What Does Deuteronomy 24:13 Mean in the King James?
In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here, righteousness takes the form of returning a poor person’s pledged garment before nightfall so they can sleep covered.
THE MEANING
When another person’s garment is held as a pledge, returning it by sundown restores the covering they need to sleep, and they bless you. Before the LORD, that concrete act is alignment: the other person’s rest is part of what is right.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that right standing before God can be detached from another person’s material need: here, returning the garment that lets a poor person sleep is called righteousness.
THE ROOT
צְדָקָה
tzedakah
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
To be right, just, or in alignment.
The word צְדָקָה (tzedakah, righteousness/alignment) names the return of the garment as rightness before God. Its root joins rightness with the person who acts rightly, making alignment visible in the restoration of what another needs for rest.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice, rightness.
צֶדֶק
This branch shows that the verse’s righteousness has a concrete shape: the pledge goes back to the person who needs it.
tsaddiq: A just or righteous person.
צַדִּיק
The same root describes both rightness and the person who practices it, connecting alignment with the act of returning the garment.
הָשֵׁב תָּשִׁיב
hashēv tashiv
GROWS FROM
שוב
sh-w-b
To turn back or return.
“deliver … again” in this verse is hashēv tashiv. The Hebrew repeats the verb of return: “return, you shall return.” The repetition emphasizes restoration, the pledge moves back to its owner before nightfall, when its covering matters most.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To return or turn back.
שׁוּב
The root names the movement from something held away to something restored to its owner.
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch carries the same motion of return, echoing the verse’s restoration of what belongs to the person.
THE PATTERN
Right alignment becomes visible when what another needs for covering and rest is restored to them.
For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.THE THREAD
For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.The Hebrew noun שִׂמְלָה (simlah, garment) appears in both verses, in an inflected form in Deuteronomy. Exodus names what is at stake: this garment is the person’s covering, and without it the question is where they can sleep; that opens the returned pledge as the restoration of needed covering.
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