You must not take a bribe,(A) for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and corrupts the words[a] of the righteous.

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Footnotes

  1. 23:8 Or and subverts the cause

Faithful people have vanished from the land;(A)
there is no one upright among the people.(B)
All of them wait in ambush to shed blood;(C)
they hunt each other with a net.(D)
Both hands are good(E) at accomplishing evil:
the official and the judge demand a bribe;(F)
when the powerful man communicates his evil desire,
they plot it together.
The best of them is like a brier;(G)
the most upright is worse than a hedge of thorns.(H)
The day of your watchmen,
the day of your punishment, is coming;(I)
at this time their panic is here.(J)
Do not rely on a friend;(K)
don’t trust in a close companion.
Seal your mouth
from the woman who lies in your arms.
Surely a son considers his father a fool,(L)
a daughter opposes her mother,
and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.

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