Exodus 18:21

Bible in Basic English (1941)

But for the rest, take from among the people able men, such as have the fear of God, true men hating profits wrongly made; and put such men over them, to be captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens;

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְאַתָּ֣ה תֶחֱזֶ֣ה מִכָּל־הָ֠עָם אַנְשֵׁי־חַ֜יִל יִרְאֵ֧י אֱלֹהִ֛ים אַנְשֵׁ֥י אֱמֶ֖ת שֹׂ֣נְאֵי בָ֑צַע וְשַׂמְתָּ֣ עֲלֵהֶ֗ם שָׂרֵ֤י אֲלָפִים֙ שָׂרֵ֣י מֵא֔וֹת שָׂרֵ֥י חֲמִשִּׁ֖ים וְשָׂרֵ֥י עֲשָׂרֹֽת׃

Transliteration

And-you teḥĕzeh from-all-hāʿām ʾanšê-ḥayil yirʾê ʾĕlōhîm ʾanšê ʾĕmet śōnəʾê bāṣaʿ wə-śamtā over-them śārê ʾălāpîm śārê mēʾôt śārê ḥămiššîm and-śārê ʿăśārōt

Grammar Details

• *teḥĕzeh*: imperfect, 2nd masculine singular - you shall select/see
• *hāʿām*: article with noun, masculine singular - the people
• *ʾanšê*-*ḥayil*: noun, masculine plural construct with noun - men of ability
• *yirʾê*: adjective, masculine plural construct - fearers of
• *ʾĕlōhîm*: noun, masculine plural - God
• *ʾanšê*: noun, masculine plural construct - men of
• *ʾĕmet*: noun, feminine singular - truth
• *śōnəʾê*: participle, masculine plural construct - haters of
• *bāṣaʿ*: noun, masculine singular - unjust gain
• *wə*-*śamtā*: conjunction with perfect, 2nd masculine singular - and you shall set
• *śārê*: noun, masculine plural construct - rulers of
• *ʾălāpîm*: noun, masculine plural - thousands
• *mēʾôt*: noun, feminine plural - hundreds
• *ḥămiššîm*: numeral, common plural - fifties
• *ʿăśārōt*: noun, feminine plural - tens

Word Meanings

• *teḥĕzeh*: select/provide/look out/see
• *ʾanšê*-*ḥayil*: men of ability/capable men/men of valor
• *bāṣaʿ*: unjust gain/dishonest profit/covetousness

Referenced Verses

• Acts 6:3 : 3 Take then from among you seven men of good name, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, to whom we may give control of this business.
• 2 Chr 19:5-9 : 5 And he put judges through all the land, in every walled town of Judah, 6 And said to the judges, Take care what you do, for you are judging not for man but for the Lord, and he is with you in the decisions you give. 7 So now let the fear of the Lord be in you; do your work with care; for in the Lord our God there is no evil, or respect for high position, or taking of payment to do wrong. 8 Then in Jerusalem he gave authority to certain of the Levites and the priests and the heads of families of Israel to give decisions for the Lord, and in the causes of those living in Jerusalem. 9 And he gave them their orders, saying, You are to do your work in the fear of the Lord, in good faith and with a true heart. 10 And if any cause comes before you from your brothers living in their towns, where the death punishment is in question, or where there are questions of law or order, or rules or decisions, make them take care that they are not in the wrong before the Lord, so that wrath may not come on you and on your brothers; do this and you yourselves will not be in the wrong.
• Deut 16:18-19 : 18 You are to make judges and overseers in all your towns which the Lord your God gives you, for every tribe: and they are to be upright men, judging the people in righteousness. 19 You are not to be moved in your judging by a man's position, you are not to take rewards; for rewards make the eyes of the wise man blind, and the decisions of the upright false.
• Gen 42:18 : 18 And on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives: for I am a god-fearing man:
• Exod 18:25 : 25 And he made selection of able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds and of fifties and of tens.
• 2 Sam 23:3 : 3 The God of Israel said, the word of the Rock of Israel came to me: When an upright king is ruling over men, when he is ruling in the fear of God,
• Ezek 18:8 : 8 And has not given his money out at interest or taken great profits, and, turning his hand from evil-doing, has kept faith between man and man,
• Ezek 22:12 : 12 In you they have taken rewards as the price of blood; you have taken interest and great profits, and you have taken away your neighbours' goods by force, and have not kept me in mind, says the Lord.
• Zech 7:9 : 9 This is what the Lord of armies has said: Let your judging be upright and done in good faith, let every man have mercy and pity for his brother:
• Zech 8:16 : 16 These are the things which you are to do: Let every man say what is true to his neighbour; and let your judging give peace in your towns.
• Luke 18:2 : 2 Saying, There was a judge in a certain town, who had no fear of God or respect for man:
• Luke 18:4 : 4 And for a time he would not: but later, he said to himself, Though I have no fear of God or respect for man,
• 1 Kgs 3:9-9 : 9 Give your servant, then, a wise heart for judging your people, able to see what is good and what evil; for who is able to be the judge of this great people? 10 Now these words and Solomon's request were pleasing to the Lord. 11 And God said to him, Because your request is for this thing, and not for long life for yourself or for wealth or for the destruction of your haters, but for wisdom to be a judge of causes; 12 I have done as you said: I have given you a wise and far-seeing heart, so that there has never been your equal in the past, and never will there be any like you in the future.
• 1 Kgs 18:3 : 3 And Ahab sent for Obadiah, the controller of the king's house. (Now Obadiah had the fear of the Lord before him greatly;
• 1 Kgs 18:12 : 12 And straight away, when I have gone from you, the spirit of the Lord will take you away, I have no idea where, so that when I come and give word to Ahab, and he sees you not, he will put me to death: though I, your servant, have been a worshipper of the Lord from my earliest years.
• Acts 20:33 : 33 I have had no desire for any man's silver or gold or clothing.
• 1 Tim 3:3 : 3 Not quickly moved to wrath or blows, but gentle; no fighter, no lover of money;
• 1 Tim 6:9-9 : 9 But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all evil: and some whose hearts were fixed on it have been turned away from the faith, and been wounded with unnumbered sorrows. 11 But you, O man of God, keep yourself from these things, and go after righteousness, religion, faith, love, a quiet mind, gentle behaviour.
• 2 Pet 2:14-15 : 14 Having eyes full of evil desire, never having enough of sin; turning feeble souls out of the true way; they are children of cursing, whose hearts are well used to bitter envy; 15 Turning out of the true way, they have gone wandering in error, after the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was pleased to take payment for wrongdoing;
• Gen 22:12 : 12 And he said, Let not your hand be stretched out against the boy to do anything to him; for now I am certain that the fear of God is in your heart, because you have not kept back your son, your only son, from me.
• Exod 23:2-9 : 2 Do not be moved to do wrong by the general opinion, or give the support of your words to a wrong decision: 3 But, on the other hand, do not be turned from what is right in order to give support to a poor man's cause. 4 If you come across the ox or the ass of one who is no friend to you wandering from its way, you are to take it back to him. 5 If you see the ass of one who has no love for you bent down to the earth under the weight which is put on it, you are to come to its help, even against your desire. 6 Let no wrong decisions be given in the poor man's cause. 7 Keep yourselves far from any false business; never let the upright or him who has done no wrong be put to death: for I will make the evil-doer responsible for his sin. 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. 9 Do not be hard on the man from a strange country who is living among you; for you have had experience of the feelings of one who is far from the land of his birth, because you yourselves were living in Egypt, in a strange land.
• Num 10:4 : 4 If only one of them is sounded, then the chiefs, the heads of the thousands of Israel, are to come to you.
• Deut 1:13-17 : 13 Take for yourselves men who are wise, far-seeing, and respected among you, from your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. 14 And you made answer and said to me, It is good for us to do as you say. 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men and respected, and made them rulers over you, captains of thousands and captains of hundreds and captains of fifties and captains of tens, and overseers of your tribes. 16 And at that time I gave orders to your judges, saying, Let all questions between your brothers come before you for hearing, and give decisions uprightly between a man and his brother or one from another nation who is with him. 17 In judging, do not let a man's position have any weight with you; give hearing equally to small and great; have no fear of any man, for it is God who is judge: and any cause in which you are not able to give a decision, you are to put before me and I will give it a hearing.
• Josh 22:14 : 14 And with him they sent ten chiefs, one for every tribe of the children of Israel, every one of them the head of his house among the families of Israel.
• 1 Sam 8:3 : 3 And his sons did not go in his ways, but moved by the love of money took rewards, and were not upright in judging.
• 1 Sam 8:12 : 12 And he will make them captains of thousands and of fifties; some he will put to work ploughing and cutting his grain and making his instruments of war and building his war-carriages.
• 1 Sam 12:3-4 : 3 Here I am: give witness against me before the Lord and before the man on whom he has put the holy oil: whose ox or ass have I taken? to whom have I been untrue? who has been crushed down by me? from whose hand have I taken a price for the blinding of my eyes? I will give it all back to you. 4 And they said, You have never been untrue to us or cruel to us; you have taken nothing from any man.
• Neh 5:9 : 9 And I said, What you are doing is not good: is it not the more necessary for you to go in the fear of our God, because of the shame which the nations may put on us?
• Neh 7:2 : 2 I made my brother Hanani, and Hananiah, the ruler of the tower, responsible for the government of Jerusalem: for he was a man of good faith, fearing God more than most.
• Job 29:16 : 16 I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me.
• Job 31:13 : 13 If I did wrong in the cause of my man-servant, or my woman-servant, when they went to law with me;
• Ps 15:5 : 5 He who does not put out his money at interest, or for payment give false decisions against men who have done no wrong. He who does these things will never be moved.
• Ps 26:9-9 : 9 Let not my soul be numbered among sinners, or my life among men of blood; 10 In whose hands are evil designs, and whose right hands take money for judging falsely.
• Prov 28:2 : 2 Because of the sin of the land, its troubles are increased; but by a man of wisdom and knowledge they will be put out like a fire.
• Eccl 12:13 : 13 This is the last word. All has been said. Have fear of God and keep his laws; because this is right for every man.
• Isa 16:5 : 5 Then a king's seat will be based on mercy, and one will be seated on it in the tent of David for ever; judging uprightly, and quick to do righteousness.
• Isa 33:15 : 15 He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil;
• Isa 59:4 : 4 No one puts forward an upright cause, or gives a true decision: their hope is in deceit, and their words are false; they are with child with sin, and give birth to evil.
• Isa 59:14-15 : 14 And the right is turned back, and righteousness is far away: for good faith is not to be seen in the public places, and upright behaviour may not come into the town. 15 Yes, faith is gone; and he whose heart is turned from evil comes into the power of the cruel: and the Lord saw it, and he was angry that there was no one to take up their cause.
• Jer 5:1 : 1 Go quickly through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and get knowledge, and make a search in her wide places if there is a man, if there is one in her who is upright, who keeps faith; and she will have my forgiveness.