Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.
Exodus 23:8 And thou shalt take no gift. This kind of theft is the worst of all, when judges are corrupted either by bribes, or by affection, and thus ruin the fortunes which they ought to protect: for, since their tribunal is as it were sacred asylum, to which those who are unjustly oppressed may fly, nothing can be more unseemly than that they should there fall amongst robbers.
False witness in a matter touching a man's life combines lying, perjury, malice, theft, and murder all at once, dressed in the pretense of justice. Slandering and backbiting are species of false witness-bearing; the receiver of slander is as culpable as the thief who stole what he spreads.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 23:1-9
Also thou shall not oppress a stranger,.... As these were not to be vexed and oppressed in a private manner and by private men, see Exo 22:21 so neither in a public manner, and in a public court of judicature, or by judges on the bench when their cause was before them, by not doing them justice, showing a partiality to those of their own...