Exodus Chapter 23 verse 8 Holy Bible

ASV Exodus 23:8

And thou shalt take no bribe: for a bribe blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
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BBE Exodus 23:8

Take no rewards in a cause: for rewards make blind those who have eyes to see, and make the decisions of the upright false.
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DARBY Exodus 23:8

And thou shalt take no bribe; for the bribe blindeth those whose eyes are open, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
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KJV Exodus 23:8

And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
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WBT Exodus 23:8

And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
read chapter 23 in WBT

WEB Exodus 23:8

You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
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YLT Exodus 23:8

`And a bribe thou dost not take; for the bribe bindeth the open-`eyed', and perverteth the words of the righteous.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - And thou shalt take no gift. The worst sin of a judge, and the commonest in the East, is to accept abribe from one of the parties to a suit, and give sentence accordingly. As such a practice defeats the whole end for which the administration of justice exists, it is, when detected, for the most part, punished capitally. Josephus tells us that it was so among the Jews (Contr. Apion. 2:27); but the Mosaic code, as it has come down to us, omits to fix the penalty. Whatever it was, it was practically set at nought. Eli's sons "turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment" (1 Samuel 8:3). In David's time, men's hands were "full of bribes" (Psalm 26:10). Solomon complains of wicked men" taking gifts out of their bosoms to pervert the ways of judgment" (Proverbs 17:23). Isaiah is never weary of bearing witness against the princes of his day, who" love gifts and follow after rewards" (Isaiah 1:23);who "justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him" (Isaiah 5:23). Micah adds his testimony - "Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward" (Exodus 3:9-11). The gift blindeth the wise. See Deuteronomy 16:19.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) Thou shalt take no gift--i.e., no bribe. Corruption has been always rife in the East, and the pure administration of justice is almost unknown there. Signal punishments by wise rulers have sometimes checked the inveterate evil (Herod. v. 25). But it recurs again and again--"Naturam expellas furca, tarnen usque recurret." According to Josephus (contr. Ap. ii. 27), the Jewish law punished with death the judge who took a bribe. But Hebrew judges seem practically to have been no better than Oriental judges generally. (See 1Samuel 8:3; Psalm 26:10; Proverbs 17:23; Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 5:23; Micah 3:9-11, &c.) The corrupt Administration of justice was one of the crying evils which provoked God's judgments against His people, and led, in the first instance, to the Babylonian captivity, and afterwards to the Roman conquest. . . .