Justice and defending the vulnerable

8 Then Yahweh’s message came to Zekaryah (Zechariah): 9 “Commander-in-chief Yahweh says, ‘Judge with true justice, loyal commitment, and mercy. Let everyone do that for their neighbour. 10 Don’t oppress widows or orphans, foreigners or poor people, and none of you should plot any harm against another person, even in your mind.’

11 But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and blocking their ears so they couldn’t hear. 12 They made their hearts as hard as rock so they couldn’t hear the written law or Commander-in-chief Yahweh’s contemporary messages. He’d sent those messages to the people by his spirit in earlier times through the words of the prophets, but the people refused to listen, so Commander-in-chief Yahweh was very angry with them. 13 And so it was that when he called, they didn’t listen. In the same way,” said Commander-in-chief Yahweh, “they’ll call out to me for help, but I won’t listen. 14 I’ll use a whirlwind to scatter them to other nations that they’ve never been to before. Then the land here will become desolate after they’ve gone because no one will pass through this land or return to it since the people have made their pleasant country into a wasteland.”

23 You mustn’t present a false statement. Don’t conspire with a wicked person to give false evidence.[ref] 2 Don’t just follow the crowd into doing what’s wrong, and don’t just say what others say in court if it’s untrue, 3 and don’t automatically favour the poor in court either.[ref]

4 If you come across your enemy’s cow or donkey going astray, you must certainly take it back to them.[ref] 5 If you see that the donkey of someone who hates you has fallen to the ground under its load, you mustn’t just walk way—you must certainly help them with it.

6 You mustn’t deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.[ref] 7 Stay far way from deceptive words. You mustn’t kill innocent or honest people because I won’t allow wicked people to be declared innocent. 8 You mustn’t accept bribes, because bribes stop people from being unbiased and they undermine the words of honest people.

9 You mustn’t oppress foreigners since you yourselves know how that feels because you all were foreigners in Mitsrayim (Egypt).[ref]

18 You must appoint judges and other officials throughout your tribes, in all the towns that your god Yahweh is giving to you. They must judge the people fairly and correctly. 19 You mustn’t pervert justice or give favours. Don’t accept bribes because a bribe causes an otherwise wise person to ignore evil and misrepresents what innocent people say.[ref] 20 True justice is what you should aim for, so that you’ll occupy and live in the land that your god Yahweh is giving you.

A song by Asaf.

1 God stands in the divine assembly.

He renders judgement among the gods.

2 For how long will you judge unjustly

and show favouritism to the wicked? (Instrumental break.)

3 Defend the poor and the fatherless.

≈ Maintain the rights of those who are afflicted and destitute.

4 Rescue the poor and needy—

≈ help them escape from the control of the wicked people.

5 They neither know nor understand.

They wander around in the darkness.

All the earth’s foundations crumble.

6 I said, “You are ‘gods’,

and all of you are sons of the highest one.[ref]

7 Nevertheless you will die like men

and fall like one of the leaders.”

8 Take action, God, judge the earth,

because you have an inheritance in all the nations.