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JPS Old Testament
Exodus 23:8
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You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
And you will not take a bribe, because the bribe makes the sighted blind and ruins the words of the righteous.
"You must not accept money from a person who wants you to lie in court, because such money will not let you see what is right. Such money makes good people tell lies.
"You must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and subverts the words of the righteous.
"You shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the testimony and the cause of the righteous.
"You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.
Thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and peruerteth the wordes of the righteous.
"And you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.
Don't accept bribes. Judges are blinded and justice is twisted by bribes.
You are not to receive a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clearsighted and subverts the cause of the righteous.
And thou shalt take no bribe; for the bribe blindeth those whose eyes are open, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
"If someone tries to pay you to agree with them when they are wrong, don't accept that payment. A payment like that can blind judges so that they cannot see the truth. It can make good people tell lies.
And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
And you shall take no bribe; for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise in judgment and perverts the words of the righteous.
Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe makes people blind to what is right and ruins the cause of those who are innocent.
You must not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words of the righteous.
And you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe blinds the seeing one, and it perverts the words of the righteous.
Thou shalt not take giftes: for giftes blinde euen them yt are sharpe of sight, & wraist the righteous causes.
And thou shalt take no bribe: for a bribe blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
Take no rewards in a cause: for rewards make blind those who have eyes to see, and make the decisions of the upright false.
Thou shalt take no gyftes: for gyftes blinde the seyng, and peruert the wordes of the righteous.
And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and peruerteth the words of the righteous.
And thou shalt not receive gifts; for gifts blind the eyes of the seeing, and corrupt just words.
And thou shalt take no gift: for a gift blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.
Take thou not yiftis, that blynden also prudent men, and destryen the wordys of iust men.
`And a bribe thou dost not take; for the bribe bindeth the open-[eyed], and perverteth the words of the righteous.
And you shall take no bribe: for a bribe blinds those that have sight, and perverts the words of the righteous.
And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.
"Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth.
Do not take pay in secret for wrong-doing. For such pay blinds the one who sees well and destroys the words of a good man.
You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the officials, and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
And, a bribe, shalt thou not take, - for the bribe, blindeth the clear-sighted, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
Neither shalt thou take bribes, which even blind the wise, and pervert the words of the just.
And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the officials, and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
"Don't take bribes. Bribes blind perfectly good eyes and twist the speech of good people.
"You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.
Contextual Overview
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
Cross-References
And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
And Sarah died in Kiriatharba--the same is Hebron--in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke unto the children of Heth, saying:
'I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.'
And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;
And he said: 'Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king--for he will not say thee nay--that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife.'
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.
