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Young's Literal Translation

Exodus 23:6

`Thou dost not turn aside the judgment of thy needy one in his strife;

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Court;   Injustice;   Justice;   Poor;   Rulers;   The Topic Concordance - Judgment;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Courts of Justice;   Injustice;   Magistrates;   Poor, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Poor;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Ethics;   Judge;   Justice;   Law;   Poor;   Punishment;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Amos, Theology of;   Justice;   Poor and Poverty, Theology of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Court Systems;   Exodus, Book of;   Hammurabi;   Judge (Office);   Poor, Orphan, Widow;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the Old Testament;   Covenant, Book of the;   Ethics;   Hexateuch;   Law;   Leviticus;   Poverty;   Priests and Levites;   Ten Commandments;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Law of Moses;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Justice;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Other Laws;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Amos (1);   Blindness, Judicial;   Covenant, the Book of the;   Criticism (the Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis);   Judge;   Justice;   Poor;   Wrest;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Commandments, the 613;   Deuteronomy;   Hatred;   Judaism;   Judge;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
"You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
King James Version
Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
Lexham English Bible
"‘You will not pervert the justice of your poor in his legal dispute.
New Century Version
"You must not be unfair to a poor person when he is in court.
New English Translation
"You must not turn away justice for your poor people in their lawsuits.
Amplified Bible
"You shall not pervert (bend) the justice due to your poor in his dispute.
New American Standard Bible
"You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Thou shalt not ouerthrowe the right of thy poore in his sute.
Legacy Standard Bible
"You shall not cause the justice due to your needy brother to be turned aside in his case.
Contemporary English Version
Make sure that the poor are given equal justice in court.
Complete Jewish Bible
(v) "Do not deny anyone justice in his lawsuit simply because he is poor.
Darby Translation
Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
Easy-to-Read Version
"In court, don't let anyone take advantage of a person simply because that person is poor.
English Standard Version
"You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit.
George Lamsa Translation
You shall not pervert the justice due to a poor man in his lawsuit.
Good News Translation
"Do not deny justice to a poor person when he appears in court.
Christian Standard Bible®
“You must not deny justice to a poor person among you in his lawsuit.
Literal Translation
You shall not pervert the judgment of your needy one in his lawsuit.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thou shalt not wraist the righte of thy poore in his cause.
American Standard Version
Thou shalt not wrest the justice due to thy poor in his cause.
Bible in Basic English
Let no wrong decisions be given in the poor man's cause.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou shalt not hinder the right of thy poore in his suite.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
King James Version (1611)
Thou shalt not wrest the iudgement of thy poore in his cause.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thou shalt not wrest the sentence of the poor in his judgment.
English Revised Version
Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
Berean Standard Bible
You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou schalt not bowe in the doom of a pore man.
Update Bible Version
You shall not pervert the justice [due] to your poor in his cause.
Webster's Bible Translation
Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
World English Bible
"You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.
New King James Version
"You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute.
New Living Translation
"In a lawsuit, you must not deny justice to the poor.
New Life Bible
Do not keep from doing what is right and fair in trying to help a poor brother when he has a problem.
New Revised Standard
You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in their lawsuits.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thou shalt not pervert the vindication of thy needy one in his quarrel.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt not go aside in the poor man’s judgment.
Revised Standard Version
"You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his suit.
THE MESSAGE
"When there is a dispute concerning your poor, don't tamper with the justice due them.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.

Contextual Overview

1 `Thou dost not lift up a vain report; thou dost not put thy hand with a wicked man to be a violent witness. 2 `Thou art not after many to evil, nor dost thou testify concerning a strife, to turn aside after many to cause [others] to turn aside; 3 and a poor man thou dost not honour in his strife. 4 `When thou meetest thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou dost certainly turn it back to him; 5 when thou seest the ass of him who is hating thee crouching under its burden, then thou hast ceased from leaving [it] to it -- thou dost certainly leave [it] with him. 6 `Thou dost not turn aside the judgment of thy needy one in his strife; 7 from a false matter thou dost keep far off, and an innocent and righteous man thou dost not slay; for I do not justify a wicked man. 8 `And a bribe thou dost not take; for the bribe bindeth the open-[eyed], and perverteth the words of the righteous. 9 `And a sojourner thou dost not oppress, and ye -- ye have known the soul of the sojourner, for sojourners ye have been in the land of Egypt.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Exodus 23:2, Exodus 23:3, Deuteronomy 16:19, Deuteronomy 27:19, 2 Chronicles 19:7, Job 31:13, Job 31:21, Job 31:22, Psalms 82:3, Psalms 82:4, Ecclesiastes 5:8, Isaiah 10:1, Isaiah 10:2, Jeremiah 5:28, Jeremiah 6:28, Jeremiah 7:6, Amos 5:11, Amos 5:12, Micah 3:1-4, Zephaniah 3:1-4, Malachi 3:5, James 2:5, James 2:6

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:16 - General Exodus 22:9 - the cause of both parties Deuteronomy 1:17 - ye shall hear Deuteronomy 24:17 - pervert Deuteronomy 25:1 - General 2 Samuel 23:3 - must be just Psalms 82:2 - judge Proverbs 22:22 - oppress Proverbs 24:24 - that Isaiah 5:23 - justify Isaiah 33:15 - shaketh Jeremiah 22:3 - Execute Habakkuk 1:4 - wrong 2 Peter 3:16 - wrest

Cross-References

Genesis 13:2
and Abram [is] exceedingly wealthy in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
Genesis 14:14
And Abram heareth that his brother hath been taken captive, and he draweth out his trained domestics, three hundred and eighteen, and pursueth unto Dan.
Genesis 18:12
and Abraham and Sarah [are] aged, entering into days -- the way of women hath ceased to be to Sarah;
Genesis 21:22
And it cometh to pass at that time that Abimelech speaketh -- Phichol also, head of his host -- unto Abraham, saying, `God [is] with thee in all that thou art doing;
Genesis 23:1
And the life of Sarah is a hundred and twenty and seven years -- years of the life of Sarah;
Genesis 23:2
and Sarah dieth in Kirjath-Arba, which [is] Hebron, in the land of Caanan, and Abraham goeth in to mourn for Sarah, and to bewail her.
Genesis 23:4
`A sojourner and a settler I [am] with you; give to me a possession of a burying-place with you, and I bury my dead from before me.'
Genesis 23:5
And the sons of Heth answer Abraham, saying to him,
Genesis 24:18
and she saith, `Drink, my lord;' and she hasteth, and letteth down her pitcher upon her hand, and giveth him drink.
Genesis 24:35
and Jehovah hath blessed my lord exceedingly, and he is great; and He giveth to him flock, and herd, and silver, and gold, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and camels, and asses;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. As the poor man was not to be favoured when his cause was bad through an affected pity for him as a poor man, so his judgment was not to be wrested or perverted, when his cause was good, because of his poverty; which is too often the case, through the power of rich men, and the prevalence of their gifts and bribes, and to curry favour with them: the phrase, "thy poor", is very emphatic, and intended to engage judges to regard them, as being of the same flesh and blood with them, of the same nation and religion; and who were particularly committed to their care and protection under God, who is the Judge and protector of the poor, of the widow and the fatherless.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Four precepts evidently addressed to those in authority as judges:

(a) To do justice to the poor. ComparingExodus 23:6; Exodus 23:6 with Exodus 23:3, it was the part of the judge to defend the poor against the oppression of the rich, and the part of the witness to take care lest his feelings of natural pity should tempt him to falsify evidence.

(b) To be cautious of inflicting capital punishment on one whose guilt was not clearly proved. A doubtful case was rather to be left to God Himself, who would “not justify the wicked,” nor suffer him to go unpunished though he might be acquitted by an earthly tribunal. Exodus 23:7.

(c) To take no bribe or present which might in any way pervert judgment Exodus 23:8; compare Num 16:15; 1 Samuel 12:3; Acts 26:26.

(d) To vindicate the rights of the stranger Exodus 23:9 - rather, the foreigner. (Exodus 20:10 note.) This verse is a repetition of Exodus 22:21, but the precept is there addressed to the people at large, while it is here addressed to the judges in reference to their official duties. The caution was perpetually necessary. Compare Ezekiel 22:7; Malachi 3:5. The word rendered “heart” is more strictly “soul,” and would be better represented here by feelings.



Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 23:6. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor — Thou shalt neither countenance him in his crimes, nor condemn him in his righteousness. See Exodus 23:5; Exodus 23:7.


 
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