Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 16:19
Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Israel as they prepare to enter the land, positioned between the command to appoint judges (16:18) and the command to pursue justice alone (16:20).
The words — תַכִּיר פְּנִים (ta.Kir pa.Nim) literally "you will pay regard to faces," an idiom for favoring a person over the case before you.
The thread — The same prohibition against perverting justice and showing partiality appears in Leviticus 19:15 and Exodus 23:2; Proverbs 17:23 names the bribe specifically as the instrument by which a wicked man subverts the course of justice.
Why it lands — It tells judges that a bribe does not merely corrupt the verdict but corrupts the judge's perception itself, blinding the wise and twisting the words of the righteous.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 19:15 You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
- Exodus 23:2 You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
- Proverbs 17:23 A wicked man takes a covert bribe to subvert the course of justice.
- Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.
- Deuteronomy 24:17 Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security.
- Habakkuk 1:4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
- Deuteronomy 27:19 ‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Proverbs 24:23 These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
- Ecclesiastes 7:7 Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
- Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”