Keluaran 23:1-7

Justice

23:1 ¹ “You must not give ²  a false report. ³  Do not make common cause ⁴  with the wicked ⁵  to be a malicious ⁶  witness.

23:2 “You must not follow a crowd ⁷  in doing evil things; ⁸  in a lawsuit you must not offer testimony that agrees with a crowd so as to pervert justice, ⁹  23:3 and you must not show partiality ¹⁰  to a poor man in his lawsuit.

23:4 “If you encounter ¹¹  your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, you must by all means return ¹²  it to him. 23:5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen under its load, you must not ignore him, ¹³  but be sure to help ¹⁴  him with it. ¹⁵ 

23:6 “You must not turn away justice for your poor people in their lawsuits. 23:7 Keep your distance ¹⁶  from a false charge ¹⁷  – do not kill the innocent and the righteous, ¹⁸  for I will not justify the wicked. ¹⁹ 

Keluaran 23:1

Justice

23:1 ²⁰ “You must not give ²¹  a false report. ²²  Do not make common cause ²³  with the wicked ²⁴  to be a malicious ²⁵  witness.

Kisah Para Rasul 21:10-13

21:10 While we remained there for a number of days, ²⁶  a prophet named Agabus ²⁷  came down from Judea. 21:11 He came ²⁸  to us, took ²⁹  Paul’s belt, ³⁰  tied ³¹  his own hands and feet with it, ³²  and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over ³³  to the Gentiles.’” 21:12 When we heard this, both we and the local people ³⁴  begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 21:13 Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking ³⁵  my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, ³⁶  but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Mazmur 27:12

27:12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, ³⁷ 

for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. ³⁸ 

Mazmur 35:11

35:11 Violent men perjure themselves, ³⁹ 

and falsely accuse me. ⁴⁰ 

Markus 14:55-59

14:55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find anything. 14:56 Many gave false testimony against him, but their testimony did not agree. 14:57 Some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: ⁴¹  14:58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands and in three days build another not made with hands.’” 14:59 Yet even on this point their testimony did not agree.

Kisah Para Rasul 6:13

6:13 They brought forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop saying things against this holy place ⁴²  and the law. ⁴³ 

[23:1]  ¹ sn People who claim to worship and serve the righteous judge of the universe must preserve equity and justice in their dealings with others. These verses teach that God’s people must be honest witnesses (1-3); God’s people must be righteous even with enemies (4-5); and God’s people must be fair in dispensing justice (6-9).

[23:1]  ² tn Heb “take up, lift, carry” (נָשָׂא, nasa’). This verb was also used in the prohibition against taking “the name of Yahweh in vain.” Sometimes the object of this verb is physical, as in Jonah 1:12 and 15. Used in this prohibition involving speech, it covers both originating and repeating a lie.

[23:1]  ³ tn Or “a groundless report” (see Exod 20:7 for the word שָׁוְא, shav’).

[23:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not put your hand” (cf. KJV, ASV); NASB “join your hand.”

[23:1]  ⁵ tn The word “wicked” (רָשָׁע, rasha’) refers to the guilty criminal, the person who is doing something wrong. In the religious setting it describes the person who is not a member of the covenant and may be involved in all kinds of sin, even though there is the appearance of moral and spiritual stability.

[23:1]  ⁶ tn The word חָמָס (khamas) often means “violence” in the sense of social injustices done to other people, usually the poor and needy. A “malicious” witness would do great harm to others. See J. W. McKay, “Exodus 23:1-43, 6-8: A Decalogue for Administration of Justice in the City Gate,” VT 21 (1971): 311-25.

[23:2]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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).

[23:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “meet” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[23:4]  ¹² tn The construction uses the imperfect tense (taken here as an obligatory imperfect) and the infinitive absolute for emphasis.

[23:5]  ¹³ tn The line reads “you will cease to forsake him” – refrain from leaving your enemy without help.

[23:5]  ¹⁴ tn The law is emphatic here as well, using the infinitive absolute and the imperfect of instruction (or possibly obligation). There is also a wordplay here: two words עָזַב (’azav) are used, one meaning “forsake” and the other possibly meaning “arrange” based on Arabic and Ugaritic evidence (see U. Cassuto, Exodus, 297-98).

[23:5]  ¹⁵ sn See H. B. Huffmon, “Exodus 23:4-5: A Comparative Study,” A Light Unto My Path, 271-78.

[23:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “stay away from,” or “have nothing to do with.”

[23:7]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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.

[23:1]  ²⁰ sn People who claim to worship and serve the righteous judge of the universe must preserve equity and justice in their dealings with others. These verses teach that God’s people must be honest witnesses (1-3); God’s people must be righteous even with enemies (4-5); and God’s people must be fair in dispensing justice (6-9).

[23:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “take up, lift, carry” (נָשָׂא, nasa’). This verb was also used in the prohibition against taking “the name of Yahweh in vain.” Sometimes the object of this verb is physical, as in Jonah 1:12 and 15. Used in this prohibition involving speech, it covers both originating and repeating a lie.

[23:1]  ²² tn Or “a groundless report” (see Exod 20:7 for the word שָׁוְא, shav’).

[23:1]  ²³ tn Heb “do not put your hand” (cf. KJV, ASV); NASB “join your hand.”

[23:1]  ²⁴ tn The word “wicked” (רָשָׁע, rasha’) refers to the guilty criminal, the person who is doing something wrong. In the religious setting it describes the person who is not a member of the covenant and may be involved in all kinds of sin, even though there is the appearance of moral and spiritual stability.

[23:1]  ²⁵ tn The word חָמָס (khamas) often means “violence” in the sense of social injustices done to other people, usually the poor and needy. A “malicious” witness would do great harm to others. See J. W. McKay, “Exodus 23:1-43, 6-8: A Decalogue for Administration of Justice in the City Gate,” VT 21 (1971): 311-25.

[21:10]  ²⁶ tn BDAG 848 s.v. πολύς 1.b.α has “ἐπὶ ἡμέρας πλείους for a (large) number of days, for many days…Ac 13:31. – 21:10…24:17; 25:14; 27:20.”

[21:10]  ²⁷ sn Agabus also appeared in Acts 11:28. He was from Jerusalem, so the two churches were still in contact with one another.

[21:11]  ²⁸ tn Grk “And coming.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The participle ἐλθών (elqwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and taking.” This καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more. The participle ἄρας (aras) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ³⁰ sn The belt was a band or sash used to keep money as well as to gird up the tunic (BDAG 431 s.v. ζώνη).

[21:11]  ³¹ tn The participle δήσας (dhsas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[21:11]  ³² tn The words “with it” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[21:11]  ³³ tn Grk “and will deliver him over into the hands of” (a Semitic idiom).

[21:11]  sn The Jews…will tie up…and will hand him over. As later events will show, the Jews in Jerusalem did not personally tie Paul up and hand him over to the Gentiles, but their reaction to him was the cause of his arrest (Acts 21:27-36).

[21:12]  ³⁴ tn Or “the people there.”

[21:13]  ³⁵ tn The term translated “breaking” as used by Josephus (Ant. 10.10.4 [10.207]) means to break something into pieces, but in its only NT use (it is a hapax legomenon) it is used figuratively (BDAG 972 s.v. συνθρύπτω).

[21:13]  ³⁶ tn L&N 18.13 has “to tie objects together – ‘to tie, to tie together, to tie up.’” The verb δέω (dew) is sometimes figurative for imprisonment (L&N 37.114), but it is preferable to translate it literally here in light of v. 11 where Agabus tied himself up with Paul’s belt.

[27:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”

[27:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.

[35:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “witnesses of violence rise up.”

[35:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “[that] which I do not know they ask me.”

[14:57]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “Some standing up gave false testimony against him, saying.”

[6:13]  ⁴² sn This holy place is a reference to the temple.

[6:13]  ⁴³ sn The law refers to the law of Moses. It elaborates the nature of the blasphemy in v. 11. To speak against God’s law in Torah was to blaspheme God (Deut 28:15-19). On the Jewish view of false witnesses, see Exod 19:16-18; 20:16; m. Sanhedrin 3.6; 5.1-5. Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 may indicate why the temple was mentioned.