Proverbs 17:23
The wicked take hidden bribes to pervert the course of justice.
Free Bible Version
In The King James Version
A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
In Context
22A cheerful attitude is like good medicine, but discouragement makes you sick.
24Sensible people focus on wisdom, but the eyes of stupid people are always wandering.
Cross References
Deuteronomy 16:19Don't pervert justice or show favoritism. Don't take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the wise and twists the words of the truthful.
1 Samuel 12:3I stand here before you. Bring any charges you have against me in the presence of the Lord and of his anointed one. Have I taken anyone's ox or donkey? Have I wronged anyone? Have I oppressed anyone? Have I accepted a bribe from anyone to turn a blind eye? Tell me, and I will repay you.”
Proverbs 18:16A gift opens doors for you, and gets you into the presence of important people.
Isaiah 1:23Your leaders are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and want to get kickbacks. They don't defend the rights of orphans, and refuse to take cases to help widows.
Ezekiel 22:12Your people take money to murder others. You charge interest and make a profit on loans, and use extortion to get money from your neighbors. You have forgotten all about me, declares the Lord God.
Micah 3:9Listen to me, leaders of the descendants of Jacob and the people of Israel, you who hate justice and distort all that is right.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:23
22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Note, 1. It is healthful to be cheerful. The Lord is for the body, and has provided for it, not only meat, but medicine, and has here told us that the best medicine is a merry heart, not a heart addicted to vain, carnal, sensual mirth; Solomon himself said of that mirth, It is not medicine, but madness; it is not food, but poison; what doth it? But he means a heart rejoicing in God, and serving him with gladness, and then taking the… Read the whole commentary →