Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 24:15
You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites within a covenant law code, positioning this command between instructions to protect hired laborers and principles of individual moral accountability.
The words — The Hebrew תִתֵּן (ti.Ten) issues the command "you will pay," directly linked to שְׂכָר֜וֹ (se.kha.R/o) for "his wages" and הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ (ha.She.mesh) for "the sun," establishing a strict daily deadline.
The thread — The directive recurs in Leviticus 19:13, which forbids withholding wages until morning, and reappears in James 5:4, where the text records unpaid laborers' cries as a direct indictment.
Why it lands — The text explicitly commands daily payment for poor workers and warns that withholding pay makes the employer guilty of sin when the laborer cries out to God. This requires immediate financial compliance rather than delayed compensation, framing economic treatment as a matter of covenant obedience.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 19:13 You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
- Proverbs 3:27 Do not withhold good from the deserving when it is within your power to act.
- James 5:4 Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Jeremiah 22:13 “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,
- Deuteronomy 15:9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
- Exodus 22:23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry.
- Job 35:9 Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.
- Job 34:28 They caused the cry of the poor to come before Him, and He heard the outcry of the afflicted.
- Job 31:38 if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
- Psalms 24:4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.