Exodus 23:6

6 Don't undermine the justice that your poor deserve in their lawsuits.

Exodus 23:6 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 23:6

Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
] As the poor man was not to be favoured when his cause was bad through an affected pity for him as a poor man, so his judgment was not to be wrested or perverted, when his cause was good, because of his poverty; which is too often the case, through the power of rich men, and the prevalence of their gifts and bribes, and to curry favour with them: the phrase, "thy poor", is very emphatic, and intended to engage judges to regard them, as being of the same flesh and blood with them, of the same nation and religion; and who were particularly committed to their care and protection under God, who is the Judge and protector of the poor, of the widow and the fatherless.

Exodus 23:6 In-Context

4 When you happen to come upon your enemy's ox or donkey that has wandered off, you should bring it back to them

5 When you see a donkey that belongs to someone who hates you and it's lying down under its load and you are inclined not to help set it free, you must help set it free.

6 Don't undermine the justice that your poor deserve in their lawsuits.

7 Stay away from making a false charge. Don't put an innocent person who is in the right to death, because I will not consider innocent those who do such evil.

8 Don't take a bribe, because a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.