You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
- KJV Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
- NKJV “You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute.
- NASB “You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.
- NLT “In a lawsuit, you must not deny justice to the poor.
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
You shall not deny justice to your poor in their lawsuits. The vulnerable must receive fair treatment in court.
Overview
Whereas verse 3 forbids favoring the poor unjustly, this forbids depriving them of justice because they are poor. Together they demand pure impartiality that neither flatters nor neglects the needy. God's special concern that the weak receive their due reflects His justice, which Christ came to establish on the earth (Isaiah 42:1-4).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Mal 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Deut 27:19‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Deut 16:19Do 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.
- Lev 19:15You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
- Isa 10:1–2Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,
- Eccl 5:8If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.
- Jer 5:28They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.
- Exod 23:2–3You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
- Jas 2:5–6Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
- Jer 6:28All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.
- Amos 5:11–12Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
- Mic 3:1–4Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice?
- 2 Chr 19:7And now, may the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”
- Job 31:21–22if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,
- Jer 7:6if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,
- Ps 82:3–4Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
- Job 31:13If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me,
- Zeph 3:1–4Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled!
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 23:6 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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