saviour told them that he only suffered it because of the hardness of their hearts, lest, if they had not had liberty to divorce their wives, they should have ruled them with rigour, and it may be, have been the death of them. It is probable that divorces were in use before (they are taken for granted, Lev. 21:14), and Moses thought it needful here to give some rules concerning them.
Deu 24:5-13
Here is,
Deu 24:14-22
Here,