Respecting the Poor

¹⁰ “When you loan something to your neighbor, don’t enter his house to seize what he offered as collateral. ¹¹ Stay outside and let the man to whom you made the loan bring it^[a] out to you. ¹² If he is a poor man, don’t go to sleep with his collateral in your possession.^{[b] 13} Be sure to return his garment^[c] to him at sunset so that he may sleep with it, and he will bless you. It will be a righteous deed in the presence of the Lord your God. ¹⁴ Don’t take advantage of a hired person who is poor and needy, whether he’s your fellow citizen or a foreigner who lives in your city. ¹⁵ Pay his wages that same day before the sun sets, because he is poor and his livelihood^[d] depends on it. Otherwise, he may cry out to the Lord against you, and you will incur guilt.”