Deuteronomy 24:17

World English Bible (2000)

You shall not wrest the justice [due] to the foreigner, [or] to the fatherless, nor take the widow's clothing to pledge;

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹ֣א תַטֶּ֔ה מִשְׁפַּ֖ט גֵּ֣ר יָת֑וֹם וְלֹ֣א תַחֲבֹ֔ל בֶּ֖גֶד אַלְמָנָֽה׃

Transliteration

Not taṭṭeh mišpaṭ gēr yātôm, and not taḥăbōl beged ʾalmānâ.

Grammar Details

• *taṭṭeh*: hiphil imperfect 2nd masculine singular - you pervert/distort
• *mišpaṭ*: masculine singular construct - justice of
• *gēr*: masculine singular noun - sojourner/foreigner
• *yātôm*: masculine singular noun - orphan/fatherless
• *taḥăbōl*: qal imperfect 2nd masculine singular - you take as pledge
• *beged*: masculine singular noun - garment/clothing
• *ʾalmānâ*: feminine singular noun - widow

Word Meanings

• *taṭṭeh* *mišpaṭ*: pervert justice/distort judgment
• *gēr*: foreigner/sojourner/resident alien

Referenced Verses

• Deut 16:19 : 19 You shall not wrest justice: you shall not respect persons; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
• Exod 22:21-22 : 21 "You shall not wrong an alien, neither shall you oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. 22 "You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child.
• Exod 23:6 : 6 "You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
• Deut 27:19 : 19 'Cursed is he who wrests the justice [due] to the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'
• Isa 1:23 : 23 Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don't judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
• Job 29:11-17 : 11 For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me: 12 Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had none to help him, 13 the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. 15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. 16 I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn't know, I searched out. 17 I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
• Exod 23:9 : 9 "You shall not oppress an alien, for you know the heart of an alien, since you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
• Deut 1:17 : 17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.
• Jer 5:28 : 28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excell in deeds of wickedness. They don't plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don't judge the right of the needy.
• Mic 7:3 : 3 Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.
• Exod 23:2 : 2 "You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;
• Zech 7:10 : 10 Don't oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.'
• Mal 3:5 : 5 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 perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don't fear me," says Yahweh of Armies.
• Luke 3:14 : 14 Soldiers also asked him, saying, "What about us? What must we do?" He said to them, "Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages."
• Jas 2:6 : 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don't the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
• Jer 22:3 : 3 Thus says Yahweh: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the foreigner, the fatherless, nor the widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.
• Ezek 22:7 : 7 In you have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the foreigner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.
• Ezek 22:29 : 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.
• Amos 5:7-9 : 7 You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth: 8 seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name, 9 who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress. 10 They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly. 11 Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. 12 For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins-- you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts.
• Mic 2:1-2 : 1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. 2 They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
• Deut 10:17-18 : 17 For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn't respect persons, nor takes reward. 18 He does execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the foreigner, in giving him food and clothing.
• Exod 22:26-27 : 26 If you take your neighbor's garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What would he sleep in? It will happen, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious.
• Deut 24:6 : 6 No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone to pledge; for he takes [a man's] life to pledge.
• Deut 24:13 : 13 you shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you: and it shall be righteousness to you before Yahweh your God.
• Ps 82:1-5 : 1 God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods. 2 "How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked?" Selah. 3 "Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked." 5 They don't know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
• Ps 94:3-6 : 3 Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? 4 They pour out arrogant words. All the evildoers boast. 5 They break your people in pieces, Yahweh, and afflict your heritage. 6 They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless.
• Ps 94:20-21 : 20 Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute? 21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
• Prov 22:22-23 : 22 Don't exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don't crush the needy in court; 23 for Yahweh will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.
• Prov 31:5 : 5 lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.
• Eccl 5:8 : 8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don't marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.
• Isa 3:15 : 15 What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?" says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
• Isa 33:15 : 15 He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil--
• 1 Sam 12:3-4 : 3 Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind my eyes therewith? I will restore it to you." 4 They said, "You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything of any man's hand."
• Job 22:8-9 : 8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. 9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.