Exodus 23 · Verse 2

Exodus 23:2

Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
Exodus 23:2, King James Version

Exodus 23:2 in other translations

BSBYou shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
WEB“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice.
ASVThou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to wrest justice:
YLT‘Thou art not after many to evil, nor dost thou testify concerning a strife, to turn aside after many to cause others to turn aside;
DARBYThou shalt not follow the multitude for evil; neither shalt thou answer in a cause, to go after the multitude to pervert judgment.
BBEDo not be moved to do wrong by the general opinion, or give the support of your words to a wrong decision:
WebsterThou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:

What does Exodus 23:2 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
2. decline--depart, deviate from the straight path of rectitude.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil - Be singular. Singularity, if in the right, can never be criminal. So completely disgraceful is the way of sin, that if there were not a multitude walking in that way, who help to keep each other in countenance, every solitary sinner would be obliged to hide his head. But רבים rabbim, which we translate multitude, sometimes signifies the great, chiefs, or mighty ones; and is so understood by some eminent critics in this place: "Thou shalt not follow the example of the great or rich, who may so far disgrace their own character as to live without God in the world, and trample under foot his laws." It is supposed that these directions refer principally to matters which come under the eye of the civil magistrate; as if he had said, "Do not join with great men in condemning an innocent or righteous person, against whom they have conceived a prejudice on the account of his religion," etc.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Exodus 23:1-9

In the law of Moses are very plain marks of sound moral feeling, and of true political wisdom. Every thing in it is suited to the desired and avowed object, the worship of one only God, and the separation of Israel from the pagan world. Neither parties, friends, witnesses, nor common opinions, must move us to lessen great faults, to aggravate small ones, excuse offenders, accuse the innocent, or misrepresent any…

Read the full comment on Exodus 23:1-9 →

Exodus 23:2 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

לֹֽא\־lo'-notH3808
תִהְיֶ֥הtih.Yehyou must beH1961
אַחֲרֵֽי\־'a.cha.rei-afterH310
רַבִּ֖יםra.Bimmany [people]H7227
לְרָעֹ֑תle.ra.'Otto wicked deedsH7451
וְלֹא\־ve.lo'-and notH3808
תַעֲנֶ֣הta.'a.Nehyou must testifyH6030
עַל\־'al-onH5921
רִ֗בRiva case at lawH7379
לִנְטֹ֛תlin.Totby turning asideH5186
אַחֲרֵ֥י'a.cha.ReiafterH310
רַבִּ֖יםra.Bimmany [people]H7227
לְהַטֹּֽת\׃le.ha.Totto thrust asideH5186

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Exodus 23:2

  • Proverbs 1:10-11

    My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

  • Proverbs 1:15

    My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:

  • Luke 23:23-24

    And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.

  • Job 31:34

    Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?

  • Matthew 27:24-26

    When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

  • Deuteronomy 1:17

    Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

  • 1 Kings 19:10

    And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

  • Exodus 23:6-7

    Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

  • John 7:50-51

    Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

  • Numbers 14:1-10

    And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. …

  • Mark 15:15

    And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.

  • Exodus 32:1-5

    And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
follow.
32:1-5; Ge 6:12; 7:1; 19:4,7-9; Nu 14:1-10; Jos 24:15; 1Sa 15:9
1Ki 19:10; Job 31:34; Pr 1:10,11,15; 4:14; Mt 27:24-26; Mr 15:15
Lu 23:23,24,51; Joh 7:50,51; Ac 24:27; 25:9; Ro 1:32; Ga 2:11-13
speak. or, answer. to decline.
6,7; Le 19:15; De 1:17; Ps 72:2; Jer 37:15,21; 38:5,6,9; Eze 9:9
Hag 1:4

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Exodus 23:1

    Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

  • Exodus 23:2

    Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:

  • Exodus 23:3

    Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.

Read all of Exodus 23

Exodus 23:2 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
No seguirás á los muchos para mal hacer; ni responderás en litigio inclinándote á los más para hacer agravios;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Tu n’iras pas après la foule, pour mal faire; et tu ne répondras pas dans un procès en penchant du côté de la foule, pour faire fléchir le jugement.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Du sollst der Menge nicht folgen zum Übeltun; und du sollst bei einem Rechtsstreit nicht antworten, indem du dich der Menge nach neigest, das Recht zu beugen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Non sequeris turbam ad faciendum malum: nec in judicio, plurimorum acquiesces sententiæ, ut a vero devies.