35 Bible Verses about Lawsuits
Most Relevant Verses
" 'You shall not do injustice in judgment; {you shall not show partiality to the powerless}; you shall not give preference {to the powerful}; you shall judge your fellow citizen with justice.
You must not {be partial} {in your judgment}; hear [out] the small [person] as [also] the great [person]; {do not be intimidated by any person}, because the judgment [is] God's; and the case that is too difficult for you, bring [it] to me, and I will hear it [out].'
Do not rob the poor because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate; For Yahweh will plead their case and despoil those who despoil them of life.
" 'You will not {spread} a false report. Do not lift your hand with [the] wicked to be a malicious witness. You will not {follow} a majority for evil, and you will not testify concerning a legal dispute to turn aside after a majority to pervert [justice].
{The testimony of a single witness may not be used to convict} [with respect to] any crime and for any wrongdoing in any offense that a person committed; on the {evidence} of two witnesses or on the {evidence} of three witnesses {a charge shall be sustained}. If {a malicious witness} gets up {to accuse} anyone to testify against him falsely, then the two men {to whom the legal dispute pertains} shall stand {before} Yahweh, {before} the priests and the judges who are [in office] in those days.read more.
Then judges shall make a thorough inquiry, and [if] it turns out that the witness is a false witness [and] he testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he meant to do to his brother, and so you shall purge the evil from your midst. {And the rest} shall hear and shall fear, and {they shall not continue to do such a thing again} as this evil thing in your midst. {You must show no pity}: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."
These [are] the things that you must do: speak truth, each [of you], with his neighbor; practice trustworthy judgment and peace in your gates.
"{If a matter is too difficult for you}, [for example disputes] between blood and blood, between legal claim and legal claim and between assault and assault [and between] matters of discernment in your {towns}, then you shall get up and you shall go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose; then you shall go to the priests and the Levites and to the judge who will be [in office] in those days, and you shall enquire, and they shall announce to you {the verdict}. "And {you shall carry out exactly the decision} that they announced to you from that place that Yahweh will choose, and {you shall diligently observe} according to all that they instruct you.read more.
[And so] according to {the instruction of the law} that they teach you and according to the decisions that they say to you, you shall do; you shall not turn from the word that they tell you to the right or [to the] left. And the man who treats with contempt [so as] not to listen to the priest [who] [is] standing to minister on behalf of Yahweh your God or to the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. And all the people will hear and will be afraid, and they will not behave presumptuously again.
And so I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and [then] I appointed them as leaders over you [as] commanders of [groups of] thousands and commanders of [groups of] hundreds and commanders of [groups of] fifties and commanders of [groups of] tens [as] officials for your tribes. And at that time I instructed your judges, saying, '{hear out your fellow men}, and [then] judge fairly between a man and between his brother and between {his opponent who is a resident alien}. You must not {be partial} {in your judgment}; hear [out] the small [person] as [also] the great [person]; {do not be intimidated by any person}, because the judgment [is] God's; and the case that is too difficult for you, bring [it] to me, and I will hear it [out].'read more.
And so I instructed you at that time [concerning] all [of] the things that you should do.
"When a legal dispute {takes place} between men and they come near to the court, and [the judges] judge [with respect to] them, then they shall declare the righteous [to be] in the right and they shall condemn the wicked,
When {they have an issue}, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make known God's rule and his instructions."
" 'And if men fight and they injure a pregnant woman, and her children go out and there is not serious injury, he will surely be fined as the woman's husband demands concerning him {and as the judges determine}.
"For [he is] not a mortal like me [that] I can answer him, [that] {we can come to trial together}. There is no arbiter between us [that] he might lay his hand on both of us. May he remove his rod from me, and let his dread not terrify me;read more.
[then] I would speak and not fear him, for {in myself I am not fearful}.
For [it is] better [that] he say to you, "Ascend here," than he humble you before a noble. What your eyes have seen, do not hastily bring out to court, for what will you do at its end, when your neighbor puts you to shame? Argue your argument with your neighbor [himself], the secret of another do not disclose,read more.
lest he who hears shame you and your ill repute will not end.
[If] a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, then there is rankling and ridicule, but there is no relief.
{Settle the case quickly with your accuser} while you are with him on the way, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will never come out of there until you have paid back the last penny!
Listen, my dear brothers! Did not God choose the poor of the world [to be] rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor! Are not the rich exploiting you and they themselves dragging you into the courts? Do they themselves not blaspheme the good name {of the one to whom you belong}?
Does anyone among you, [if he] has a matter against someone else, dare to go to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if by you the world is judged, are you unworthy of the most insignificant courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels, not to mention ordinary matters?read more.
Therefore, if you have courts with regard to ordinary matters, do you seat these despised [people] in the church? I say [this] to your shame. So is there not anyone wise among you who will be able to render a decision between his brothers? But brother goes to court with brother, and this before unbelievers! Therefore it is already completely a loss for you that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? But you wrong and defraud, and [do] this [to] brothers!
Hate evil and love good and establish justice in the gate; perhaps Yahweh, the God of hosts, will be gracious [to] the remnant of Joseph.
For [the] tyrant shall be no more, and [the] scoffer shall come to an end. And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off; those who mislead a person into sin with a word and set a trap for the {arbitrator} in the gate and guide away [the] righteous by emptiness.
Those who trample the heads of the powerless into the dust of the ground and turn aside the way of the destitute, a man and his father {have sexual relations with} the same girl, so that [they] profane my holy name.
[Ah,] you who turn justice into wormwood and hurl righteousness to the ground! The one who made the Pleiades and Orion and who turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens day [into] night, the one who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh [is] his name! The one who makes destruction flash upon [the] fierce, {so that} destruction comes upon [the] fortification.read more.
They hate the one who reproves in the gate and they abhor the one who speaks honestly. Therefore, because you trample on [the] poor and you take a grain tax from them, you built houses of dressed stone, but you will not live in them. You built vineyards of delightfulness, but you will not drink their wine. For I know your transgressions [are] many and your sins [are] numerous, [you] foes of [the] righteous, those who take a bribe, and {those who} push aside [the] poor [ones] in the gate!
They utter words of vain oaths [when] {making covenants}, and judgment blossoms like a poisonous plant on the furrows of the field.
It happened afterward that Absalom made himself a chariot with horses and fifty men running before him. Absalom used to rise early in the morning, and he stood {beside} the road [at] the gate; {anyone} who had a legal dispute to bring to the king for judgment Absalom would call to him and say, "{Where are you from?}" And he would say, "Your servant [is] from one of the tribes of Israel." Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your case [is] good and right, but for you there is no hearing with the king."read more.
Then Absalom would say, "{Oh, that someone would} appoint me as judge in the land, that {anyone} might come to me who had a legal dispute or a case, and I would give him justice."
Joab the son of Zeruiah realized that the mind of the king [was] on Absalom. So Joab sent to Tekoa and took from there a wise woman, and he said to her, "Please pretend to mourn and put on garments of mourning. You should not anoint yourself [with] oil, and you must act like this woman who has been mourning over the dead for {a long time}. Then you must go to the king and speak to him according to this word." [Thus] Joab put the words in her mouth.read more.
So the Tekoite woman spoke to the king, and she fell on her face to the ground and did obeisance. She said, "Help me, O king!" Then the king asked her, "{What do you want}?" And she said, "Truly I [am] a widow, and my husband [is] dead. Your servant had two sons, and they both fought in the open field, and there [was] no one {to part them}. One struck the other and killed him. And look, all of the family has risen up against your servant, and they said, 'Give up the one who struck his brother, that we may kill him in exchange for the life of his brother whom he murdered. We will also wipe out the heir,' and so they would put out my embers which remain, by not preserving for my husband a name and a remnant on the face of the earth." Then the king said to the woman, "Go to your house, and I myself will give the command concerning you." The Tekoite woman said to the king, "On me, my lord the king, [is] the guilt, and on the house of my father, but the king on his throne [is] innocent." The king said, "[Whoever] has spoken to you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you again." Then she said, "Please may the king remember Yahweh your God, {to prevent the increase of blood avengers who kill}, [so that they] not wipe out my son." He said, "{As Yahweh lives}, surely not one hair shall fall from your son to the ground." The woman said, "Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king." And he said, "Speak." The woman said, "But why have you plotted like this against the people of God? By speaking this word, he is guilty not to bring back his banished one. For {we must certainly die}, and [we are] as the waters spilled to the ground which cannot be gathered. God will not take a life but devises plans for a banished person not to be cast out from him. Now I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, because the people made me afraid, and your servant thought, 'I will speak to the king, perhaps the king will grant the request of his servant. For the king will listen, to deliver his servant from the hand of the man [who seeks] to destroy me and my son together from the inheritance of God.' Your servant also thought, 'May the word of my lord the king {bring rest}, for as an angel of God, so [is] my lord the king, {to sense what is good and what is bad}.' May Yahweh your God be with you." The king answered and said to the woman, "Please do not withhold from me a thing which I [am] about to ask you." The woman said, "Please let my lord the king speak." The king asked, "[Was] the hand of Joab with you in all of this?" The woman answered and said, "{As your soul lives}, my lord the king, surely [one cannot] go to the right or to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken. Yes, your servant Joab himself commanded me, and he put all of these words in the mouth of your servant. In order {to change the situation}, your servant Joab did this thing. But my lord [has] wisdom, as the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all that [is] on the earth."
Then two prostitutes came to the king, and they stood before him. The one woman said, "Please my lord, I and this woman are living in one house, and I gave birth, with her in the house. It happened on the third day [after] my giving birth, this woman also gave birth, and we [were] together. There was not anyone with us in the house, only the two of us [were] in the house.read more.
Then the son of this woman died [in the] night because she laid on him. So she got up in the middle of the night, and she took my son from beside me while your servant was asleep, and she put him in her lap, and she put her dead son in my lap. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead! When I looked closely at him in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I had borne." Then the other woman said, "No, for my son [is] the living one, and your son [is] the dead one." The other kept on saying, "No, for your son [is] the dead one, and my son [is] the living one," and so they argued in front of the king. Then the king said, "This one [is] saying, 'This [is] my son, the living one, but your son [is] the dead one,' and the other one keeps saying, 'But no! Your son [is] the dead one, and my son [is] living!'" So the king said, "Bring me a sword," and they brought the sword before the king. Then the king said, "Divide the living child into two, and give half to the one and half to the other." Then the woman whose son [was] the living one spoke to the king because her compassion was aroused for her son, and she said, "Please, my lord, give her the living child, but certainly do not kill him!" The other one [was] saying, "As for me, so for you! Divide [him]!" Then the king answered and said, "Give the living child to her, and do not kill him; she [is] his mother."
It happened that the king of Israel [was] crossing over on the wall, and a woman called out to him, saying, "Help, my lord the king!" He said, "No, let Yahweh help you. {How} can I save you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press?" The king said to her, "{What is the problem}?" Then the woman said, "This woman said to me, 'Give me your son, and let us eat him today, then tomorrow we will eat my son.'read more.
So we cooked my son and ate him, and I said to her the next day, 'Give your son that we may eat him.' But she had hidden her son."
Now [when] Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews rose up with one purpose against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, saying, "This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law!" But [when] Paul was about to open [his] mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it was some crime or wicked villainy, O Jews, {I would have been justified in accepting} your complaint.read more.
But if it is questions concerning a word and names and {your own law}, see to [it] yourselves! I do not wish to be a judge of these [things]." And he drove them away from the judgment seat.
And [when] the city secretary had quieted the crowd, he said, "Ephesian men, for who is there among men who does not know the Ephesian city is honorary temple keeper of the great Artemis and of [her] image fallen from heaven? Therefore [because] these [things] are undeniable, it is necessary [that] you be quiet and do nothing rash! For you have brought these men [here] [who are] neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.read more.
If then Demetrius and the craftsmen [who are] with him have a complaint against anyone, the court days are observed and there are proconsuls--let them bring charges against one another! But if you desire anything further, it will be settled in the lawful assembly. For indeed we are in danger of being accused of rioting concerning today, [since there] is no cause in relation to which we will be able to give an account concerning this disorderly gathering!" And [when he] had said these [things], he dismissed the assembly.
{Settle the case quickly with your accuser} while you are with him on the way, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.
do not hastily bring out to court, for what will you do at its end, when your neighbor puts you to shame?
Does anyone among you, [if he] has a matter against someone else, dare to go to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?
From Thematic Bible
Lawsuits » To be avoided
do not hastily bring out to court, for what will you do at its end, when your neighbor puts you to shame? Argue your argument with your neighbor [himself], the secret of another do not disclose, lest he who hears shame you and your ill repute will not end.
Does anyone among you, [if he] has a matter against someone else, dare to go to court before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if by you the world is judged, are you unworthy of the most insignificant courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels, not to mention ordinary matters? read more.
Therefore, if you have courts with regard to ordinary matters, do you seat these despised [people] in the church? I say [this] to your shame. So is there not anyone wise among you who will be able to render a decision between his brothers? But brother goes to court with brother, and this before unbelievers! Therefore it is already completely a loss for you that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? But you wrong and defraud, and [do] this [to] brothers!
{Settle the case quickly with your accuser} while you are with him on the way, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will never come out of there until you have paid back the last penny!
