Proverbs 17:23
A wicked man receives a bribe in secret, to pervert the ways of justice.
World Messianic Bible
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 heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Cross References
Deuteronomy 16:19You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.
1 Samuel 12:3Here I am. Witness against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.”
Proverbs 18:16A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.
Isaiah 1:23Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
Ezekiel 22:12In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord GOD.
Micah 3:9Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity,
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 →