What Does Proverbs 28:21 Mean in the King James?
To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.
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
When a face can tilt judgment, even a morsel becomes enough to purchase a breach.
THE MEANING
You see favoritism as a form of exchange: one face receives weight while truth loses it, and the price may be only a piece of bread. The verse names the resulting breach without making its small reward an excuse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a small incentive makes compromised judgment insignificant.
THE ROOT
הַכֵּר
hakkēr
GROWS FROM
נכר
נכר (n-kh-r): recognize, distinguish, or mark as strange.
“respect of persons” in this verse is hakkēr. The verse’s הַכֵּר (hakkēr, recognizing) פָּנִים (panim, faces) puts recognition itself under scrutiny. This root family also names what is foreign or strange, revealing how attention can single someone out, and let that distinction bend judgment.
ALSO GROWS
nokhrī: foreigner, stranger
נָכְרִי
The same consonants name someone marked as unfamiliar, echoing how a face can be singled out and treated differently.
nēkhār: foreignness, what is strange
נֵכָר
This noun carries the root’s sense of distinction, showing how recognition can divide people into categories.
יִפְשַׁע
yifshaʿ
GROWS FROM
פשע
Rebel, break away; commit a transgression.
“transgress” in this verse is yifshaʿ. יִפְשַׁע (yifshaʿ, he transgresses or rebels) names an active breach. Its root holds the tiny price beside the rupture itself, keeping the disproportion in view.
ALSO GROWS
peshaʿ: rebellion, transgression
פֶּשַׁע
The noun names the breach that the verb in this verse describes happening.
poshēaʿ: one who rebels or transgresses
פֹּשֵׁעַ
This participle names the person performing the act, keeping the verse’s focus on a human choice.
THE PATTERN
When people are judged by appearance or status, recognition bends into unequal treatment.
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.These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.THE THREAD
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.Its phrase “respect persons” translates תַכִּירוּ פָנִים (takkiru panim, show regard to faces), from נכר (n-kh-r, recognize or distinguish), the same root as Proverbs’ הַכֵּר (hakkēr, recognizing). The next clause, hearing the small and great alike, shows recognition without favoritism: a person’s face does not set the weight of the judgment.
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