Exodus 23:8

Gereviseerde Lutherse Vertaling

Gij zult geen geschenk nemen; want geschenken maken de zienden blind en verkeren de zaken der rechtvaardigen.

Parallel Translations

Gereviseerde Leidse Vertaling
Ook zult gij geen geschenk aannemen; want het geschenk maakt de ogen van zienden blind en verdraait de zaken van wie recht hebben.

Staten Vertaling
Ook zult gij geen geschenk nemen; want het geschenk verblindt de zienden, en het verkeert de zaak der rechtvaardigen.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thou shalt take: Deuteronomy 16:19, 1 Samuel 8:3, 1 Samuel 12:3, Psalms 26:10, Proverbs 15:27, Proverbs 17:8, Proverbs 17:23, Proverbs 19:4, Ecclesiastes 7:7, Isaiah 1:13, Isaiah 5:23, Ezekiel 22:12, Hosea 4:18, Amos 5:12, Micah 7:3

the wise: Heb. the seeing

Reciprocal: Exodus 18:21 - hating Leviticus 19:15 - General Deuteronomy 1:16 - Hear Deuteronomy 27:19 - General Deuteronomy 27:25 - General 2 Samuel 16:4 - Behold 2 Chronicles 19:7 - taking of gifts Psalms 15:5 - nor taketh Proverbs 28:21 - respect Isaiah 1:23 - every Acts 24:26 - hoped 1 Timothy 6:10 - the love

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And thou shalt take no gift,.... Of the persons whose cause is to be tried in a court of judicature before judges; neither of those on the one side nor on the other, neither before the trial nor after, neither by words, by a promise, nor by facts, by actually receiving money; and not even to judge truly, as Jarchi observes, neither to clear the innocent nor to condemn the guilty: a gift was not to be taken on any consideration whatever:

for the gift blindeth the wise; or the "seeing" a; the open ones, who used to have both their eyes and their ears open, and attentive to the cause before them; and yet a gift so blinds them, by casting such a mist before them, that they are inattentive to the true merits of the cause, and their affections and judgments are to be carried away in favour of those that have bribed them, as to pass a wrong sentence:

and perverteth the words of the righteous; either the sentences of righteous judges, as they ought to be, but a gift perverts their judgment, and they give a wrong decree; or the causes of the righteous that are brought before those are perverted by giving the cause to their adversaries, who are wicked men.

a פקחים "videntes", Pagninus, Vatablus, Cartwright; "apertos", Montanus, Drusius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Four precepts evidently addressed to those in authority as judges:

(a) To do justice to the poor. ComparingExodus 23:6; Exodus 23:6 with Exodus 23:3, it was the part of the judge to defend the poor against the oppression of the rich, and the part of the witness to take care lest his feelings of natural pity should tempt him to falsify evidence.

(b) To be cautious of inflicting capital punishment on one whose guilt was not clearly proved. A doubtful case was rather to be left to God Himself, who would “not justify the wicked,” nor suffer him to go unpunished though he might be acquitted by an earthly tribunal. Exodus 23:7.

(c) To take no bribe or present which might in any way pervert judgment Exodus 23:8; compare Num 16:15; 1 Samuel 12:3; Acts 26:26.

(d) To vindicate the rights of the stranger Exodus 23:9 - rather, the foreigner. (Exodus 20:10 note.) This verse is a repetition of Exodus 22:21, but the precept is there addressed to the people at large, while it is here addressed to the judges in reference to their official duties. The caution was perpetually necessary. Compare Ezekiel 22:7; Malachi 3:5. The word rendered “heart” is more strictly “soul,” and would be better represented here by feelings.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 23:8. Thou shalt take no gift — A strong ordinance against selling justice, which has been the disgrace and ruin of every state where it has been practised. In the excellent charter of British liberties called Magna Charta, there is one article expressly on this head: Nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus aut differemus, rectum aut justitiam. - Art. xxxiii. "To none will we sell, to none will we deny or defer, right or justice." This was the more necessary in those early and corrupt times, as he who had most money, and gave the largest presents (called then oblata) to the king or queen, was sure to gain his cause in the king's court; whether he had right and justice on his side or not.