What Does Exodus 23:6 Mean?
You shall not bend the judgment of your poor in his dispute.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.THE KEY
Justice is not abstract here: it is the refusal to bend a poor person’s case away from its claim.
THE MEANING
The poor person’s case before you is not yours to bend away from its just course. Their poverty does not make their cause disposable; it still deserves an undistorted judgment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A poor person’s case matters less because they have less money, influence, or standing.
THE ROOT
תַטֶּה
tatteh
GROWS FROM
נטה
natah
To stretch out, incline, or turn aside.
“bend” in this verse is tatteh. The verb translated “wrest” is תַטֶּה (tatteh), from נטה (natah, to stretch, incline, or turn aside). It pictures judgment being steered off its line; the poor person’s claim is not to be made easier to turn aside.
ALSO GROWS
matteh: Staff or rod; also tribe.
מַטֶּה
This branch carries the sense of something extended, giving the root a concrete image of direction and reach.
mittah: Bed or couch.
מִטָּה
This word is also associated with spreading or laying something out, echoing the root’s sense of extension.
THE PATTERN
A person’s poverty must never make their claim easier to bend aside.
You shall not bend judgment. You shall not recognize faces, nor take a bribe, for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the aligned.Open your mouth, judge in alignment, and plead the cause of the bowed and the craving.But you have dishonored the emptied ones. Do not the rich press down on you, and drag you before the platform of judgment?THE THREAD
You shall not bend judgment. You shall not recognize faces, nor take a bribe, for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the aligned.Both verses use נטה (natah, to incline or turn aside) for “wrest.” Deuteronomy names how judgment bends, through partiality or a gift, while Exodus brings the poor person’s case into view.
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