the Third Week after Easter
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THE MESSAGE
Exodus 23:2
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You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
You will not follow a majority for evil, and you will not testify concerning a legal dispute to turn aside after a majority to pervert justice.
"You must not do wrong just because everyone else is doing it. If you are a witness in court, you must not ruin a fair trial. You must not tell lies just because everyone else is.
"You must not follow a crowd in doing evil things; in a lawsuit you must not offer testimony that agrees with a crowd so as to pervert justice,
"You shall not follow a crowd to do [something] evil, nor shall you testify at a trial or in a dispute so as to side with a crowd in order to pervert justice;
"You shall not follow the crowd in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to join together with a crowd in order to pervert justice;
Thou shalt not followe a multitude to do euil, neither agree in a controuersie to decline after many and ouerthrowe the trueth.
You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a case so as to turn aside after the masses in order to cause justice to be turned aside;
Always tell the truth in court, even if everyone else is dishonest and stands in the way of justice.
Do not follow the crowd when it does what is wrong; and don't allow the popular view to sway you into offering testimony for any cause if the effect will be to pervert justice.
Thou shalt not follow the multitude for evil; neither shalt thou answer in a cause, to go after the multitude to pervert [judgment].
"Don't do something just because everyone else is doing it. If you see a group of people doing wrong, don't join them. You must not let them persuade you to do wrong things—you must do what is right and fair.
You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,
You shall not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shall you testify in a lawsuit so as to pervert justice, in order to side with a multitude which deviates from justice.
Do not follow the majority when they do wrong or when they give testimony that perverts justice.
“You must not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. Do not testify in a lawsuit and go along with a crowd to pervert justice.
You shall not run after many to gain evil things. And you shall not testify as to a lawsuit, to turn aside after many in order to pervert justice .
Thou shalt not folowe the multitude vnto euell, ner answere at the lawe that thou woldest (to folowe the multitude) turne a syde from the right.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest justice:
Do not be moved to do wrong by the general opinion, or give the support of your words to a wrong decision:
Thou shalt not folow a multitude to do euill, neither shalt thou speake in a matter of iustice according to the greater number, for to peruert iudgement.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou bear witness in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert justice;
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill: neither shalt thou speake in a cause, to decline after many, to wrest iudgement:
Thou shalt not associate with the multitude for evil; thou shalt not join thyself with a multitude to turn aside with the majority so as to shut out judgment.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest judgment:
You shall not follow a crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with a crowd.
Thou schalt not sue the cumpanye to do yuel, nether thou schalt ascente to the sentence of ful many men in doom, that thou go awey fro treuthe.
`Thou art not after many to evil, nor dost thou testify concerning a strife, to turn aside after many to cause [others] to turn aside;
You shall not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shall you speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert [justice]:
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to [do] evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest [judgment]:
You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;
You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.
"You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you are called to testify in a dispute, do not be swayed by the crowd to twist justice.
Do not follow many people in doing wrong. When telling what you know in a trial, do not agree with many people by saying what is not true.
You shall not follow a majority in wrongdoing; when you bear witness in a lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so as to pervert justice;
Thou shalt not follow multitudes to commit wickedness, - neither shalt thou answer in a quarrel, so as to turn away after multitudes to mislead,
Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth.
You shall not follow a multitude to do evil; nor shall you bear witness in a suit, turning aside after a multitude, so as to pervert justice;
"You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice;
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
follow: Exodus 32:1-5, Genesis 6:12, Genesis 7:1, Genesis 19:4, Genesis 19:7-9, Numbers 14:1-10, Joshua 24:15, 1 Samuel 15:9, 1 Kings 19:10, Job 31:34, Proverbs 1:10, Proverbs 1:11, Proverbs 1:15, Proverbs 4:14, Matthew 27:24-26, Mark 15:15, Luke 23:23, Luke 23:24, Luke 23:51, John 7:50, John 7:51, Acts 24:27, Acts 25:9, Romans 1:32, Galatians 2:11-13
speak: or, answer
to decline: Exodus 23:6, Exodus 23:7, Leviticus 19:15, Deuteronomy 1:17, Psalms 72:2, Jeremiah 37:15, Jeremiah 37:21, Jeremiah 38:5, Jeremiah 38:6, Jeremiah 38:9, Ezekiel 9:9, Haggai 1:4
Reciprocal: Exodus 18:21 - such as Deuteronomy 1:16 - Hear Deuteronomy 12:31 - Thou Deuteronomy 16:19 - wrest Deuteronomy 24:17 - pervert Deuteronomy 27:19 - General Judges 6:31 - Will ye plead 1 Samuel 15:24 - I feared 1 Kings 21:11 - did as Jezebel Job 13:8 - General Proverbs 11:21 - hand Proverbs 28:21 - respect Habakkuk 1:4 - wrong Mark 12:14 - for thou Acts 23:21 - do not Romans 12:2 - be not 2 Peter 3:16 - wrest 3 John 1:11 - follow
Cross-References
Abram moved his tent. He went and settled by the Oaks of Mamre in Hebron. There he built an altar to God .
Then Ephron answered Abraham, "If you insist, master. What's four hundred silver shekels between us? Now go ahead and bury your wife."
Abraham accepted Ephron's offer and paid out the sum that Ephron had named before the town council of Hittites—four hundred silver shekels at the current exchange rate.
Esau seethed in anger against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him; he brooded, "The time for mourning my father's death is close. And then I'll kill my brother Jacob."
Arriving at the Atad Threshing Floor just across the Jordan River, they stopped for a period of mourning, letting their grief out in loud and lengthy lament. For seven days, Joseph engaged in these funeral rites for his father.
They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hills of Naphtali, Shechem in the hills of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hills of Judah.
Samuel was now dead. All Israel had mourned his death and buried him in Ramah, his hometown. Saul had long since cleaned out all those who held séances with the dead.
Then David sang this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan, and gave orders that everyone in Judah learn it by heart. Yes, it's even inscribed in The Book of Jashar.
All the leaders of Israel met with King David at Hebron, and the king made a treaty with them in the presence of God . And so they anointed David king over Israel.
Don't weep over dead King Josiah. Don't waste your tears. Weep for his exiled son: He's gone for good. He'll never see home again.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil,.... The Targums of Jerusalem and Jonathan add, but to do good. As in private life, the examples of the many, who are generally the most wicked, are not to be followed, though they too often are; examples, and especially of the multitude, having great influence, and therefore to be guarded against; so in public courts of judicature, where there are many judges upon the bench, if one of them is sensible that the greater part go wrong in their judgment of a case, he ought not to follow them, or be influenced by them, but go according to the dictates of his own conscience, and the evidence of things as they appear to him, and neither agree to justify the wicked, nor condemn the righteous:
neither shall thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment; or "thou shalt not answer" r; either in pleading in a cause, and taking the side of it the majority is on, and for that reason, though it is a manifest perversion of justice; or by giving a vote on that side, and on that account, whereby a wrong judgment passes; and this vote given either according to the number of witnesses, which ought not always to be the rule of judgment; for it is not the number of witnesses, but the nature, evidence, and circumstances of their testimony, that are to be regarded: Jarchi says, in judgments of life and death, they go after the mouth of one witness to absolve, and after the mouth of two to condemn: or according to the number of judges on the bench, and their superiority in years and knowledge; and so some render the word, "after the great ones" s; for a judge is not to be influenced by names or numbers in giving his vote, but to judge according to the truth of things, as they appear to him: hence the Jews say, that the younger or puisne judges used to be asked their judgment first, that they might not be influenced by others superior to them; and a like method is taken with us in the trial of a peer, the younger lords always giving their opinion first: as to the number of votes by which a cause was carried in court, it is said t, not as the decline to good, is the decline to evil; the decline to good, i.e. to absolution, is by the sentence of one (a majority of one); the decline to evil, i.e. to condemnation, is by the mouth or sentence of two, a majority of two.
r ××× ×ª×¢× × "neque respondeas", Tigurine version; "non respondebis", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius. s ×××¨× ×¨××× "post potentiores", Junius Tremellius "post magnos", Lyra, Cartwright. t Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 1. sect. 6.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
These four commands, addressed to the conscience, are illustrations of the ninth commandment, mainly in reference to the giving of evidence in legal causes. Compare 1 Kings 21:10; Acts 6:11.
Exodus 23:2
This verse might be more strictly rendered, âThou shalt not follow the many to evil; neither shalt thou bear witness in a cause so as to incline after the many to pervert justice.â
Exodus 23:3
Countenance - Rather, show partiality to a manâs cause because he is poor (compare Leviticus 19:15).
These four commands, addressed to the conscience, are illustrations of the ninth commandment, mainly in reference to the giving of evidence in legal causes. Compare 1 Kings 21:10; Acts 6:11.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Exodus 23:2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil — Be singular. Singularity, if in the right, can never be criminal. So completely disgraceful is the way of sin, that if there were not a multitude walking in that way, who help to keep each other in countenance, every solitary sinner would be obliged to hide his head. But ר××× rabbim, which we translate multitude, sometimes signifies the great, chiefs, or mighty ones; and is so understood by some eminent critics in this place: "Thou shalt not follow the example of the great or rich, who may so far disgrace their own character as to live without God in the world, and trample under foot his laws." It is supposed that these directions refer principally to matters which come under the eye of the civil magistrate; as if he had said, "Do not join with great men in condemning an innocent or righteous person, against whom they have conceived a prejudice on the account of his religion," &c.
