Translation:Mishnah/Seder Nezikin/Tractate Bava Metzia/Chapter 9/11

Introduction

This Mishnah and the following Mishnah interpret the commands of Leviticus 19:13: “The wages of a hired servant shall not stay with you all night until the morning,” and Deuteronomy 24:14–15: “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is of your brethren, or a stranger in your land within your gates. In the same day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and sets his heart on it: lest he cry against you to the Lord and it be a sin in you.”

Hebrew Text

שכיר יום גובה כל הלילה.
שכיר לילה גובה כל היום.
שכיר שעות גובה כל הלילה וכל היום.
שכיר שבת, שכיר חדש, שכיר שנה, שכיר שבוע, יצא ביום, גובה כל היום;
יצא בלילה, גובה כל הלילה וכל היום.

English Translation

A worker hired by the day can collect [the worker’s wages] all of the [following] night.
A worker hired by the night can collect it all of the [following] day.
A worker hired by the hour can collect it all day and night.
A worker hired by the week, month, year, or period of seven years, if his time expires by day, can collect [his wages] all of [that] day;
[If the worker’s time] expires by night, he can collect it all [that] night and the [following] day.

Explanation

In the Babylonian Talmud, the discussion of Mishnah 9:11 begins on Bava Metzia 110b.