Deuteronomy 24:20

Study note

Setting — Moses delivers this agricultural statute to the Israelites encamped on the plains of Moab, just before they enter the Promised Land. The command addresses landowners conducting routine olive harvests under the Mosaic covenant.

The words — The text employs תַחְבֹּט (tachbot), meaning "you will beat," for the initial olive gathering, and תְפָאֵר (tefa'er), meaning "you will go over the boughs," to forbid a second pass. These verbs mark the legal boundary between primary harvesting and prohibited secondary gleaning.

The thread — The instruction mirrors the rule against retrieving forgotten sheaves in Deuteronomy 24:19 and the command to leave fallen grapes in Leviticus 19:10. Deuteronomy 24:21 repeats the exact structure for vineyards, confirming a consistent pattern across harvest types.

Why it lands — The text commands harvesters to leave remaining olives on the trees after the primary beating is complete. Readers must implement this by allowing the foreigner, fatherless, and widow to collect the uncollected yield without the owner's interference.

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.