Exodus 23:2

World English Bible (2000)

"You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; neither shall you testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice;

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לֹֽא־תִהְיֶ֥ה אַחֲרֵֽי־רַבִּ֖ים לְרָעֹ֑ת וְלֹא־תַעֲנֶ֣ה עַל־רִ֗ב לִנְטֹ֛ת אַחֲרֵ֥י רַבִּ֖ים לְהַטֹּֽת׃

Transliteration

Not-tihyeh after-rabbîm for-rāʿōt and-not-taʿăneh on-rīb to-nĕṭōt after rabbîm to-haṭṭōt

Grammar Details

• *tihyeh*: qal imperfect 2nd person masculine singular - be/become/follow
• *rabbîm*: adjective masculine plural - many/great/numerous
• *rāʿōt*: verb qal infinitive construct - to do evil/harm
• *taʿăneh*: qal imperfect 2nd person masculine singular - answer/respond/testify
• *rīb*: noun masculine singular - dispute/controversy/case
• *nĕṭōt*: qal infinitive construct - to stretch out/turn aside/incline
• *haṭṭōt*: hiphil infinitive construct - to turn/pervert/bend

Word Meanings

• *tihyeh*: be/become/follow/go after
• *rabbîm*: many/great/numerous/majority
• *rāʿōt*: do evil/harm/wrong/wickedness
• *rīb*: dispute/controversy/legal case/lawsuit
• *nĕṭōt*: turn aside/incline/stretch out/bend
• *haṭṭōt*: turn/bend/pervert/distort

Referenced Verses

• Prov 1:10-11 : 10 My son, if sinners entice you, don't consent. 11 If they say, "Come with us, Let's lay in wait for blood; let's lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
• Prov 1:15 : 15 My son, don't walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path,
• Exod 23:6-7 : 6 "You shall not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. 7 "Keep far from a false charge, and don't kill the innocent and righteous: for I will not justify the wicked.
• Exod 32:1-5 : 1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him." 2 Aaron said to them, "Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me." 3 All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation, and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to Yahweh."
• Lev 19:15 : 15 "'You shall do no injustice in judgment: you shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.
• Deut 1:17 : 17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.
• Josh 24:15 : 15 If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh."
• Job 31:34 : 34 because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn't go out of the door--
• Ps 72:2 : 2 He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
• 1 Sam 15:9 : 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the cattle, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and wouldn't utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
• 1 Kgs 19:10 : 10 He said, "I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."
• Deut 16:19 : 19 You shall not wrest justice: you shall not respect persons; neither shall you take a bribe; for a bribe does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.
• Deut 24:17 : 17 You shall not wrest the justice [due] to the foreigner, [or] to the fatherless, nor take the widow's clothing to pledge;
• Num 14:1-9 : 1 All the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2 All the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said to them, "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why does Yahweh bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey: wouldn't it be better for us to return into Egypt?" 4 They said one to another, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. 6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes: 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land. 8 If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey. 9 Only don't rebel against Yahweh, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us. Don't fear them." 10 But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. The glory of Yahweh appeared in the Tent of Meeting to all the children of Israel.
• Gen 6:12 : 12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
• Gen 7:1 : 1 Yahweh said to Noah, "Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation.
• Gen 19:4 : 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
• Gen 19:7-9 : 7 He said, "Please, my brothers, don't act so wickedly. 8 See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don't do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof." 9 They said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!" They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door.
• Prov 4:14 : 14 Don't enter into the path of the wicked. Don't walk in the way of evil men.
• Jer 37:15 : 15 The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
• Jer 37:21 : 21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard; and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
• Jer 38:5-6 : 5 Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he who can do anything against you. 6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
• Jer 38:9 : 9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.
• Ezek 9:9 : 9 Then he said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion: for they say, Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn't see.
• Hag 1:4 : 4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste?
• Matt 27:24-26 : 24 So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it." 25 All the people answered, "May his blood be on us, and on our children!" 26 Then he released to them Barabbas, but Jesus he flogged and delivered to be crucified.
• Mark 15:15 : 15 Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.
• Luke 23:23-24 : 23 But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. Their voices and the voices of the chief priests prevailed. 24 Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done.
• Luke 23:51 : 51 (he had not consented to their counsel and deed), from Arimathaea, a city of the Jews, who was also waiting for the Kingdom of God:
• John 7:50-51 : 50 Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, 51 "Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?"
• Acts 24:27 : 27 But when two years were fulfilled, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus, and desiring to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul in bonds.
• Acts 25:9 : 9 But Festus, desiring to gain favor with the Jews, answered Paul and said, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem, and be judged by me there concerning these things?"
• Rom 1:32 : 32 who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
• Gal 2:11-13 : 11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy; so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.