Deuteronomy 24:15 tells employers to pay a hired worker his wages on the same day he earns them, before the sun goes down. The reason given is that the worker is poor and depends on that money, so a delay can hurt him and bring his complaint before God. Moses spoke these words to the people of Israel as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, and they formed part of the laws meant to shape how God’s people treated the vulnerable among them.
In his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it; for he is poor, and sets his heart on it; lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you.
Deuteronomy 24:15 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 24:15 Means
The phrase “in his day you shall give him his hire” is the heart of the command. Hire means the wages agreed for a day’s labor, and the instruction is that they belong to the worker on that day. He should not have to wait, plead, or go without while the employer holds back what has been earned. The next phrase, “neither shall the sun go down on it,” makes the same point in the language of the ancient world, where the day ended at sunset and daily wages were often a family’s food for that evening.
The verse then gives the reason: “for he is poor, and sets his heart on it.” A day laborer often has no savings and no cushion. His wages are his bread, and he is counting on them. The final warning, “lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you,” shows that God hears the cry of the oppressed and holds the employer responsible for withholding what is owed. The verse does not promise that every employer who pays on time will be blessed in every other way, but it does state clearly that exploiting a needy worker is a sin before God.
The Context of Deuteronomy 24:15
Deuteronomy is presented as the speeches of Moses to Israel on the plains of Moab, shortly before they cross the Jordan River. Traditionally Moses is named as its author, and its audience is the new generation who will live in the land. The book repeatedly connects Israel’s law with their memory of slavery in Egypt, which is why verse 18 of this same passage reminds them, “you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you there.”
The verses around 24:15 deal with the same theme of protecting the poor. Verses 12 and 13 forbid keeping a poor man’s cloak overnight when it has been taken as a pledge, and verses 14 and 15 apply the same care to the hired worker, whether a fellow Israelite or a foreigner living among them. Verses 17 and 18 extend the protection to the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. Read in this setting, the wage command is one part of a consistent pattern: God’s people are to remember their own rescue and therefore refuse to take advantage of the weak.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 24:15
Leviticus 19:13
“‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. “‘The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
(WEB)
This verse repeats the same concern for the hired worker, forbidding oppression and the withholding of wages overnight. Reading it alongside Deuteronomy 24:15 shows that fair and timely pay was a consistent expectation in Israel’s law.
James 5:4
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
(WEB)
James echoes the Old Testament warning in the New Testament, declaring that the wages withheld from laborers cry out and that the Lord of hosts hears them. It shows that the concern for unpaid workers continued to matter to the early church.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 24:15
Lord, you hear the cry of those who work hard and wait for what they have earned. Make me faithful in the way I pay, the way I speak, and the way I treat the people who depend on me. Where I have delayed what is owed or looked away from someone’s need, show me clearly and give me the courage to make it right. Thank you that you see the poor and defend them. Shape my heart to reflect your justice. Amen.
