Proverbs 17:23
Wicked people/judges accept bribes that are given to them secretly, and as a result they do not decide matters justly/fairly.
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
In Context
Cross References
Deuteronomy 16:19They must not judge unjustly. They must not favor one person more than another. The judges must not accept bribes, because if a judge accepts a bribe, even if he is wise and honest, it will be very difficult for him to judge fairly [IDM]; he will do what the person who gave him the bribe wants him to do and declare that the righteous/innocent people must be punished.
1 Samuel 12:3Now tell me, while Yahweh is listening, and while the king whom he has chosen is listening: whose ox or donkey have I stolen during all those years? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed/treated badly? From whom have I accepted a bribe, in order that I would ignore the evil things he had done? If I have done any of those things, tell me, and I will pay back what I owe.”
Proverbs 18:16If you take a gift to an important person, that will open the way to allow you to talk to him.
Isaiah 1:23Your leaders are rebels; they spend time with thieves. They all want to get bribes and force others to give them gifts in order that they do good things for them. They do not defend orphans in court, and they do not do all they can to enable widows to get what they should receive.
Ezekiel 22:12There are among you men who accept bribes in order to cause someone to be executed [MTY]. You charge high interest when you lend people money. You become rich by forcing people to give you money. And the worst thing is that you have forgotten me, Yahweh the Lord.
Micah 3:9You leaders of the people [MTY] of Israel, listen to this! You hate it when people do what is just; and when people say what is true, you distort it, saying it is false.
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 →