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Deuteronomy 27:25

in Deuteronomy 27

‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Cursed be he that taketh a bribe to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

KJV

Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

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This verse in Deuteronomy 27

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person,.... As an assassin, to murder him privately; or as a judge, that takes a bribe to condemn to death an innocent person: so Aben Ezra observes, that according to the sense of some a judge is meant; but, says he, in my opinion a false witness; one that swears a man's life away for the sake of a reward given him: and all the people shall say Amen; at so detestable a crime.

This site's exposition

Cursed is he who strikes down his neighbor in secret

on Deuteronomy 27:24-25

Both curses fall on killings, and both are hidden. Striking a neighbor “in secret” is murder with no witness, and taking a bribe to kill is murder bought at a distance.

This site's exposition

accepts a bribe to kill

Henry calls killing an innocent person by law the worst affront to God. Psalm 15:5 blesses the man who takes no bribe against the innocent.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the L ORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. A general charge to the people to keep God's commandments; for in vain did they know them, unless they would do them. This is pressed upon them, 1.

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אָרוּר֙[is] cursed

    ʾarurH779 →63 times

  • לֹקֵ֣חַ[one who] takes

    lokeachH3947 →966 times

  • שֹׁ֔חַדa bribe

    shochadH7810 →23 times

  • לְהַכּ֥וֹתto strike down

    lehakotH5221 →499 times

  • נֶ֖פֶשׁa person of

    nefeshH5315 →754 times

  • דָּ֣םblood

    damH1818 →360 times

  • נָקִ֑יinnocent

    nakiH5355 →43 times

  • וְאָמַ֥רand it will say

    veamarH559 →5305 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הָעָ֖םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • אָמֵֽן׃ סamen

    ʾamenH543 →30 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

13 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Proverbs 6:17haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,7 worksExodus 23:7Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.6 worksPsalms 15:5who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.4 worksDeuteronomy 10:17For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.4 worksEzekiel 22:12In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.4 worksDeuteronomy 16:19Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.3 works
The other 7 cross-references, with their words ▾
Matthew 27:3–4When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.2 worksActs 1:18(Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.2 worksProverbs 1:11–29If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,2 worksMicah 7:2–3The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.2 worksMatthew 26:15and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.2 worksMicah 3:10–11who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity.2 worksJudges 9:24in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 10:17

    For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

    it leads to

    • Acts 10:34

      Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,

    • Romans 2:11

      For God does not show favoritism.

    • Daniel 2:47

      The king said to Daniel, “Your God is truly the God of gods and Lord of kings, the Revealer of Mysteries, since you were able to reveal this mystery.”

    • Galatians 2:6

      But as for the highly esteemed—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—those leaders added nothing to me.

    • Nehemiah 9:32

      So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders,…

  • Through

    Psalms 15:5

    who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 22:25

      If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest.

    • Deuteronomy 16:19

      Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

    • Ezekiel 22:12

      In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 27 →

This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 27 →