Bible Strands
Isaiah 29:21
those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah addresses Judah immediately after declaring that mockers and evildoers will be cut down. The passage identifies corrupt legal actors who manipulate judicial proceedings to harm others.
The words — מַחֲטִיאֵי (ma.cha.ti.'Ei) literally renders "[those who] cause to sin," describing the instigators of false accusations. בַּ/תּוֹהוּ (va./To.hu) translates to "with emptiness," specifying the baseless nature of the charges brought against the innocent.
The thread — This legal corruption aligns with Amos 5:10, which condemns those who hate the one who reproves in the gate. The same pattern of wrongful condemnation appears in James 5:6 and Acts 3:14.
Why it lands — The text states that justice is perverted when accusers use fabricated words to trap judicial mediators. Readers must identify and refuse participation in any system that substitutes false charges for the innocent.
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
That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
Cross-references
- Amos 5:10 There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.
- James 5:6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.
- Acts 3:14 You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.
- Judges 12:6 they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. So at that time 42,000 Ephraimites were killed.
- Proverbs 28:21 To show partiality is not good, yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
- Isaiah 32:7 The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.
- Jeremiah 18:18 Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”
- Jeremiah 20:7 You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
- Jeremiah 26:2 “This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the house of the LORD and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all the cities of Judah who come to worship there. Do not omit a word.
- Ezekiel 13:19 You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to My people who would listen, you have killed those who should not have died and spared those who should not have lived.