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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.

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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

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”