That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge {asketh} for a reward; and the great {man}, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. {his...: Heb. the mischief of his soul}

And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous. {the wise: Heb. the seeing}

Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: {in a city: Gr. in a certain city}

And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,

They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness {which} they have prescribed; {that write...: or, to the writers that write grievousness}

Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in {his} wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger {from his right}, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. {oppress: or, defraud}

The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor {is} in your houses. {eaten: or, burnt}

He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; {righteously: Heb. in righteousnesses} {uprightly: Heb. uprightnesses} {oppressions: or, deceits} {blood: Heb. bloods}

Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. {words: or, matters}

Their drink is sour: they have committed whoredom continually: her rulers {with} shame do love, Give ye. {sour: Heb. gone} {rulers: Heb. shields}

Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth {it} not.

We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

But thine eyes and thine heart {are} not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do {it}. {violence: or, incursion}

They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, {and} the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, {and} burst the bonds.

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; {Is it} not for you to know judgment?

And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. {of all...: or, an house of prayer for all nations}

All their wickedness {is} in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes {are} revolters.

A wicked {man} taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.

And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. {power: Heb. arm}

The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, {Is} not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. {and say: Heb. saying}

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. {relieve: or, righten}

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, {and} to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, {Is} not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. {and say: Heb. saying}

A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, {is} God in his holy habitation.

All their wickedness {is} in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes {are} revolters.

Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. {erred: or, been seduced}

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they {are} a rebellious house.

Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way {that was} not good, after their own thoughts;

For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue {is} deceitful in their mouth.

Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do {it}: for {there is} no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.

Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. {Defend: Heb. Judge}

Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth {it} not.

Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. {power: Heb. arm}

For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate {from their right}. {a bribe: or, a ransom}

And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

A wicked {man} taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, {nor} of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge:

Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. {words: or, matters}

A gift {is as} a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth. {a precious...: Heb. a stone of grace}

To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and {that} they may rob the fatherless!

Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

Her princes in the midst thereof {are} like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, {and} to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge {asketh} for a reward; and the great {man}, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. {his...: Heb. the mischief of his soul}

Her princes within her {are} roaring lions; her judges {are} evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.

And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem {shall be} my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. {The inhabitants...: or, There is strength to me and to the inhabitants, etc}

He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him.

The instruments also of the churl {are} evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. {the needy...: or, he speaketh against the poor in judgment}

Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. {revolt...: Heb. increase revolt}

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. {laden: Heb. of heaviness} {gone...: Heb. alienated, or, separated}

Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD'S house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment. {destroy...: Heb. saw them, or, dwell with them}

In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.

Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

That no {man} go beyond and defraud his brother in {any} matter: because that the Lord {is} the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. {defraud: or, oppress, or, overreach} {in...: or, in the matter}

Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that {the judges} may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

{As} the partridge sitteth {on eggs}, and hatcheth {them} not; {so} he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. {sitteth...: or, gathereth young which she hath not brought forth}