Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 16:18-19
Context16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants 1 for each tribe in all your villages 2 that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. 3 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 4 the words of the righteous. 5
Exodus 23:2-3
Context23:2 “You must not follow a crowd 6 in doing evil things; 7 in a lawsuit you must not offer testimony that agrees with a crowd so as to pervert justice, 8 23:3 and you must not show partiality 9 to a poor man in his lawsuit.
Exodus 23:7-8
Context23:7 Keep your distance 10 from a false charge 11 – do not kill the innocent and the righteous, 12 for I will not justify the wicked. 13
23:8 “You must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see 14 and subverts the words of the righteous.
Leviticus 19:15
Context19:15 “‘You 15 must not deal unjustly in judgment: 16 you must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. 17 You must judge your fellow citizen fairly. 18
Leviticus 19:2
Context19:2 “Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
Leviticus 23:3
Context23:3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, 19 a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.
Leviticus 23:2
Context23:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘These are the Lord’s appointed times which you must proclaim as holy assemblies – my appointed times: 20
Leviticus 19:6-10
Context19:6 It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice and on the following day, 21 but what is left over until the third day must be burned up. 22 19:7 If, however, it is eaten 23 on the third day, it is spoiled, 24 it will not be accepted, 19:8 and the one who eats it will bear his punishment for iniquity 25 because he has profaned 26 what is holy to the Lord. 27 That person will be cut off from his people. 28
19:9 “‘When you gather in the harvest 29 of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field, 30 and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. 19:10 You must not pick your vineyard bare, 31 and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.
Psalms 58:1
ContextFor the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; 33 a prayer 34 of David.
58:1 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? 35
Do you judge people 36 fairly?
John 7:24
Context7:24 Do not judge according to external appearance, 37 but judge with proper 38 judgment.”
[16:18] 1 tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.
[16:18] 3 tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”
[16:19] 4 tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”
[16:19] 5 tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”
[23:2] 6 tn The word רָבִּים (rabbim), here rendered “crowd,” is also used infrequently to refer to the “mighty,” people of importance in society (Job 35:9; cf. Lev 19:15).
[23:2] 7 tn For any individual to join a group that is bent on acting wickedly would be a violation of the Law and would incur personal responsibility.
[23:2] 8 tn Heb “you will not answer in a lawsuit to turn after the crowd to turn.” The form translated “agrees with” (Heb “to turn after”) is a Qal infinitive construct from נָטָה (natah); the same root is used at the end of the verse but as a Hiphil infinitive construct, “to pervert [justice].”
[23:3] 9 tn The point here is one of false sympathy and honor, the bad sense of the word הָדַר (hadar; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 237).
[23:7] 10 tn Or “stay away from,” or “have nothing to do with.”
[23:7] 11 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.
[23:7] 12 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).
[23:7] 13 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.
[23:8] 14 tn Heb “blinds the open-eyed.”
[19:15] 15 tc Smr has the singular rather than the plural “you” of the MT, which brings this verb form into line with the ones surrounding it.
[19:15] 16 tn Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (NASB similar); cf. NIV “do not pervert justice.”
[19:15] 17 tn Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”
[19:15] 18 tn Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”
[23:3] 19 tn This is a superlative expression, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the Sabbath and certain festival times throughout the chapter (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 155). Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest.”
[23:2] 20 tn Heb “these are them, my appointed times.”
[19:6] 21 tn Heb “from the following day” (HALOT 572 s.v. מָחֳרָת 2.b).
[19:6] 22 tn Heb “shall be burned with fire”; KJV “shall be burnt in the fire.” Because “to burn with fire” is redundant in contemporary English the present translation simply has “must be burned up.”
[19:7] 23 tn Heb “And if being eaten [infinitive absolute] it is eaten [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
[19:7] 24 tn Or “desecrated,” or “defiled,” or “forbidden.” For this difficult term see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:422, on Lev 7:18.
[19:8] 25 tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
[19:8] 26 sn Regarding “profaned,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
[19:8] 27 tn Heb “the holiness of the
[19:8] 28 sn On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.
[19:9] 29 tn Heb “And in your harvesting the harvest.”
[19:9] 30 tn Heb “you shall not complete the corner of your field to harvest.”
[19:10] 31 tn Heb “And you shall not deal severely with your vineyard.”
[58:1] 32 sn Psalm 58. The psalmist calls on God to punish corrupt judges because a vivid display of divine judgment will convince observers that God is the just judge of the world who vindicates the godly.
[58:1] 33 tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 57, 59, and 75.
[58:1] 34 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam) which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 56-57, 59-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”
[58:1] 35 tn Heb “Really [in] silence, what is right do you speak?” The Hebrew noun אֵלֶם (’elem, “silence”) makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some feel that this is an indictment of the addressees’ failure to promote justice; they are silent when they should make just decisions. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֵלִם (’elim), which in turn is understood as a defectively written form of אֵילִים (’elim, “rulers,” a metaphorical use of אַיִל, ’ayil, “ram”; see Exod 15:15; Ezek 17:13). The rhetorical question is sarcastic, challenging their claim to be just. Elsewhere the collocation of דָּבַר (davar, “speak”) with צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “what is right”) as object means “to speak the truth” (see Ps 52:3; Isa 45:19). Here it refers specifically to declaring what is right in a legal setting, as the next line indicates.
[58:1] 36 tn Heb “the sons of mankind.” The translation assumes the phrase is the object of the verb “to judge.” Some take it as a vocative, “Do you judge fairly, O sons of mankind?” (Cf. NASB; see Ezek 20:4; 22:2; 23:36.)
