Laws About Fairness

23 “You must not ·tell lies [^Lgive a false report]. If you are a witness in court, ·don’t help [^Lyou shall not set hands with] a wicked person ·by telling lies [with a false/violent/malicious witness].

² “You must not ·do wrong just because everyone else is doing it [follow the crowd in evil]. ·If you are a witness in court, you must not ruin a fair trial. You must not tell lies just because everyone else is [^LYou are not to give testimony in an accusation by siding with everyone else in order to distort justice]. ³ ·If a poor person is in court, you must not take his side just because he is poor [^LYou must not be partial to a poor person in his dispute/lawsuit].

⁴ “If you ·see [^Lencounter] your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering away, you must return it to him. ⁵ If you see that ·your enemy’s donkey [^Lthe donkey of one who hates you] has fallen because its load is too heavy, do not leave it there. You must ·help your enemy get the donkey back on its feet [set it free; or rearrange its load].

⁶ “You must not ·be unfair to [pervert the justice of] a poor person when he is in court. ⁷ ·You must not lie when you accuse someone in court [^LKeep yourself far from a false charge/report]. Never allow an innocent or honest person to be put to death as punishment, because I will not ·treat guilty people as if they were innocent [acquit the guilty].

⁸ “You must not accept ·money from a person who wants you to lie in court [^La bribe], because ·such money will not let you see what is right [^La bribe blinds officials; Prov. 15:27; 17:8; 18:16]. Such money ·makes good people tell lies [undermines the cause of the righteous].

⁹ “You must not ·mistreat [oppress] a ·foreigner [sojourner; resident alien]. You know how it feels to be a ·foreigner [sojourner; resident alien], because you were ·foreigners [sojourners; resident aliens] in Egypt [22:21].