Deuteronomy 24:6

24:6 One must not take either lower or upper millstones as security on a loan, for that is like taking a life itself as security. ¹ 

Deuteronomy 24:10-13

24:10 When you make any kind of loan to your neighbor, you may not go into his house to claim what he is offering as security. ²  24:11 You must stand outside and the person to whom you are making the loan will bring out to you what he is offering as security. ³  24:12 If the person is poor you may not use what he gives you as security for a covering. ⁴  24:13 You must by all means ⁵  return to him at sunset the item he gave you as security so that he may sleep in his outer garment and bless you for it; it will be considered a just ⁶  deed by the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 24:17-21

24:17 You must not pervert justice due a resident foreigner or an orphan, or take a widow’s garment as security for a loan. 24:18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do all this. 24:19 Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, ⁷  you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do. ⁸  24:20 When you beat your olive tree you must not repeat the procedure; ⁹  the remaining olives belong to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow. 24:21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard you must not do so a second time; ¹⁰  they should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow.

[24:6]  ¹ sn Taking millstones as security on a loan would amount to taking the owner’s own life in pledge, since the millstones were the owner’s means of earning a living and supporting his family.

[24:10]  ² tn Heb “his pledge.” This refers to something offered as pledge of repayment, i.e., as security for the debt.

[24:11]  ³ tn Heb “his pledge.”

[24:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “may not lie down in his pledge.” What is in view is the use of clothing as guarantee for the repayment of loans, a matter already addressed elsewhere (Deut 23:19-20; 24:6; cf. Exod 22:25-26; Lev 25:35-37). Cf. NAB “you shall not sleep in the mantle he gives as a pledge”; NRSV “in the garment given you as the pledge.”

[24:13]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “by all means.”

[24:13]  ⁶ tn Or “righteous” (so NIV, NLT).

[24:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the field.”

[24:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “of your hands.” This law was later applied in the story of Ruth who, as a poor widow, was allowed by generous Boaz to glean in his fields (Ruth 2:1-13).

[24:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “knock down after you.”

[24:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “glean after you.”