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Regulations Regarding Justice

23 “‘You will not spread[a] a false report. Do not lift your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness. You will not follow[b] a majority[c] for evil, and you will not testify concerning a legal dispute to turn aside after a majority[d] to pervert justice. You will not be partial to a powerless person[e] in his legal dispute.

“‘If you come upon the ox of your enemy or his donkey going astray, you will certainly bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of your enemy lying down under its burden, you will refrain from abandoning him. You will surely arrange[f] it with him.

“‘You will not pervert the justice of your poor in his legal dispute. You will stay far from a false charge,[g] and do not kill the innocent and the righteous, because I will not declare the wicked righteous.[h] And you will not take a bribe, because the bribe makes the sighted blind and ruins the words of the righteous. And you will not oppress an alien; you yourselves know the feelings[i] of the alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 23:1 Literally “lift”
  2. Exodus 23:2 Literally “be behind”
  3. Exodus 23:2 Or “many” or “the many”
  4. Exodus 23:2 Or “many” or “the many”
  5. Exodus 23:3 Or “a poor person
  6. Exodus 23:5 Or “restore” or “put in order”
  7. Exodus 23:7 Literally “word of deception”
  8. Exodus 23:7 Or “treat as innocent” or “acquit”
  9. Exodus 23:9 Or “inner self” or “soul”