Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous.
- BSB Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
- NKJV You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
- NASB You shall not distort justice, you shall not show partiality; and you shall not accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous.
- NLT You must never twist justice or show partiality. Never accept a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and corrupt the decisions of the godly.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Judges were forbidden to pervert justice, show partiality, or take bribes, which corrupt even the wise. Justice must be impartial and incorruptible.
Overview
God strictly prohibits the distortions that destroy justice: favoritism and bribery, which blind the discerning and twist the truth. This protects the weak from being exploited by the powerful. Such uncompromising justice reflects God's own character as the impartial Judge, who shows no favoritism and cannot be bribed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 25
- Lev 19:15Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
- Exod 23:2Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
- Prov 17:23A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
- Deut 24:17Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:
- Deut 10:17For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
- Hab 1:4Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
- Isa 1:17Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
- Prov 24:23These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
- Deut 27:19Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
- Eccl 7:7Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.
- Deut 1:16–17And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
- Acts 16:37But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
- Mic 7:3That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
- Exod 23:6–8Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
- 1 Sam 8:3And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
- Acts 10:34Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
- Ezek 22:12In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
- Jer 5:28They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
- 1 Sam 12:3Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.
- Isa 33:15He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
- Job 31:21–22If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
- Isa 1:23Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
- Prov 24:28Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.
- Acts 23:3Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?
- Zeph 3:3–5Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 16:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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