Exodus 23:2
1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.
4 If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
- KJV
- Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
- WEB
- “You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice.
- ASV
- Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest [justice]:
- DARBY
- Thou shalt not follow the multitude for evil; neither shalt thou answer in a cause, to go after the multitude to pervert [judgment].
- BLB
- You shall not follow a crowd to do evil, and you shall not testify in a dispute to turn aside after many to turn aside [justice].
- ÅB
- du skal ikke følge mengden i det som ondt er, og du skal ikke vitne slik i en rettssak at du bøyer deg etter mengden og forvender retten;
- OTB
- "Du skal ikke følge mengden i å gjøre ondt, og du skal heller ikke vitne i en rettssak for å forvrenge rettferdighet ved å stå på mengdens side.
- B1930
- du skal ikke følge mengden i det som ondt er, og du skal ikke vidne således i en rettssak at du bøier dig efter mengden og forvender retten;
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Proverbs 1:10–11
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Read in contextProverbs 1:15
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
Read in contextLuke 23:23–24
And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.
Read in contextJob 31:34
Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?
Read in contextMatthew 27:24–26
When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
Read in contextDeuteronomy 1:17
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
Read in context1 Kings 19:10
And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
Read in contextExodus 23:6–7
Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
Read in context