To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.
You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.
These also are sayings of the wise. Partiality in judging is not good.
It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice.
And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.
You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,
And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.
Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace” when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.
When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring; their rulers dearly love shame.
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.