Justice: General Scriptures Concerning
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Exodus 23:1–3, 6–8
“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness. / You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. / And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.
Leviticus 19:13–15
You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand. / You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD. / You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
Deuteronomy 16:18–20
You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment. / Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous. / Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 25:1–4
If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court to be judged, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned. / If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall have him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes his crime warrants. / He may receive no more than forty lashes, lest your brother be beaten any more than that and be degraded in your sight.
Ezra 7:26
If anyone does not keep the law of your God and the law of the king, let a strict judgment be executed against him, whether death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.
Psalm 72:1, 2
Of Solomon. Endow the king with Your justice, O God, and the son of the king with Your righteousness. / May he judge Your people with righteousness and Your afflicted with justice.
Psalm 82:2–4
“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah / Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed. / Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.
Proverbs 17:15, 26
Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—both are detestable to the LORD. / It is surely not good to punish the innocent or to flog a noble for his honesty.
Proverbs 18:5, 17
Showing partiality to the wicked is not good, nor is depriving the innocent of justice. / The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.
Proverbs 20:8
A king who sits on a throne to judge sifts out all evil with his eyes.
Proverbs 22:27
If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?
Proverbs 24:23
These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
Proverbs 28:21
To show partiality is not good, yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
Proverbs 29:26
Many seek the ruler’s favor, but a man receives justice from the LORD.
Ecclesiastes 3:16, 17
Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. / I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”
Ecclesiastes 5:8
If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.
Ecclesiastes 7:7
Surely extortion turns a wise man into a fool, and a bribe corrupts the heart.
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
Isaiah 56:1
This is what the LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed.
Isaiah 59:14, 15
So justice is turned away, and righteousness stands at a distance. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter. / Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
Jeremiah 22:1–4
This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there, / saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David—you and your officials and your people who enter these gates. / This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
Lamentations 3:35, 36
to deny a man justice before the Most High, / to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve.
Amos 5:7, 11, 12
There are those who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground. / Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted. / For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.
Micah 7:3
Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.
Habakkuk 1:4
Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
Zechariah 8:16
These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,
Matthew 5:23
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Matthew 12:7
If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.
John 7:24, 51
Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.” / “Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?”
1 Corinthians 13:6
Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.