Keluaran 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 

Ulangan 10:17

10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe,

Ulangan 27:25

27:25 ‘Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

Mazmur 15:5

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

He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. ⁶ 

The one who lives like this ⁷  will never be upended.

Yehezkiel 22:12

22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ⁸  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ⁹  declares the sovereign Lord. ¹⁰ 

[23:7]  ¹ tn Or “stay away from,” or “have nothing to do with.”

[23:7]  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.

[23:7]  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).

[23:7]  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.

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

[15:5]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “does these things.”

[22:12]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.