Deuteronomy 24:20
in Deuteronomy 24When you beat the olives from your trees, you must not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
KJV
When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 24
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field--The grain, pulled up by the roots or cut down with a sickle, was laid in loose sheaves; the fruit of the olive was obtained by striking the branches with long poles; and the grape clusters, severed by a hook, were gathered in the hands of the vintager. Here is a beneficent provision for the poor.
This site's exposition
If you are harvesting in your field and forget a sheaf there
on Deuteronomy 24:19-22
Leviticus 19:9-10 and 23:22 left the corners and the gleanings, and this law adds the forgotten sheaf. What is lost by accident becomes the portion of the poor.
This site's exposition
When you beat the olives
Olives were knocked from the tree with long poles, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown describe, and the owner beats the branches once. Whatever stays on the boughs belongs to the poor.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
"Say not, 'What should the poor do with grapes and olives? It is enough for them to have bread and water;' for, since they have the same senses that the rich have, why should not they have so me little share of the delights of sense?" Boaz ordered handfuls of corn to be left on purpose for Ruth, and God blessed him. All that is left is not lost.
When thou beatest thine olive tree,.... With sticks and staves, to get off the olives when ripe: thou shall not go over the boughs again; to beat off some few that may remain; they were not nicely to examine the boughs over again, whether there were any left or not: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; who might come into their oliveyards after the trees had been beaten, and gather what were left.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תַחְבֹּט֙ | tachbot | you will beat | H2251 → | |
| זֵֽיתְךָ֔ | zeitekha | olive tree your | H2132 → | 38 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְפָאֵ֖ר | tefaer | you will go over [the] boughs | H6286 → | |
| אַחֲרֶ֑יךָ | ʾachareikha | behind you | H310 → | 715 times |
| לַגֵּ֛ר | lager | to the sojourner | H1616 → | 92 times |
| לַיָּת֥וֹם | laiyatom | to the fatherless one | H3490 → | 42 times |
| וְלָאַלְמָנָ֖ה | velaalmanah | and to the widow | H490 → | 56 times |
| יִהְיֶֽה׃ ס | yihyeh | it will belong | H1961 → | 3559 times |
כִּ֤יif
kiH3588 →4482 times
תַחְבֹּט֙you will beat
tachbotH2251 →
זֵֽיתְךָ֔olive tree your
zeitekhaH2132 →38 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תְפָאֵ֖רyou will go over [the] boughs
tefaerH6286 →
אַחֲרֶ֑יךָbehind you
ʾachareikhaH310 →715 times
לַגֵּ֛רto the sojourner
lagerH1616 →92 times
לַיָּת֥וֹםto the fatherless one
laiyatomH3490 →42 times
וְלָאַלְמָנָ֖הand to the widow
velaalmanahH490 →56 times
יִהְיֶֽה׃ סit will belong
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 19:10You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
it leads to
- Isaiah 24:13
So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
- Leviticus 25:6
Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,
- Isaiah 17:6
Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten—two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
- Judges 8:2
But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?
- Jeremiah 49:9
If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Were thieves to come in the night, would they not steal only what they wanted?
- Isaiah 24:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.