Scripture repeatedly teaches that
societies and leaders should be fair, that they should be honest, and avoid
corruption. The sheer number of times those principles are discussed makes them
important topics for prayer.
Scriptures on this topic are
collected below, copied from the New Jerusalem Bible. Other translations
can be accessed by clicking on the citation for each verse.
You will not be led into wrong-doing
by the majority nor, when giving evidence in a lawsuit, side with the majority
to pervert the course of justice; 3 nor will you show partiality to the poor in
a lawsuit.
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You will not cheat the poor among you
of their rights at law. 7 Keep clear of fraud. Do not cause the death of the
innocent or upright, and do not acquit the guilty. 8 You will accept no bribes,
for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and is the ruin of the cause of the
upright.
You will not be unjust in
administering justice. You will neither be partial to the poor nor overawed by
the great, but will administer justice to your fellow-citizen justly.
You will not exploit one another, but fear your
God, for I am Yahweh your God.
You must give your brothers a fair
hearing and see justice done between one person and his brother or the
foreigner living with him. 17 You must be impartial in judgment and give an
equal hearing to small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any human person,
for the verdict is God's.
You must appoint judges and scribes
in each of the towns that Yahweh your God is giving you, for all your tribes;
these are to mete out proper justice to the people. 19 You must not pervert the
law; you must be impartial; you will take no bribes, for a bribe blinds the
eyes of the wise and ruins the cause of the upright.20 Strict justice must
be your ideal, so that you may live long in possession of the country given you
by Yahweh your God.
David ruled over all Israel,
administering law and justice to all his people.
He also appointed judges in the
country in every one of the fortified towns of Judah,6 saying to the judges,
'Be careful what you do, since you are judging not by any human power but in
the name of Yahweh, who will be with you when you pronounce sentence. 7 This
being so, let fear of Yahweh govern you; be careful what you do, for
Yahweh our God will not tolerate malpractice, partiality or the taking of
bribes.'
God, endow the king with your own
fair judgment, the son of the king with your own saving justice, 2 that he may
rule your people with justice, and your poor with fair judgment.
How much longer will you give unjust
judgments and uphold the prestige of the wicked? 3 Let the weak and the orphan
have justice, be fair to the wretched and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and
the needy, save them from the clutches of the wicked.
To absolve the guilty and condemn the
upright, both alike are abhorrent to Yahweh.
It is not good to show partiality for
the wicked and so to deprive the upright when giving judgment.
A wise king winnows the wicked and
makes the wheel pass over them.
Whoever sows injustice reaps
disaster.
Save those being dragged towards
death, but can you rescue those on their way to execution? 12 If you say, 'But
look, we did not know,' will the Weigher of the heart pay no attention? Will
not the Guardian of your soul be aware and repay you as your deeds deserve?
Whoever tells the wicked, 'You are
upright,' peoples curse him, nations revile him; 25but those who correct him,
come out of it well, on them will come a happy blessing.
It is not good to show partiality,
but people will do wrong for a mouthful of bread.
The king who judges the weak with
equity sees his throne set firm for ever.
Do not expend your energy on women
nor your wealth on those who ruin kings. 4 Not for kings, O Lemuel, not for
kings the drinking of wine, not for princes the love of liquor,5 for fear that
in liquor they forget what they have decreed and pervert the course of justice
against all the poor.
Make your views heard, on behalf of
the dumb, on behalf of all the unwanted; 9make your views heard, pronounce an
upright verdict, defend the cause of the poor and the wretched.
Save the oppressed from the hand of
the oppressor, and do not be mean-spirited in your judgments.
Learn to do good, search for justice,
discipline the violent, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.
Your princes are rebels, accomplices
of brigands. All of them greedy for presents and eager for bribes, they show no
justice to the orphan, and the widow's cause never reaches them. 24 Hence, the
Lord Yahweh Sabaoth, the Mighty One of Israel, says this, 'Disaster, I shall
get the better of my enemies, I shall avenge myself on my foes. 25 'I shall
turn my hand against you, I shall purge your dross as though with potash, I
shall remove all your alloy.
Woe to those … 23 who acquit the
guilty for a bribe and deny justice to the upright.
His inspiration will lie in fearing
Yahweh. His judgment will not be by appearances. his verdict not given on
hearsay. 4 He will judge the weak with integrity and give fair sentence for the
humblest in the land. He will strike the country with the rod of his mouth and
with the breath of his lips bring death to the wicked. 5 Uprightness will be
the belt around his waist, and constancy the belt about his hips.
The throne will be made secure in
faithful love and on it will sit in constancy within the tent of David, a judge
seeking fair judgment and pursuing uprightness.
Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen
one in whom my soul delights. I have sent my spirit upon him, he will bring
fair judgment to the nations. 2 He does not cry out or raise his voice, his
voice is not heard in the street; 3 he does not break the crushed reed or snuff
the faltering wick. Faithfully he presents fair judgment; 4 he will not grow
faint, he will not be crushed until he has established fair judgment on earth,
and the coasts and islands are waiting for his instruction.
Thus says Yahweh: Make fair judgment
your concern, act with justice, for soon my salvation will come and my saving
justice be manifest. 2 Blessed is anyone who does this, anyone who clings to
it… abstaining from every evil deed.
Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me: to break unjust
fetters, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to
break all yokes?
Do not put
your faith in delusive words, such as: This is
Yahweh's sanctuary, Yahweh's sanctuary, Yahweh's sanctuary! 5But
if you really amend your behavior and your actions, if you really treat one
another fairly,6if you do not exploit the stranger,
the orphan and the widow, if you do not shed innocent blood in this place and
if you do not follow other gods, to your own ruin,7then
I shall let you stay in this place, in the country I gave for ever to your
ancestors of old.
Yahweh says
this: Each morning give fair judgement, rescue anyone who has been wronged from
the hands of his oppressor, or else my wrath will leap out like a
fire, it will burn and no one will be able to quench it,
because of the wickedness of your actions.
Yahweh says this: Act
uprightly and justly; rescue from the hands of the oppressor anyone who has
been wronged, do not exploit or ill-treat the stranger, the orphan, the widow;
shed no innocent blood in this place.
Look, the days are coming, Yahweh
declares, when I shall raise an upright Branch for David; he will reign as king
and be wise, doing what is just and upright in the country.
In you people take bribes for
shedding blood; you lend for profit and charge interest, you profit from your
fellow by extortion and have forgotten about me -- declares the Lord Yahweh. 13
"Now I shall clap my hands at your acts of banditry and the blood that
flows in you. 14 Will your heart be able to resist, will your hands be steady,
the day when I call you to account? I, Yahweh, have spoken and shall act. 15 I
shall scatter you among the nations and disperse you in foreign countries, and
so put an end to the filthiness now inside you; 16 through your own fault, you
will be profaned in the eyes of the nations, and you will know that I am
Yahweh!"
The Lord Yahweh says this: Enough, princes of Israel!
Give up your violence and plundering, do what is upright and
just, stop crushing my people with taxation -- declares the Lord Yahweh.10 Have
fair scales, a fair ephah, a fair bat.
They turn justice into wormwood and
throw uprightness to the ground.
They hate the man who teaches justice
at the city gate and detest anyone who declares the truth.
Hate evil, love good, let justice
reign at the city gate: it may be that Yahweh, God Sabaoth, will take pity on
the remnant of Joseph.
Let justice flow like water, and uprightness like a
never-failing stream!
Kindly listen to this, you leaders of
the House of Jacob, you princes of the House of Israel, who detest justice,
wresting it from its honest course, 10 who build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem
with iniquity! 11 Her leaders give verdicts for presents, her priests take a
fee for their rulings, her prophets divine for money and yet they rely on
Yahweh! 'Isn't Yahweh among us?' they say, 'No disaster is going to overtake
us.'12 That is why, thanks to you, Zion will become plough land, Jerusalem a
heap of rubble and the Temple Mount a wooded height.
You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and
what the Lord requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and
to walk humbly with your God.
Do you not
know the words which Yahweh proclaimed through the prophets in the
past, when Jerusalem was
inhabited and secure, as were her surrounding towns, and when the Negeb and the
lowlands were inhabited?" ' (8The word of Yahweh was addressed to Zechariah as follows,9'Yahweh Sabaoth says this.) He said, "Apply the law fairly,
and show faithful love and compassion towards one another.
These
are the things that you must do. Speak the truth to one another; at your gates,
administer fair judgement conducive to peace; 17do
not secretly plot evil against one another; do not love
perjury; since I hate all this -- Yahweh
declares.
Magistrates bring fear not to those
who do good, but to those who do evil. So if you want to live with no fear of
authority, live honestly and you will have its approval; 4 it is there to serve
God for you and for your good. But if you do wrong, then you may well be
afraid; because it is not for nothing that the symbol of authority is the
sword: it is there to serve God, too, as his avenger, to bring retribution to
wrongdoers.
Masters, make sure that your slaves
are given what is upright and fair, knowing that you too have a Master in
heaven.
For the sake of the Lord, accept the
authority of every human institution: the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14
and the governors as commissioned by him to punish criminals and praise those
who do good.
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