Deuteronomy 16:19

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

Cross References

Psalm 15:5

who do not lend money at interest and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.

Exodus 18:21

You should also look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain; set them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

Exodus 23:2

You shall not follow a majority in wrongdoing; when you bear witness in a lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so as to pervert justice,

Exodus 23:3

nor shall you be partial to the poor in a lawsuit.

Proverbs 15:27

Those greedy for unjust gain make trouble for their households, but those who hate bribes will live.

Proverbs 17:23

The wicked accept a concealed bribe to pervert the ways of justice.

Proverbs 18:5

It is not right to be partial to the guilty or to subvert the innocent in judgment.

Proverbs 24:23

These also are sayings of the wise: Partiality in judging is not good.

Proverbs 24:28

Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

Proverbs 31:5

lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

Ecclesiastes 7:7

Surely oppression makes the wise foolish, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

Isaiah 1:17

learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1:23

Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow’s cause does not come before them.

Isaiah 33:15

Those who walk righteously and speak uprightly, who despise the gain of oppression, who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it, who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed and shut their eyes from looking on evil,

Jeremiah 5:28

they have grown fat and sleek. They know no limits in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge with justice the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.

Ezekiel 18:8

does not take advance or accrued interest, withholds his hand from iniquity, executes true justice between contending parties,

Ezekiel 22:12

In you, they take bribes to shed blood; you take both advance interest and accrued interest and make gain of your neighbors by extortion, and you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.

Leviticus 19:15

“You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.

Micah 7:3

Their hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice.

Habakkuk 1:4

So the law becomes slack, and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous; therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

Acts 10:34

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,

Acts 16:37

But Paul replied, “They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison, and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves.”

Acts 23:3

At this Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law you order me to be struck?”

Deuteronomy 10:17

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe,

Deuteronomy 16:18

“You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall render just decisions for the people.

Deuteronomy 24:17

“You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge.

Deuteronomy 27:19

“ ‘Cursed be anyone who deprives an alien, an orphan, or a widow of justice.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

Deuteronomy 27:25

“ ‘Cursed be anyone who takes a bribe to shed innocent blood.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’

1 Samuel 12:3

Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me, and I will restore it to you.”

1 Samuel 8:1

When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel.

1 Samuel 8:3

Yet his sons did not follow in his ways but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.