Laws about Honesty and Justice

23 “You must not spread a false report. Do not join[a] the wicked to be a malicious witness.(A)

“You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice.(B) Do not show favoritism to a poor person in his lawsuit.

“If you come across your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him.

“If you see the donkey of someone who hates you lying helpless under its load, and you want to refrain from helping it, you must help with it.[b](C)

“You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit. Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty.(D) You must not take a bribe,(E) for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words[c] of the righteous. You must not oppress a resident alien;(F) you yourselves know how it feels to be a resident alien because you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.

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Footnotes

  1. 23:1 Lit join hands with
  2. 23:5 Or load, you must refrain from leaving it to him; you must set it free with him
  3. 23:8 Or and subverts the cause

23 Don’t spread false rumors. Don’t plot with evil people to act as a lying witness. Don’t take sides with important people to do wrong. When you act as a witness, don’t stretch the truth to favor important people. But don’t privilege unimportant people in their lawsuits either.

When you happen to come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey that has wandered off, you should bring it back to them.

When you see a donkey that belongs to someone who hates you and it’s lying down under its load and you are inclined not to help set it free, you must help set it free.

Don’t undermine the justice that your poor deserve in their lawsuits. Stay away from making a false charge. Don’t put an innocent person who is in the right to death, because I will not consider innocent those who do such evil. Don’t take a bribe, because a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

Don’t oppress an immigrant. You know what it’s like to be an immigrant, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt.

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