Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel at Sinai, within the covenant code's judicial section (Exodus 23:1–3), binding the individual witness against mob pressure in a lawsuit.
The words — רַבִּים (ravim), literally "many," functions as a collective noun for "the crowd"; the phrase אַחֲרֵי רַבִּים is "after the many," i.e., following the majority's lead.
The thread — Proverbs 1:10, 15 warn against yielding to the enticement of a group; Luke 23:23 shows the crowd's clamor prevailing in a judicial setting, the exact failure this verse forbids.
Why it lands — It names the specific pressure a witness faces — the crowd — and forbids letting that pressure shape the testimony, regardless of which side the majority favors.
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 follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
Cross-references
- Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not yield to them.
- Proverbs 1:15 my son, do not walk the road with them or set foot upon their path.
- Luke 23:23 But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices for Jesus to be crucified. And their clamor prevailed.
- Job 31:34 because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—
- Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”
- Exodus 23:6 You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.
- Deuteronomy 1:17 Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.”
- 1 Kings 19:10 “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
- Exodus 32:1 Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!”
- Numbers 14:1 Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept.