You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
Parallel Translations
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You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
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That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
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Justice, justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 16:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about these things.
- Ezekiel 18:9 has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Ezekiel 18:5 “But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right,
- Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Deuteronomy 4:1 Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you.
- Deuteronomy 25:13-16 You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light. You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small. You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your God.
- Romans 10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The magistrate must constantly follow the tenor of the…
The magistrate must constantly follow the tenor of the Law, and in nothing decline from justice.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Deu 16:20 That which is altogether just shalt thou…
Deu 16:20 That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Ver. 20. That which is altogether just.] Heb., Justice, justice; that is, let pure justice, without mud, run down; let all selfish affections be strained out.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain That which is altogether just, Heb. righteousness, righteousness, i.e.…
That which is altogether just, Heb. righteousness, righteousness, i.e. nothing but righteousness in all causes and times, and to all persons equally. Compare Isa 26:7.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thou shall not plant thee a grove of any…
Thou shall not plant thee a grove of any trees,.... Of any sort of trees, as oaks or any other; not but that it was lawful to plant trees and groves of them, but not for a religious or idolatrous use: particularly
near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee; as the Heathens did near their altars, lest it should be thought to be done for a like superstitious and idolatrous use; which evil the Jews sometimes fell into in the times of wicked reigns, and which their good and pious kings removed and destroyed; see Kg2 18:4 and Hecataeus (b), an Heathen historian, relates of the city of Jerusalem, that there were there no image, nor plantation, nor grove, nor any such thing.
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(b) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 4. p. 408.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain That which is altogether just - Hebrew. righteousness, righteousness,…
That which is altogether just - Hebrew. righteousness, righteousness, that is, nothing but righteousness in all causes and times, and to all persons equally.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Just. Hebrew, "thou shalt follow justice." Thou shalt be…
Just. Hebrew, "thou shalt follow justice." Thou shalt be guided solely by the dictates of justice, in passing sentence, Exodus xxiii. 1, 9. (Calmet) --- That judge who passes sentence according to truth, executes his office unjustly if he be actuated by the love of a temporal reward. (St. Gregory, Mor. 9.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 20. That which is altogether just] Heb. righteousness, righteousness.
20. That which is altogether just] Heb. righteousness, righteousness.
follow] Not only desire but indefatigably hunt after; cp. Deu_13:14, inquire, make search and seek diligently.
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that thou mayest live, etc.] See note on Deu_4:1 and introd. to this passage.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain That which is altogether just; literally, justice, justice. The…
That which is altogether just; literally, justice, justice. The repetition of the word is for the sake of emphasis, as in Gen_14:10, "pits, pits," equal to full of pits.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain That which is altogether Just shalt thou follow.
Deu_16:20
That which is altogether Just shalt thou follow.
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Justice the decorum of the character of judges
(preached at the Assizes):--The duties which are incumbent upon us may be very properly divided into two classes--such as are incumbent upon all men, and such as are incumbent upon particular ranks of men.
I. Justice is immediately connected with the end of that office which magistrates, judges, and rulers bear. The exercise of justice itself is the proximate means of answering the purposes of government and judgment. One of the principal ways in which other virtues promote these purposes is by contributing to the steady and vigorous exercise of incorruptible justice. Injustice, directly and of itself, defeats these purposes, and is in every instance absolutely inconsistent with them. Other vices obstruct them sometimes very strongly, but always more remotely and indirectly, often by preparing the way to injustice.
II. Rulers and judges have, from their office, opportunity for many exertions of justice wholly peculiar to themselves. On this account also justice may be considered as in a special manner the virtue of their character and station. The poor man, who cannot himself resist the oppression of the great; the peaceable man, who is harassed by the encroachments of the man of violence; the orphan, whose rights are invaded by him that hath no bowels, claim the protection of the judge, and can obtain redress only by brining their cause under his cognisance. Differences arising from the ignorance or the self-partiality of persons well disposed can be determined only by the superior knowledge and unbiassed justice of the judge. When individuals are injured or the public disturbed by crimes, it is to the integrity of the judge that they must look up for help. How extensive, then, is the sphere of public justice which is peculiar to the ruler and the judge! In every instance of public justice he must make conscience of doing what is right, else he forfeits the character of a just and honest man, in the very same way as another person would forfeit it by being convicted of a transgression of private justice.
III. Justice may be considered as in a peculiar manner belonging to rulers, judges, and magistrates because they are under peculiar obligations to it. Every act of injustice brings positive hurt on the person who is affected by it; but an unjust judgment hurts with the cutting aggravations of its being done under form of law, and of its impeaching the person whom it injures, as if he had been injurious. Private persons are connected only with a few, and therefore only a few can be hurt by their injustice; but the injustice of a judge is of more extensive consequence, it hurts all who are subject to his jurisdiction. Private injustice may be checked or redressed by the righteousness of the judge; but if the judge be unrighteous, by whom shall his injustice be restrained? (Alex. Gerard, D. D.)
Civil justice
That which the air is in the elementary world, the sun in the celestial, the soul in the intelligible, justice is the same in the civil. It is the air which all afflicted desire to breathe; the sun which dispelleth all clouds; the soul which giveth life to all things. The unhappiness is, it is more found on the paper of writers than in the manners of the living. To be just is to be all that which an honest man may be, since justice is to give everyone what appertaineth to him. (N. Caussin.)
Justice in small things
Nouschirvan, the Persian king, having been hunting, and desirous of eating some of the venison in the field, several of his attendants went to a neighbouring village, and took away a quantity of salt to season it. The king suspecting how they had acted, ordered that they should immediately go and pay for it; then turning to his attendants, he said, This is a small matter in itself, but a great one as it regards me: for a king ought ever to be just, because he is an example to his subjects; and if he swerves in trifles, they will become dissolute. If I cannot make all my people just in the smallest things, I can, at least, show them it is possible to be so.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.