Éxodo 23:8

8 Y no aceptarás soborno, porque el soborno ciega aun al de vista clara y pervierte las palabras del justo.

Éxodo 23:8 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 23:8

And thou shalt take no gift
Of the persons whose cause is to be tried in a court of judicature before judges; neither of those on the one side nor on the other, neither before the trial nor after, neither by words, by a promise, nor by facts, by actually receiving money; and not even to judge truly, as Jarchi observes, neither to clear the innocent nor to condemn the guilty: a gift was not to be taken on any consideration whatever:

for the gift blindeth the wise;
or the "seeing" ^F1; the open ones, who used to have both their eyes and their ears open, and attentive to the cause before them; and yet a gift so blinds them, by casting such a mist before them, that they are inattentive to the true merits of the cause, and their affections and judgments are to be carried away in favour of those that have bribed them, as to pass a wrong sentence:

and perverteth the words of the righteous;
either the sentences of righteous judges, as they ought to be, but a gift perverts their judgment, and they give a wrong decree; or the causes of the righteous that are brought before those are perverted by giving the cause to their adversaries, who are wicked men.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Myxqp) "videntes", Pagninus, Vatablus, Cartwright; "apertos", Montanus, Drusius.

Éxodo 23:8 In-Context

6 No pervertirás el derecho de tu hermano menesteroso en su pleito.

7 Aléjate de acusación falsa, y no mates al inocente ni al justo, porque yo no absolveré al culpable.

8 Y no aceptarás soborno, porque el soborno ciega aun al de vista clara y pervierte las palabras del justo.

9 No oprimirás al extranjero, porque vosotros conocéis los sentimientos del extranjero, ya que vosotros también fuisteis extranjeros en la tierra de Egipto.

10 Seis años sembrarás tu tierra y recogerás su producto;