Deuteronomy 16:19

16:19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort ¹  the words of the righteous. ² 

Deuteronomy 16:1

The Passover-Unleavened Bread Festival

16:1 Observe the month Abib ³  and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month ⁴  he ⁵  brought you out of Egypt by night.

Deuteronomy 8:3

8:3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. ⁶  He did this to teach you ⁷  that humankind ⁸  cannot live by bread ⁹  alone, but also by everything that comes from the Lord’s mouth. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 12:3

12:3 You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, ¹¹  burn up their sacred Asherah poles, ¹²  and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place.

Psalms 26:10

26:10 who are always ready to do wrong ¹³ 

or offer a bribe. ¹⁴ 

Proverbs 15:27

15:27 The one who is greedy for gain ¹⁵  troubles ¹⁶  his household, ¹⁷ 

but whoever hates bribes ¹⁸  will live.

Proverbs 17:8

17:8 A bribe works like ¹⁹  a charm ²⁰  for the one who offers it; ²¹ 

in whatever he does ²²  he succeeds. ²³ 

Proverbs 17:23

17:23 A wicked person receives a bribe secretly ²⁴ 

to pervert ²⁵  the ways of justice.

Proverbs 19:4

19:4 Wealth adds many friends,

but a poor person is separated ²⁶  from his friend. ²⁷ 

Ecclesiastes 7:7

Human Wisdom Overturned by Adversity

7:7 Surely oppression ²⁸  can turn a wise person into a fool; ²⁹ 

likewise, ³⁰  a bribe corrupts ³¹  the heart. ³² 

Isaiah 1:13

1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless ³³  offerings;

I consider your incense detestable! ³⁴ 

You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,

but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! ³⁵ 

Isaiah 5:23

5:23 They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff,

they ignore the just cause of the innocent. ³⁶ 

Ezekiel 22:12

22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ³⁷  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ³⁸  declares the sovereign Lord. ³⁹ 

Hosea 4:18

The Shameful Sinners Will Be Brought to Shame

4:18 They consume their alcohol,

then engage in cult prostitution;

they dearly love their shameful behavior.

Amos 5:12

5:12 Certainly ⁴⁰  I am aware of ⁴¹  your many rebellious acts ⁴² 

and your numerous sins.

You ⁴³  torment the innocent, you take bribes,

and you deny justice to ⁴⁴  the needy at the city gate. ⁴⁵ 

Micah 7:3

7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ⁴⁶ 

government officials and judges take bribes, ⁴⁷ 

prominent men make demands,

and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ⁴⁸ 

[16:19]  ¹ tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”

[16:19]  ² tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”

[16:1]  ³ sn The month Abib, later called Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esth 3:7), corresponds to March-April in the modern calendar.

[16:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the month Abib.” The demonstrative “that” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[16:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[8:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “manna which you and your ancestors did not know.” By popular etymology the word “manna” comes from the Hebrew phrase מָן הוּא (man hu’), i.e., “What is it?” (Exod 16:15). The question remains unanswered to this very day. Elsewhere the material is said to be “white like coriander seed” with “a taste like honey cakes” (Exod 16:31; cf. Num 11:7). Modern attempts to associate it with various desert plants are unsuccessful for the text says it was a new thing and, furthermore, one that appeared and disappeared miraculously (Exod 16:21-27).

[8:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “in order to make known to you.” In the Hebrew text this statement is subordinated to what precedes, resulting in a very long sentence in English. The translation makes this statement a separate sentence for stylistic reasons.

[8:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “the man,” but in a generic sense, referring to the whole human race (“mankind” or “humankind”).

[8:3]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term may refer to “food” in a more general sense (cf. CEV).

[8:3]  ¹⁰ sn Jesus quoted this text to the devil in the midst of his forty-day fast to make the point that spiritual nourishment is incomparably more important than mere physical bread (Matt 4:4; cf. Luke 4:4).

[12:3]  ¹¹ sn Sacred pillars. These are the stelae (stone pillars; the Hebrew term is מַצֵּבֹת, matsevot) associated with Baal worship, perhaps to mark a spot hallowed by an alleged visitation of the gods. See also Deut 7:5.

[12:3]  ¹² sn Sacred Asherah poles. The Hebrew term (plural) is אֲשֵׁרִים (’asherim). See note on the word “(leafy) tree” in v. 2, and also Deut 7:5.

[26:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “who [have] in their hands evil.”

[26:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and their right hand is full of a bribe.”

[15:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the one who gains.” The phrase בּוֹצֵעַ בָּצַע (botseakh batsa’) is a participle followed by its cognate accusative. This refers to a person who is always making the big deal, getting the larger cut, or in a hurry to get rich. The verb, though, makes it clear that the gaining of a profit is by violence and usually unjust, since the root has the idea of “cut off; break off; gain by violence.” The line is contrasted with hating bribes, and so the gain in this line may be through bribery.

[15:27]  ¹⁶ sn The participle “troubles” (עֹכֵר, ’okher) can have the connotation of making things difficult for the family, or completely ruining the family (cf. NAB). In Josh 7:1 Achan took some of the “banned things” and was put to death: Because he “troubled Israel,” the Lord would “trouble” him (take his life, Josh 7:25).

[15:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his house.”

[15:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “gifts” (so KJV). Gifts can be harmless enough, but in a setting like this the idea is that the “gift” is in exchange for some “profit [or, gain].” Therefore they are bribes (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), and to be hated or rejected. Abram, for example, would not take anything that the king of Sodom had to offer, “lest [he] say, “I have made Abram rich” (Gen 14:22-24).

[17:8]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase “works like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the metaphor; it is supplied for the sake of clarity.

[17:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a stone of favors”; NAB, NRSV “a magic stone.” The term שֹׁחַד (shokhad, “bribe”) could be simply translated as “a gift”; but the second half of the verse says that the one who offers it is successful. At best it could be a gift that opens doors; at worst it is a bribe. The word שֹׁחַד is never used of a disinterested gift, so there is always something of the bribe in it (e.g., Ps 15:5; Isa 1:23). Here it is “a stone that brings favor,” the genitive being the effect or the result of the gift. In other words, it has magical properties and “works like a charm.”

[17:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of its owner.”

[17:8]  ²² tn Heb “in all that he turns”; NASB, NIV “wherever he turns.”

[17:8]  ²³ sn As C. H. Toy points out, the sage is merely affirming a point without making a comment – those who use bribery meet with widespread success (Proverbs [ICC], 341). This does not amount to an endorsement of bribery.

[17:23]  ²⁴ sn The fact that the “gift” is given secretly (Heb “from the bosom” [מֵחֵיק, mekheq]; so NASB) indicates that it was not proper. Cf. NRSV “a concealed bribe”; TEV, CEV, NLT “secret bribes.”

[17:23]  ²⁵ tn The form לְהַטּוֹת (lÿhattot) is the Hiphil infinitive construct of נָטָה (natah), meaning “to thrust away,” i.e., to “pervert.” This purpose clause clarifies that the receiving of the “gift” is for evil intent.

[19:4]  ²⁶ tn The Niphal imperfect probably should be taken in the passive sense (the poor person is deserted by his “friend,” cf. NAB, NIV) rather than as a direct middle (the poor person deserted his friend).

[19:4]  ²⁷ sn This proverb simply makes an observation on life: People pursue wealthy folk hoping that they can gain something from the rich, but the poor are deserted even by friends, who fear that the poor will try to gain something from them.

[7:7]  ²⁸ tn Or “extortion.” Scholars debate whether the noun עֹשֶׁק (’osheq, “oppression; extortion”) in this context denotes “oppression” (HALOT 897 s.v. עֹשֶׁק 1) or “gain of extortion” (BDB 799 s.v. עֹשֶׁק 3). The parallelism between עֹשֶׁק and מַתָּנָה (mattanah, “bribe”) seems to suggest the latter; but the prominence of the theme of oppression in 7:8-10 argues for the former. Elsewhere in Ecclesiastes, the noun עֹשֶׁק denotes “oppression” (Eccl 4:1) and “extortion” (Eccl 5:8 [Heb 5:7]). The LXX rendered it as συκοφαντία (sukofantia, “oppression”). English translations are split between these two options: “extortion” (ASV, MLB, NIV), “oppression” (KJV, NAB, NASB, RSV, NRSV, YLT, Douay, Moffatt), as well as “cheating” (NJPS) and “slander” (NEB).

[7:7]  ²⁹ tn Or “Oppression drives a wise person crazy”; or “Extortion drives a wise person crazy.” The verb III הלל (“to be foolish”) denotes “to make foolish; to make a fool out of someone; to make into a madman” (Job 12:17; Isa 44:25); cf. HALOT 249 s.v. III הלל; BDB 239 s.v. II הלל. It has been handled variously: “makes a wise man mad” (KJV, NASB); “drives a wise man crazy” (NEB); “can make a fool of a wise man” (NAB); “makes the wise man foolish” (RSV, NRSV); and “turns a wise man into a fool” (NIV).

[7:7]  ³⁰ tn The vav prefixed to וִיאַבֵּד (vi’abbed, “corrupts”) may function in a comparative sense, e.g., Job 5:7; 12:11; 16:21; Prov 25:25 (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 71, §437).

[7:7]  ³¹ tc The text has וִיאַבֵּד (vi’abbed, conjunction + Piel imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from אָבַד, ’avad, “to destroy”), but the Dead Sea Scrolls text 4Q109 (Qoh^a), which reads ,ויעוה assumes ויעוה “twists” or “perverts” (conjunction + Piel imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from עָוָה I, ’avah, “to bend; to twist.” See J. Muilenburg, “A Qoheleth Scroll from Qumran,” BASOR 135 [1954]: 27). The verb I עָוָה (“to bend; to twist”) is used in reference to moral perversion (e.g., 2 Sam 7:14; 19:20; 24:17; 1 Kgs 8:47; Job 33:27; Prov 12:8; Jer 9:4); cf. HALOT 796–97 s.v. עוה; BDB 730 s.v. I עָוָה. The verb ויאבד is used similarly in reference to moral corruption, e.g., Eccl 3:6; 9:18; Jer 23:1 (HALOT 3 s.v. I אבד; BDB 2 s.v. אָבַד 2).

[7:7]  ³² tn Or “and a bribe drives a person mad.” The noun לֵב (lev, “heart”) may be taken as a synecdoche of part (i.e., heart) for the whole (i.e., a person). HALOT 3 s.v. I אבד suggests that וִיאַבֵּד לֵב (vi’abbed lev, “destroys the heart”) is an idiom meaning, “drives a person mad.” The B-line is taken as a comparison with the preceding A-line. On the other hand, the A-line and B-line might be in synonymous parallelism in which case the two lines could be rendered: “Surely [the gain of] extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.” On the other hand, the lines could be rendered, “Surely oppression drives a wise man crazy, and a bribe drives a person mad.”

[1:13]  ³³ tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”

[1:13]  ³⁴ sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).

[1:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).

[5:23]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and the just cause of the innocent ones they turn aside from him.”

[22:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.

[22:12]  ³⁸ sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.

[22:12]  ³⁹ tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.

[5:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “for.”

[5:12]  ⁴¹ tn Or “I know” (so most English versions).

[5:12]  ⁴² tn Or “transgressions,” “sins.” See the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3 and on the phrase “covenant violations” in 2:4.

[5:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “Those who.”

[5:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “turn aside.” They “turn aside” the needy by denying them the justice they deserve at the city gate (where legal decisions were made, and therefore where justice should be done).

[5:12]  ⁴⁵ sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate, where the town elders met.

[7:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”

[7:3]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”

[7:3]  ⁴⁸ tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.