Discovery BoxExodus 23:3 
Context23:3 and you must not show partiality 1 to a poor man in his lawsuit.
Exodus 23:6-7
Context23:6 “You must not turn away justice for your poor people in their lawsuits. 23:7 Keep your distance 2 from a false charge 3 – do not kill the innocent and the righteous, 4 for I will not justify the wicked. 5
1 tn The point here is one of false sympathy and honor, the bad sense of the word הָדַר (hadar; see S. R. Driver, Exodus, 237).
2 tn Or “stay away from,” or “have nothing to do with.”
3 tn Heb “a false matter,” this expression in this context would have to be a case in law that was false or that could only be won by falsehood.
4 tn The two clauses probably should be related: the getting involved in the false charge could lead to the death of an innocent person (so, e.g., Naboth in 1 Kgs 21:10-13).
5 sn God will not declare right the one who is in the wrong. Society should also be consistent, but it cannot see the intents and motives, as God can.
