Exo 23:1 | KD | STEP | Lastly, no one was to violate another’s rights. - Exo 23:1. “Thou shalt not raise (bring out) an empty report .” שׁוא שׁמע, a report that has no foundation, and, as the context shows, does injury to another, charges him with wrongdoing, and involves him in legal proceedings. “ Put not thine hand with a wicked man (do not offer him thy hand, or render him assistance), to be a witness of violence .” This clause is unquestionably connected with the preceding one, and implies that raising a false report furnishes the wicked man with a pretext for bringing the man, who is suspected of crime on account of this false report, before a court of law; in consequence of which the originator or propagator of the empty report becomes a witness of injustice and violence.

‏ Exodus 23:1

Lastly, no one was to violate another’s rights. - Exo 23:1. “Thou shalt not raise (bring out) an empty report.” שׁוא שׁמע, a report that has no foundation, and, as the context shows, does injury to another, charges him with wrongdoing, and involves him in legal proceedings. “Put not thine hand with a wicked man (do not offer him thy hand, or render him assistance), to be a witness of violence.” This clause is unquestionably connected with the preceding one, and implies that raising a false report furnishes the wicked man with a pretext for bringing the man, who is suspected of crime on account of this false report, before a court of law; in consequence of which the originator or propagator of the empty report becomes a witness of injustice and violence.