Keluaran 18:21

18:21 But you choose ¹  from the people capable men, ²  God-fearing, ³  men of truth, ⁴  those who hate bribes, ⁵  and put them over the people ⁶  as rulers ⁷  of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

Ulangan 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 ⁸  the words of the righteous. ⁹ 

Mazmur 15:5

15:5 He does not charge interest when he lends his money. ¹⁰ 

He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. ¹¹ 

The one who lives like this ¹²  will never be upended.

Mazmur 26:10

26:10 who are always ready to do wrong ¹³ 

or offer a bribe. ¹⁴ 

Yesaya 33:15

33:15 The one who lives ¹⁵  uprightly ¹⁶ 

and speaks honestly;

the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures

and rejects a bribe; ¹⁷ 

the one who does not plot violent crimes ¹⁸ 

and does not seek to harm others ¹⁹  –

Yesaya 33:1

The Lord Will Restore Zion

33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, ²⁰ 

you who have not been destroyed!

The deceitful one is as good as dead, ²¹ 

the one whom others have not deceived!

When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;

when you finish ²²  deceiving, others will deceive you!

Titus 3:3

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

Titus 1:10

1:10 For there are many ²³  rebellious people, idle talkers, and deceivers, especially those with Jewish connections, ²⁴ 

[18:21]  ¹ tn The construction uses the independent pronoun for emphasis, and then the imperfect tense “see” (חָזָה, khazah) – “and you will see from all….” Both in Hebrew and Ugaritic expressions of “seeing” are used in the sense of choosing (Gen 41:33). See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 220.

[18:21]  ² tn The expression is אַנְשֵׁי־חַיִל (’anshe khayil, “capable men”). The attributive genitive is the word used in expressions like “mighty man of valor.” The word describes these men as respected, influential, powerful people, those looked up to by the community as leaders, and those who will have the needs of the community in mind.

[18:21]  ³ tn The description “fearers of God” uses an objective genitive. It describes them as devout, worshipful, obedient servants of God.

[18:21]  ⁴ tn The expression “men of truth” (אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת, ’anshe ’emet) indicates that these men must be seekers of truth, who know that the task of a judge is to give true judgment (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 220). The word “truth” includes the ideas of faithfulness or reliability, as well as factuality itself. It could be understood to mean “truthful men,” men whose word is reliable and true.

[18:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “haters of bribes.” Here is another objective genitive, one that refers to unjust gain. To hate unjust gain is to reject and refuse it. Their decisions will not be swayed by greed.

[18:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “over them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:21]  ⁷ sn It is not clear how this structure would work in a judicial setting. The language of “captains of thousands,” etc., is used more for military ranks. There must have been more detailed instruction involved here, for each Israelite would have come under four leaders with this arrangement, and perhaps difficult cases would be sent to the next level. But since the task of these men would also involve instruction and guidance, the breakdown would be very useful. Deut 1:9, 13 suggest that the choice of these people was not simply Moses’ alone.

[16:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”

[16:19]  ⁹ tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”

[15:5]  ¹⁰ sn He does not charge interest. Such an individual is truly generous, and not simply concerned with making a profit.

[15:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a bribe against the innocent he does not take.” For other texts condemning the practice of a judge or witness taking a bribe, see Exod 23:8; Deut 16:19; 27:25; 1 Sam 8:3; Ezek 22:12; Prov 17:23.

[15:5]  ¹² tn Heb “does these things.”

[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.”

[33:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “walks” (so NASB, NIV).

[33:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or, possibly, “justly”; NAB “who practices virtue.”

[33:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[who] shakes off his hands from grabbing hold of a bribe.”

[33:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[who] shuts his ear from listening to bloodshed.”

[33:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[who] closes his eyes from seeing evil.”

[33:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”

[33:1]  sn In this context “the destroyer” appears to refer collectively to the hostile nations (vv. 3-4). Assyria would probably have been primary in the minds of the prophet and his audience.

[33:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.

[33:1]  ²² tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”

[1:10]  ²³ tc ‡ The earliest and best mss lack καί (kai) after πολλοί (polloi; so א A C P 088 81 104 365 614 629 630 al sy co), though the conjunction is found in several significant witnesses, chiefly of the Western and Byzantine texts (D F G I Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï lat). Although it is possible that some scribes omitted the word, thinking it was superfluous, it is also possible that others added the conjunction for clarification. Judging by the pedigree of the witnesses and the inconclusiveness of the internal evidence, the shorter reading is considered to be most likely original. NA²⁷ puts the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[1:10]  ²⁴ tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” Some translations take this to refer to Jewish converts to Christianity (cf. NAB “Jewish Christians”; TEV “converts from Judaism”; CEV “Jewish followers”) while others are less clear (cf. NLT “those who insist on circumcision for salvation”).