Exodus 23:7

23:7 Keep your distance ¹  from a false charge ²  – do not kill the innocent and the righteous, ³  for I will not justify the wicked. ⁴ 

Proverbs 17:15

17:15 The one who acquits the guilty and the one who condemns the innocent ⁵  –

both of them are an abomination to the Lord. ⁶ 

Isaiah 3:10

3:10 Tell the innocent ⁷  it will go well with them, ⁸ 

for they will be rewarded for what they have done. ⁹ 

Ezekiel 18:20

18:20 The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer ¹⁰  for his father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer ¹¹  for his son’s iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness. ¹² 

Romans 2:13

2:13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous. ¹³ 

Romans 7:9

7:9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive

¹ tn Or “stay away from,” or “have nothing to do with.”

² tn Heb “a false matter,” this expression in this context would have to be a case in law that was false or that could only be won by falsehood.

³ tn The two clauses probably should be related: the getting involved in the false charge could lead to the death of an innocent person (so, e.g., Naboth in 1 Kgs 21:10-13).

⁴ sn God will not declare right the one who is in the wrong. Society should also be consistent, but it cannot see the intents and motives, as God can.

⁵ tn Heb “he who justifies the wicked and and he who condemns the righteous” (so NASB). The first colon uses two Hiphil participles, מַצְדִּיק (matsdiq) and מַרְשִׁיעַ (marshia’). The first means “to declare righteous” (a declarative Hiphil), and the second means “to make wicked [or, guilty]” or “to condemn” (i.e., “to declare guilty”). To declare someone righteous who is a guilty criminal, or to condemn someone who is innocent, are both abominations for the Righteous Judge of the whole earth.

⁶ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.”

⁷ tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”

⁸ tn Heb “that it is good.”

⁹ tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “lift up, bear.”

¹¹ tn Heb “lift up, bear.”

¹² tn Heb “the righteousness of the righteous one will be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked one will be upon him.”

¹³ tn The Greek sentence expresses this contrast more succinctly than is possible in English. Grk “For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be declared righteous.”