Deuteronomy 16:19

King James Version with Strong's Numbers

Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹא־תַטֶּ֣ה מִשְׁפָּ֔ט לֹ֥א תַכִּ֖יר פָּנִ֑ים וְלֹא־תִקַּ֣ח שֹׁ֔חַד כִּ֣י הַשֹּׁ֗חַד יְעַוֵּר֙ עֵינֵ֣י חֲכָמִ֔ים וִֽיסַלֵּ֖ף דִּבְרֵ֥י צַדִּיקִֽם׃

Transliteration

lōʾ-taṭṭeh mišpāṭ lōʾ takkîr pānîm wəlōʾ-tiqqaḥ šōḥad kî haššōḥad yəʿawwēr ʿênê ḥăkāmîm wîsallēp dibrê ṣaddîqim

Grammar Details

• *lōʾ*-*taṭṭeh*: negation + hiphil imperfect 2nd masculine singular - you shall not pervert
• *mišpāṭ*: masculine singular noun - justice/judgment
• *lōʾ*: negation - not
• *takkîr*: hiphil imperfect 2nd masculine singular - you shall recognize/show partiality
• *pānîm*: masculine plural noun - faces
• *wəlōʾ*-*tiqqaḥ*: conjunction + negation + qal imperfect 2nd masculine singular - and you shall not take
• *šōḥad*: masculine singular noun - bribe
• *kî*: conjunction - for/because
• *haššōḥad*: definite article + masculine singular noun - the bribe
• *yəʿawwēr*: piel imperfect 3rd masculine singular - blinds
• *ʿênê*: feminine dual construct - eyes of
• *ḥăkāmîm*: masculine plural adjective - wise (ones)
• *wîsallēp*: conjunction + piel imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and perverts
• *dibrê*: masculine plural construct - words of
• *ṣaddîqim*: masculine plural adjective - righteous (ones)

Word Meanings

• *taṭṭeh* *mišpāṭ*: pervert justice/twist judgment
• *takkîr* *pānîm*: recognize faces/show partiality/be partial
• *šōḥad*: bribe/gift (for perversion of justice)
• *yəʿawwēr*: blinds/makes blind
• *sallēp*: perverts/twists/distorts
• *dibrê*: words/statements/matters
• *ṣaddîqim*: righteous ones/just ones

Referenced Verses

• Exod 23:2 : 2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
• Lev 19:15 : 15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
• Eccl 7:7 : 7 Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.
• Exod 23:6-8 : 6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. 7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. 8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
• Deut 10:17 : 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
• Deut 24:17 : 17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge:
• Deut 27:19 : 19 Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
• Prov 17:23 : 23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
• Prov 24:23 : 23 These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
• Prov 24:28 : 28 Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.
• 1 Sam 8:3 : 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
• 1 Sam 12:3 : 3 Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.
• Job 31:21-22 : 21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: 22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
• Deut 1:16-17 : 16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. 17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
• Isa 1:17 : 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
• Isa 1:23 : 23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
• Isa 33:15 : 15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
• Jer 5:28 : 28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
• Ezek 22:12 : 12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
• Mic 7:3 : 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
• Hab 1:4 : 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
• Zeph 3:3-5 : 3 Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow. 4 Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. 5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
• Acts 10:34 : 34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
• Acts 16:37 : 37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
• Acts 23:3 : 3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?