35 Bible Verses about Lawsuits
Most Relevant Verses
Do no injustice in judgment. Do not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great. Judge your neighbor fairly.
You will not show partiality in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great. You will not fear man for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.'
Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate. Jehovah will plead their cause and take the life of those who rob them.
Do not spread false rumors. Do not help a guilty person by offering false testimony. Do not follow the majority to do wrong. Do not give testimony that perverts justice.
One witness is not enough to convict someone of a crime, offense, or sin he may have committed. Cases must be settled based on the testimony of two or three witnesses. This is what you must do whenever a witness takes the stand to accuse a person falsely of a crime. The two people involved must stand in Jehovah's presence, in front of the priests and judges who are serving at that time.read more.
The judges must make a thorough investigation. If it is found that the witness lied when he testified against the other Israelite, do to him what he planned to do to the other person. Get rid of this evil. When other people hear about this, they will be afraid. Never again will such an evil thing be done among you. Have no pity on him: Take a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.
These are the things that you should do. Every man should speak the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates (towns).
If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, and between one kind of assault or another, being cases of dispute in your courts, then you should go to the place Jehovah your God chooses. Approach the Levitical priest or the judge who is in office in those days. Inquire of them and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. Act according to the terms of the verdict they declare to you from that place Jehovah chooses. Be careful to abide by all that they teach you.read more.
Act according to the verdict and the terms they tell you. Do not turn away from the word they declare to you. The man who acts presumptuously and does not listen to the priest or the judge will die. This way you will purge the evil from Israel. The priests and judges are there to serve Jehovah your God. Then all the people will hear and be afraid. They will not act presumptuously again.
So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them rulers over you. I made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. I charged your judges to hear the cases between your countrymen and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger with him. You will not show partiality in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great. You will not fear man for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.'read more.
I commanded you at that time all the things you should do.
When there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case. They justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.
When a pregnant woman suffers a miscarriage as the result of an injury caused by someone who is fighting, if she is not badly hurt, the one who injured her must pay whatever fine her husband demands and the judges approve.
God is not a man, as I am: That I may answer him and we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both. Let God remove his rod from me. Do not let dread of him terrify me.read more.
I would speak and not respect God. But I cannot do this!
Better that he says: Come up here than you be put down in the presence of the prince, whom your eyes have seen. Do not run quickly to court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame. Debate your cause with your neighbor direct; and do not reveal the secret of another.read more.
In case he hears it and puts you to shame. The bad report about you will not pass away.
If a wise man disputes with a foolish man, whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no rest.
Come to an agreement quickly with the one who has a legal case against you. Do it before he turns the case over to the judge and you are thrown into jail. Take it from me; you will stay in jail until you pay the very last penny of your fine.
Listen, my dearly beloved brothers! Did God choose poor people in the world to be rich in faith and to receive the kingdom he promised to those who love him? You have dishonored the poor man. Do the rich oppress you, and personally drag you into court? Do they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
If you have a dispute with another [Christian] do you dare to go to a law court before judges who are ungodly? Why not let the holy ones decide who is right? Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world? And if you will judge the world, are you unworthy to judge these small matters? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the matters that pertain to this life?read more.
If you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, would you appoint as judges those who mean nothing to the congregation? I speak to shame you. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? Not one who would be able to judge between his brothers? But brother goes to court against brother, and this before unbelievers. It is already a defeat for you that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not let yourself be wronged? Why not let your selves be defrauded (cheated)? Instead you do wrong and defraud, and you do this to your brothers and sisters!
Hate evil, and love good! Establish justice in the gate. It may be that Jehovah, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
All who are cruel and arrogant will be extinguished. Those who live by crime will be removed. God will destroy those who slander others. He will destroy those who prevent the punishment of criminals and those who tell lies to keep honest people from getting justice.
They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of lowly (meek) persons. They reject the humble! A man and his father have sexual relations with the same maiden, to profane my holy name.
You who turn justice to wormwood (a curse), and cast righteousness down to the earth seek the creator of the cluster of stars named Pleiades and the star constellation Orion. He turns the shadow of death into morning, and makes the day dark with night. He calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth. Jehovah is his name! He brings sudden destruction upon the strong. Destruction comes upon the fortress.read more.
You hate the one who reproves in the gate, and abhor him who speaks the truth (with integrity). You impose unfair rent on the poor and defraud a tribute of grain from them. You haave built houses of hewn stone yet you will not live in them. You planted pleasant vineyards, but you will not drink the wine from them. I know you have many transgressions and your sins are great. You afflict the righteous. You take bribes. You refuse to help the needy at the gate.
They utter empty words and make false promises and useless treaties. Justice has become injustice, growing like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.
Absalom provided a chariot and horses for himself. He had an escort of fifty men to run ahead of him. He would rise early in the morning and stand by the road at the city gate. When someone came there with a dispute that he wanted the king to settle, Absalom would call him over and ask him where he was from. After the man told him what tribe he was from, Absalom would say: My friend, the law is on your side. However, there is no representative of the king to hear your case.read more.
He added: How I wish I were a judge! Then anyone who had a dispute or a claim could come to me. I would give him justice.
Joab son of Zeruiah knew the king was still thinking about Absalom. Joab sent someone to Tekoa to get a wise woman from there. He told her: Please act like a mourner. Dress in mourning clothes. Do not use any cosmetic lotions. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time. Go to the king and speak to him in this way. Then Joab told her exactly what to say.read more.
The woman from Tekoa came to the king. She immediately bowed down with her face touching the ground. Help me, Your Majesty, she said. The king asked her: What can I do for you? She answered: I am a widow; my husband is dead. I had two sons who fought with each other in the field. There was no one to separate them. One killed the other. All my relatives have turned against me and are demanding that I hand my son over to them. They want to kill him for murdering his brother. If they do this, I will be left without a son. They will destroy my last hope. They will leave my husband without a son to keep his name alive. The king responded: Go back home. I will take care of the matter. Your Majesty, she said, do whatever you must. My family and I will take the blame. You and the royal family are innocent. The king replied: If someone threatens you, bring him to me. He will never bother you again. She said: Please pray to Jehovah your God, Your Majesty, so that my relative who is responsible for avenging the death of my son will not commit a greater crime by killing my other son. I promise by the living Jehovah, David replied, your son will not be harmed. She added: Your Majesty, May I say something? Yes, he answered. The woman said: Have you been hurting God's people? Your own son had to leave the country. When you judged in my favor, it was the same as admitting that you should have let him come back. We each must die and disappear like water poured out on the ground. But God does not take our lives. Instead, he figures out ways of bringing us back when we run away. Your Majesty, I came here to tell you about my problem. I was afraid of what someone might do to me. I decided to come to you, because I thought you could help. In fact, I knew that you would listen and save my son and me from those who want to take the land that God gave us. I can rest easy now that you have given your decision. You know the difference between right and wrong just like an angel of God. I pray that Jehovah your God will be with you. David said: Now I ask you a question. Do not try to hide the truth! The woman replied: Please go ahead, Your Majesty. Did Joab put you up to this? The king asked. The woman answered: I solemnly swear on your life, Your Majesty, you are absolutely right! Yes, your servant Joab ordered me to do this. He told me to say exactly what I said. Your servant Joab has done this to view this matter from a different angle. You are as wise as an angel of God (messenger of God), who knows everything on earth.
One day two women who were prostitutes came to the king. One of them said: Your Majesty, this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby boy at home while she was there. Two days after my child was born she also gave birth to a baby boy. Only the two of us were there in the house. No one else was there.read more.
One night she accidentally rolled over on her baby and smothered it. She got up during the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She took him to her bed and put the dead child in my bed. The next morning I woke up and was going to nurse my baby. It was dead. I looked at it more closely and saw that it was not my child. The other woman said: The living child is mine, and the dead one is yours! The first woman answered back: The dead child is yours, and the living one is mine! They argued before the king. King Solomon said: Each of you claims that the living child is hers and that the dead child belongs to the other one. He sent for a sword. When it arrived, he said: Cut the living child in two and give each woman half of it. With a heart full of love for her son the real mother said: Please, Your Majesty, do not kill the child! Give it to her! But the other woman said: Do not give it to either of us cut it in two. Then Solomon said: Do not kill the child! Give it to the first woman. She is the real mother.
The king of Israel walked by on the city wall when a woman cried out: Help me, Your Majesty! The king replied: If Jehovah will not help you, what help can I provide? Where can I get you help from the threshing floor or the wine press? The king asked: What is your trouble? She answered: The other day a woman suggested that we eat my child. Then we could eat her child the next day.read more.
So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her that we would eat her son, but she had hidden him!
When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat. They said: This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law. Paul was about to speak when Gallio said to the Jews: If you Jews were about to complain about some crime it would be reasonable for me to listen to you.read more.
But it involves questions about words and names in your own law so look to it yourselves. I will not be judge of these matters. He drove them from the court.
The city recorder quieted the crowd. He said: You men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Artemis, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter? Seeing that these things are indisputable it is fitting that you keep calm and do nothing rash. You brought these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.read more.
If Demetrius and the craftsmen that are with him have a grievance against any man, the courts are open, and there are judges. Let them accuse one another. But if you seek anything about other matters, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. For indeed we are in danger to be charged with rioting (sedition) because of today's events. We would not be able to account for this ruckus for there is no reason for it. When he finished speaking he dismissed the assembly.
Come to an agreement quickly with the one who has a legal case against you. Do it before he turns the case over to the judge and you are thrown into jail.
Do not run quickly to court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame.
If you have a dispute with another [Christian] do you dare to go to a law court before judges who are ungodly? Why not let the holy ones decide who is right?
From Thematic Bible
Lawsuits » To be avoided
Do not run quickly to court, for what will you do in the end, when your neighbor puts you to shame. Debate your cause with your neighbor direct; and do not reveal the secret of another. In case he hears it and puts you to shame. The bad report about you will not pass away.
If you have a dispute with another [Christian] do you dare to go to a law court before judges who are ungodly? Why not let the holy ones decide who is right? Do you not know that the holy ones will judge the world? And if you will judge the world, are you unworthy to judge these small matters? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the matters that pertain to this life? read more.
If you have judgments of things pertaining to this life, would you appoint as judges those who mean nothing to the congregation? I speak to shame you. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? Not one who would be able to judge between his brothers? But brother goes to court against brother, and this before unbelievers. It is already a defeat for you that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not let yourself be wronged? Why not let your selves be defrauded (cheated)? Instead you do wrong and defraud, and you do this to your brothers and sisters!
Come to an agreement quickly with the one who has a legal case against you. Do it before he turns the case over to the judge and you are thrown into jail. Take it from me; you will stay in jail until you pay the very last penny of your fine.
