How does the warning 'lest he cry against you to the LORD' (Deuteronomy 24:15) elevate the wage relationship beyond a contract?

The worker's cry is a legal claim before the divine judge, not merely a complaint. The employer answers not only to the employee but to God. Torah places the employment relationship within the covenant's accountability structure: withholding wages is a sin against God, not only a breach of contract.

How does Jacob's complaint about Laban in Genesis 31:41 illustrate what Deuteronomy 24:14-15 later prohibits?

'You changed my wages ten times,' Jacob says to Laban. Laban repeatedly moved the goalposts -- changing the terms of service whenever Jacob began to prosper under them. This is the exploitation Deuteronomy 24:14's 'you shall not oppress a hired worker' directly prohibits: using employer power to repeatedly disadvantage the worker.

Commandment #175 · Positive · Social & Ethical Laws

Before the Sun Sets, Give Him His Wages

Q: What does the phrase 'he sets his soul upon it' (Deuteronomy 24:15) reveal about the worker's situation?

The Hebrew literally says the worker 'carries his soul toward it' -- his very life depends on those wages. He may have worked all day without eating, expecting payment at day's end. Withholding wages is not merely unfair; it can be life-threatening to someone living hand-to-mouth.

Q: Why does Deuteronomy 24:14 extend the timely-wages protection to sojourners and foreigners?

The verse explicitly includes 'the sojourner who is in your land within your towns.' The Torah's labor law is not tribal -- a foreign worker has the same right to timely wages as an Israelite worker. The protection follows the worker's poverty, not his ethnic status.

Q: How does the Talmud synthesize Leviticus 19:13 and Deuteronomy 24:15 into a 24-hour rule?

Leviticus 19:13 sets the nighttime deadline for wages: 'the wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.' Deuteronomy 24:15 sets the sunset deadline for a daytime worker. Bava Metzia 110b-111a synthesizes: daytime worker paid by sunset; nighttime worker paid by sunrise. Every worker is owed wages within 24 hours of completing labor.

בַּל תָּלִין

Source: Deuteronomy 24:15 · Maimonides, Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive #200

Deuteronomy 24:15 is one of the Torah's most direct statements about economic justice: 'You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is poor and counts on it.' The verb 'counts on it' — literally 'sets his soul upon it' (nosa et nafsho) — identifies the worker's daily wage with his daily survival. Deuteronomy 24:14 extends the protection to 'the sojourner who is in your land' — not only Israelite workers.

You Shall Give Him His Wages on the Same Day

בְּיוֹמוֹ תִתֵּן שְׂכָרוֹ וְלֹא תָבוֹא עָלָיו הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ כִּי עָנִי הוּא וְאֵלָיו הוּא נֹשֵׂא אֶת נַפְשׁוֹ

"You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin."

Deuteronomy 24:15 — Open in Torah Reader

Deuteronomy 24:15 states the commandment and its reason in a single verse: pay the worker before sunset because 'he is poor and counts on it.' The Hebrew phrase 'he sets his soul upon it' (v'elav hu nosa et nafsho) is arresting — the worker's very life is staked on receiving those wages. He may have eaten nothing that day in anticipation of being paid. To withhold wages past sunset is to withhold a person's daily bread.

The verse concludes with a warning that makes withholding wages a matter of direct accountability before God: 'lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin.' The worker's cry is not merely a complaint — it is a legal claim brought before the divine judge. The Torah places the wage relationship within the framework of covenant accountability: the employer answers not only to the employee but to God.

You Shall Not Oppress a Hired Worker

לֹא תַעֲשֹׁק שָׂכִיר עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן מֵאַחֶיךָ אוֹ מִגֵּרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בְּאַרְצְךָ בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ

"You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns."

Deuteronomy 24:14 — Open in Torah Reader

Deuteronomy 24:14 broadens the protection: the wage-on-time commandment applies not only to Israelite workers but to 'the sojourner who is in your land within your towns.' The protection crosses ethnic lines. A foreign laborer working for an Israelite employer has the same right to timely wages as an Israelite worker. The Torah's labor law is not tribal.

The companion verse in Leviticus uses the same word: Leviticus 19:13: 'You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.' Leviticus sets the nighttime deadline for a daytime worker; Deuteronomy 24:15 adds the sunset deadline for a daytime worker. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 110b–111a) synthesizes: a daytime worker must be paid before sunset; a nighttime worker must be paid before sunrise. Every worker has a right to wages within 24 hours of completing their labor.

Key Figures

Ruth and Boaz

Boaz's conduct toward Ruth in Ruth 2:14 — inviting her to eat with his reapers, ensuring she gleaned enough, and instructing his men to leave extra sheaves — exemplifies the spirit of Deuteronomy 24:14–15. He treats a foreign widow with the same provision the Torah demands for the poorest hired worker. His generosity exceeds the legal minimum; the law's logic animates his conduct.

Jacob and Laban's Wages

Genesis 29–31 (Genesis 29) records Laban changing Jacob's wages ten times. Jacob's complaint in Genesis 31:41 — 'you changed my wages ten times' — describes exactly the exploitation Deuteronomy 24:14 prohibits. The Torah later encodes the protection Jacob lacked as a formal legal obligation on every employer.

Study Questions

For reflection and group study

What does the phrase "he sets his soul upon it" (Deuteronomy 24:15) reveal about the economic reality the commandment addresses?

How does the warning "lest he cry against you to the LORD" place the wage relationship within a covenant framework rather than merely a contractual one?

Why does Deuteronomy 24:14 extend the timely-wages protection to sojourners and foreigners, not only Israelite workers?

How does the Talmud (Bava Metzia 110b-111a) synthesize Leviticus 19:13 and Deuteronomy 24:15 into a 24-hour wage rule?

How does Laban's repeated changing of Jacob's wages in Genesis 29-31 illustrate the exploitation that Deuteronomy 24:14-15 later prohibits?

Read the full passage in the Torah reader.

Open Deuteronomy 24 in the Bible Reader

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