Add parallel Print Page Options

23 (A)You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a (B)malicious witness. You shall not follow [a]the masses in doing evil, nor shall you [b]testify in a case so as to turn aside after [c]the masses in order to [d](C)cause justice to be turned aside; (D)nor shall you [e]be partial to a poor man in his case.

(E)If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. (F)If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.

(G)You shall not cause the justice due to your needy brother to be turned aside in his case. (H)Keep far from a [f]false charge, and (I)do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for (J)I will not justify the guilty.

(K)And you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and [g]subverts the cause of the [h]just.

(L)And you shall not oppress a sojourner, since you yourselves know the soul of a sojourner, for you also were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 23:2 Lit many men
  2. Exodus 23:2 Or answer
  3. Exodus 23:2 Lit many men
  4. Exodus 23:2 Or pervert justice, cf. 23:6
  5. Exodus 23:3 Lit honor
  6. Exodus 23:7 Lit lying word
  7. Exodus 23:8 Or distorts the words
  8. Exodus 23:8 Or righteous

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 foreign resident;(F) you yourselves know how it feels to be a foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

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