11 Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. 

12 And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord. 

13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. 

14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the Lord. 

15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. 

16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord.

The first two verses sound like we are back to retelling the ten commandments, the prohibition against stealing being the eighth commandment, and not taking the Lord’s name in vain being the third. Verse 13-16 have echoes of not bearing false witness, which is the ninth commandment, but they go deeper here, calling out various way that we might cheat and abuse our fellow man.

Verse 13 calls on us to be earnest in doing right by our fellow man, including not withholding his wages for a single day. If you have what is rightfully his, you must give it immediately. Though you may not have ever contemplated stealing from him, you must also not deprive him for a single night.

“Cursing the deaf” is an interesting concept, as obviously he would not hear the insult. And while a blind person would be hurt by a stumblingblock in his path, he would not be able to see you put it there. In both cases you could likely get away with the insult and injury, you will not have to answer to anyone in this life, and that is what makes them so perverse. They are seeking to create a permanent imbalance in the universe, to sin and get away with it, frustrating the cosmic scales of justice. This is the exact inverse of Jesus’s injunction that we do our alms (acts of kindness and mercy to our fellow man) in secret. Giving a gift that cannot be thanked or rewarded is the purest form of goodness to our fellow man, so causing secret harm is the most depraved form of evil to our fellow man. Both types of secret acts will be accounted for with God, though.

Verse 15 makes the interesting point that in judgment, or in matters of the law, we must not prefer one side over the other, not even the more vulnerable and weak. We must not overlook the crimes of the poor because they are poor, and certainly not those of the mighty because they are mighty. This is a very pertinent commandment for our day, where many speak in favor of being a “respecter of persons,” calling on us to give preference based on race, sex, nationality, ability, and sexuality. It is wrong to do, though, whichever direction we would apply those preferences.

Finally, verse 16 also says that we must not “stand against the blood of our neighbor.” This commonly has two interpretations. The first is that we must not testify falsely against our neighbor or abstain from testifying truthfully in his favor. The second is that we must not stand idly by while our neighbor comes to harm. We must at all times be willing to protect, intervene, and support our neighbor against all evil. Being a coward in the face of danger will never be justified.