Bribe

Bribery is consistently condemned in the Old Testament as a corruption of justice that blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous (Ex. 23:8; Deut. 16:19). The gift that corrupts a judge—the Hebrew shochad—undermines the judicial impartiality that Mosaic law regarded as foundational to the covenant community's social order. Samuel explicitly denied having taken a bribe throughout his life of public service (1 Sam. 12:3), and Amos condemned those who “afflict the righteous, take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate” (Amos 5:12) as a central symptom of Israel's injustice.

The prophetic literature returns repeatedly to bribery as one of the defining marks of a society in spiritual decline: Isaiah condemns rulers who are “companions of thieves” who love bribes and run after gifts (Isa. 1:23), and Micah describes a Jerusalem where judges rule for a bribe and priests teach for a price (Mic. 3:11). Proverbs acknowledges the practical power of a bribe while not endorsing it (Prov. 17:8; 18:16), and Psalm 15:5 identifies the refusal of bribes against the innocent as a mark of the person who shall dwell on God's holy hill.