What Does Leviticus 19:15 Mean?
You shall do no crookedness in judgment; you shall not lift up the face of the bowed down, nor adorn the face of the great; but in alignment shall you judge the one beside you.
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
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.THE KEY
The Hebrew names two opposite ways to tilt a verdict, lifting the poor person’s face and adorning the powerful one’s, and lets neither bend the measure.
THE MEANING
A person’s poverty or power does not decide the weight of their case: pity can tilt it one way, deference the other. Judgment holds to alignment when neither person’s standing changes the measure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Fairness does not mean favoring someone because they are poor, and influence does not make someone’s claim more deserving of weight.
THE ROOT
תִּשָּׂא פְּנֵי־דָל
tissa penei dal
GROWS FROM
נשא
n-ś-ʾ
to lift, carry, or bear; here, to lift someone’s face
“lift up the face of” in this verse is tissa penei dal. The Hebrew literally says “lift the face of the poor,” making favoritism an act of elevation rather than merely a private feeling. The verse then pairs it with honoring the great person’s face: opposite social impulses can bend judgment in opposite directions.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: lift, carry, bear
נָשָׂא
This verb supplies the literal image behind the phrase: the judge raises the poor person’s face.
nasi: chief, leader; an elevated one
נָשִׂיא
This related title carries the sense of elevation, sharpening the image of a face being raised in judgment.
תֶּהְדַּר פְּנֵי גָדוֹל
tehadder penei gadol
GROWS FROM
הדר
h-d-r
to adorn, honor, or render splendid
“adorn the face” in this verse is tehadder penei gadol. The root gives “honour” an image of adorning the great person’s face with splendor. Beside “lift the face,” it shows how both sympathy and prestige can distort the same judgment.
ALSO GROWS
hadar: splendor, beauty, majesty
הָדָר
This noun makes vivid the added luster implied by honoring the great person’s face.
tehadder: you honor, adorn, treat as splendid
תְּהַדֵּר
This is the verse’s verb: the warning concerns granting the great person this added distinction in judgment.
צֶדֶק
tsedeq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
alignment; being right with the measure
The verse sets alignment as the standard after naming both the poor and the great. It makes the case itself, not pity or status, the measure by which the neighbor is judged.
ALSO GROWS
tzaddiq: a just, upright person
צַדִּיק
The related word describes a person in alignment, rather than someone favored by rank.
tzedakah: justice, just action; also almsgiving in some contexts
צְדָקָה
The root extends from alignment as a quality to actions that embody it.
THE PATTERN
A person’s standing must not alter the measure used to judge their case.
You shall not recognize faces in judgment; hear and respond to the small as well as the great; do not shrink from the face of man; for the judgment is God's; and the word that is too hard for you, draw it near to me, and I will hear and respond to it.These also are for the wise. It is not good to regard faces in judgment.My brothers, do not hold the trust of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Lord of weight, by receiving faces.THE THREAD
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, the awe-inspiring, who does not lift up the face of any and does not take a bribe.Deuteronomy uses the same Hebrew image, nasa panim: “lift the face.” It opens Leviticus further by showing that the refusal to elevate a person governs the divine measure as well as the judge’s verdict.
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