13 `Thou dost not oppress thy neighbour, nor take plunder; the wages of the hireling doth not remain with thee till morning.
lo, the reward of the workmen, of those who in-gathered your fields, which hath been fraudulently kept back by you -- doth cry out, and the exclamations of those who did reap into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth have entered;
And I have drawn near to you for judgment, And I have been a witness, Making haste against sorcerers, And against adulterers, And against swearers to a falsehood, And against oppressors of the hire of an hireling, Of a widow, and of a fatherless one, And those turning aside a sojourner, And who fear Me not, said Jehovah of Hosts.
`Thou dost not oppress a hireling, poor and needy, of thy brethren or of thy sojourner who is in thy land within thy gates; in his day thou dost give his hire, and the sun doth not go in upon it, for he `is' poor, and unto it he is lifting up his soul, and he doth not cry against thee unto Jehovah, and it hath been in thee -- sin.
A stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah, Even both of them `are' an abomination to Jehovah.
the commands thou hast known: Thou mayest not commit adultery, Thou mayest do no murder, Thou mayest not steal, Thou mayest not bear false witness, Thou mayest not defraud, Honour thy father and mother.'
Wo to him who is building his house by unrighteousness, And his upper chambers by injustice, On his neighbour he layeth service for nought, And his wage he doth not give to him.
Thus said Jehovah: Do ye judgment and righteousness, And deliver the plundered from the hand of the oppressor, And sojourner, orphan, and widow, ye do not oppress nor wrong, And innocent blood ye do not shed in this place.
If its strength I consumed without money, And the life of its possessors, I have caused to breathe out,
and Mine anger hath burned, and I have slain you by the sword, and your wives have been widows, and your sons orphans. `If thou dost lend My poor people with thee money, thou art not to him as a usurer; thou dost not lay on him usury; if thou dost at all take in pledge the garment of thy neighbour, during the going in of the sun thou dost return it to him: for it alone is his covering, it `is' his garment for his skin; wherein doth he lie down? and it hath come to pass, when he doth cry unto Me, that I have heard, for I `am' gracious.
`If the thief is not found, then the master of the house hath been brought near unto God, whether he hath not put forth his hand against the work of his neighbour; for every matter of transgression, for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, for any lost thing of which it is said that it is his; unto God cometh the matter of them both; he whom God doth condemn, he repayeth double to his neighbour.
if it is certainly torn, he bringeth it in -- a witness; the torn thing he doth not repay.
that no one go beyond and defraud in the matter his brother, because an avenger `is' the Lord of all these, as also we spake before to you and testified,
or hath found a lost thing, and hath lied concerning it, and hath sworn to a falsehood, concerning one of all `these' which man doth, sinning in them:
`And a sojourner thou dost not oppress, nor crush him, for sojourners ye have been in the land of Egypt.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Leviticus 19
Commentary on Leviticus 19 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 19
Some ceremonial precepts there are in this chapter, but most of them are moral. One would wonder that when some of the lighter matters of the law are greatly enlarged upon (witness two long chapters concerning the leprosy) many of the weightier matters are put into a little compass: divers of the single verses of this chapter contain whole laws concerning judgment and mercy; for these are things which are manifest in every man's conscience; men's own thoughts are able to explain these, and to comment upon them.
Lev 19:1-10
Moses is ordered to deliver the summary of the laws to all the congregation of the children of Israel (v. 2); not to Aaron and his sons only, but to all the people, for they were all concerned to know their duty. Even in the darker ages of the law, that religion could not be of God which boasted of ignorance as its mother. Moses must make known God's statutes to all the congregation, and proclaim them through the camp. These laws, it is probable, he delivered himself to as many of the people as could be within hearing at once, and so by degrees at several times to them all. Many of the precepts here given they had received before, but it was requisite that they should be repeated, that they might be remembered. Precept must be upon precept, and line upon line, and all little enough. In these verses,
Lev 19:11-18
We are taught here,
Lev 19:19-29
Here is,
Lev 19:30-37
Here is,