What Does Proverbs 18:5 Mean in the King James?
It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Favor lifts the wicked while bending the aligned person out of true judgment.
THE MEANING
When a ruling gives the wicked special favor and bends the aligned person, judgment itself becomes crooked. The verse names this as not good because giving one face extra weight changes the measure applied to everyone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a favorable face or high standing leaves a verdict fair: the act of favoring already bends judgment.
THE ROOT
שְׂאֵת פְּנֵי
se'et penei
GROWS FROM
נשא
n-ś-ʾ
Lift, carry, or bear; here, lift a face by showing it favor.
English “accept the person” can sound like neutral recognition, but Hebrew pictures a face being lifted or favored. The same root means to carry and bear: partiality gives one person extra weight by raising them above the shared measure.
ALSO GROWS
nasa avon: Bear or remove crookedness; forgive it.
נָשָׂא עָוֹן
The same verb can describe bearing away crookedness; here, it shows how favor carries one person upward in judgment.
nasi: Chief or prince.
נָשִׂיא
A nasi is a leader or chief, a figure of standing; this verse warns against letting rank become the reason a face is lifted.
לְהַטּוֹת
lehatot
GROWS FROM
נטה
n-ṭ-h
Stretch out, incline, or turn aside.
“to overthrow” in this verse is lehatot. The verb makes the distortion active: judgment is inclined. This root can describe stretching or turning aside, so the ruling is pictured as bent away from its proper line.
ALSO GROWS
netuyah: Stretched out or extended.
נְטוּיָה
The same root describes something extended; here, the judgment is moved off its straight course.
matteh: Staff or rod; also tribe.
מַטֶּה
This related word carries the sense of an extended staff; the verse uses the root’s movement to picture a ruling bent away from its line.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
Alignment, rightness, or justice.
“righteous” in this verse is tsaddiq. צַדִּיק is the aligned person in this legal scene. The verse sets two distortions against that alignment: lifting the wicked and bending judgment.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, alignment.
צֶדֶק
This branch shows that the righteous person is aligned with justice in the case, not simply favored by status.
tsedaqah: Righteousness or justice; also acts of justice and charity.
צְדָקָה
The same root extends from right alignment into its enactment, so a bent verdict damages justice itself.
THE PATTERN
Judgment loses its integrity when status or favor bends its measure.
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.Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.THE THREAD
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:The Hebrew נשא פנים (nasa panim, “lift a face”) is the same phrase behind “regardeth not persons” and the favor named in Proverbs. Deuteronomy shows the standard in God’s nature: no face is lifted above another in judgment.
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