Exodus 23:8

Summary

Exodus 23:8 prohibits accepting a shochad ("bribe", H7810), giving as reason its effect: it blinds those who see clearly and distorts the words of the righteous. The verse is built as a command followed by a causal clause explaining the danger of the bribe.

Key words

• Shochad ("a bribe", H7810) — masculine singular noun, repeated twice (lines 2 and 7), first as direct object, then with the definite article ha- (H9009) as subject of the causal clause.
• Tikkach ("you must take", H3947G) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular, negated by lo ("not", H3808); expresses a durative prohibition rather than a single forbidden act.
• Ye'aver ("it makes blind", H5786) — piel imperfect, third person masculine singular; the piel stem intensifies the action, presenting blinding as a forceful, effective process caused by the bribe.
• Yesallef ("it may pervert", H5557) — piel imperfect with vav, continuing the same subject (ha-shochad) and force as ye'aver; the vav links the two verbs as parallel or sequential effects of the bribe.
• Divrei tzadikim ("words of righteous [people]", H1697I + H6662) — construct chain: divrei ("words of") governs tzadikim ("righteous ones"), meaning the words belong to or come from righteous persons, not that the words themselves possess a quality.

What the text says

The verse opens with a direct prohibition: ve-shochad lo tikkach ("and a bribe you must not take"). The object shochad is fronted before the negated verb, a common Hebrew construction that places emphasis on the item forbidden. The particle ki ("for", H3588A) introduces a causal clause that justifies the prohibition rather than merely describing a hypothetical.

In the causal clause, ha-shochad becomes the grammatical subject, acting upon two objects: pikchim ("clear-sighted ones", H6493) and divrei tzadikim. Both verbs, ye'aver and yesallef, are piel stems, which in Biblical Hebrew often mark intensive or causative action — the bribe does not merely obscure but actively blinds, and does not merely change but actively twists. The construct phrase divrei tzadikim keeps the focus on human agents (the righteous) as the source of the words being distorted, rather than on the words having an inherent righteous quality.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders shochad as δῶρα ("gifts"), a more neutral term than the Hebrew's specifically negative shochad ("bribe"). Where the Hebrew has pikchim ("clear-sighted ones") as a plural adjective functioning as a noun, the LXX adds ὀφθαλμοὺς βλεπόντων ("eyes of those who see"), making explicit the organ of sight not stated in the Hebrew. The Vulgate's prudentes ("the prudent") shifts the sense from sight/perception to wisdom or judgment. Finally, the Hebrew construct divrei tzadikim ("words of righteous people") is rendered in the LXX as ῥήματα δίκαια ("righteous words"), turning a phrase about the source of the words (righteous persons) into a description of the words' own quality — a difference also reflected in the Vulgate's verba justorum ("words of the just"), which more closely follows the Hebrew construct structure.