Shemot 23:8

8 And thou shalt take no shochad (bribe, gift); for the shochad blindeth the seeing, and perverteth the words of the tzaddikim.

Shemot 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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

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

Shemot 23:8 In-Context

6 Thou shalt not pervert the mishpat of thy poor in his riv (cause, lawsuit).

7 Keep thee far from a devar sheker (false matter); and the naki (innocent) and tzaddik slay thou not; for I will not acquit the rashah.

8 And thou shalt take no shochad (bribe, gift); for the shochad blindeth the seeing, and perverteth the words of the tzaddikim.

9 Also thou shalt not oppress a ger; for ye know the nefesh of a ger, seeing ye were gerim in Eretz Mitzrayim.

10 And shesh shanim thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the crops thereof;