And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
A judge corrupted by bribes turns the court itself into a den of robbers. Since the bench is meant to be a sacred refuge for the oppressed, nothing is more vile than to make it a place where they fall among thieves. Avarice poisons integrity at its root, and no man who accepts a gift can claim he has kept his hands clean.
AI summary
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
The stranger brings a grieving, anxious heart into your court; you know this because Israel itself groaned under oppression in Egypt. Justice for the alien is not charity but debt, and judges who know that sorrow firsthand have no excuse to withhold it.
AI summary