Deuteronomy 25:1

He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”

If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.

Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy.”

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”

For every matter of trespass, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, ‘This is mine,’ the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.

“Keep far from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent and righteous; for I will not justify the wicked.

“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

For who is God, besides Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God?

then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction, my precious life from the lions.

If only you, God, would kill the wicked. Get away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

Also to punish the righteous is not good, nor to flog officials for their integrity.

He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” peoples will curse him, and nations will abhor him—

His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. A bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples.

He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver.

The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to those who are bound,

Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.

The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

He cried aloud, and said this, ‘Cut down the tree, and cut off its branches! Shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit! Let the animals get away from under it, and the fowls from its branches.

Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’

Every tree that doesn’t grow good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.

Even now the ax also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.”

Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

I will set apart in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, to the end you may know that I am Yahweh on the earth.

If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double.

“You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

You shall come to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.

Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

Yahweh rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands.

David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of Yahweh’s house, six thousand were officers and judges,

Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”

Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.

“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?

Should even one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty?—

You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

May all my enemies be ashamed and dismayed. They shall turn back, they shall be disgraced suddenly.

They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land, to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.

It is time to act, Yahweh, for they break your law.

For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of David’s house.

To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.

The strong will be like tinder, and his work like a spark. They will both burn together, and no one will quench them.”

to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed;

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; so it was well, then. Wasn’t this to know me?” says Yahweh.

But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression, and for doing violence.”

It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will each return from his evil way; for Yahweh has pronounced great anger and wrath against this people.”

to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve.

Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion; for they say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see.’

“ ‘ “Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.

“ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Let it suffice you, princes of Israel: remove violence and plunder, and execute justice and righteousness; dispossessing my people,” says the Lord Yahweh.

“All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house! I will love them no more. All their princes are rebels.

Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.

Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech.

Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of Yahweh’s anger.

Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.

Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.

The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.

“If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house;

He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.

Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.

A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.

The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. Yahweh’s breath, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.

Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.

Judah said, “What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? How will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and he also in whose hand the cup is found.”

According to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they announce to you, to the right hand, nor to the left.

The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,

then hear from heaven, act, and judge your servants, bringing retribution to the wicked, to bring his way on his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

Moreover in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed Levites and priests, and of the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel, for the judgment of Yahweh, and for controversies. They returned to Jerusalem.

Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!

but he will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.

House of David, Yahweh says, ‘Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

“ ‘ “In a controversy they shall stand to judge. They shall judge it according to my ordinances. They shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts. They shall make my Sabbaths holy.

Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.

You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,

Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.

“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the authority,