Pro 18:5 | KD | STEP | To favour the person of the godless is not good, And to oppress the righteous in judgment. As has one subject, so has one predicate. The form is the same as Pro 17:26. שׂאת פּני (cf. ), προσωποληψία, acceptio personae , is this, that one accepts the פני, i.e. the personal appearance of any one (πρόσωπον λαμβάνει), i.e. , regards it as acceptable, respectable, agreeable, which is a thing in itself not wrong; but in a judge who ought to determine according to the facts of the case and the law, it becomes sinful partiality. הטּות, in a forensic sense, with the accus. of the person, may be regarded in a twofold way: either as a turning aside, מדּין, , from following and attaining unto the right, or as an oppression, for the phrase הטּה משׁפּט [to pervert justice] (cf. ) is transferred to the person who experiences the oppression = perversion of the law; and this idea perhaps always underlies the expression, wherever, as e.g. , Mal 3:5, no addition brings with it the other. Under is a fuller explanation of לא־טוב.

‏ Proverbs 18:5

Pro 18:5 5 To favour the person of the godless is not good, And to oppress the righteous in judgment.

As Pro 18:4 has one subject, so Pro 18:5 has one predicate. The form is the same as Pro 17:26. שׂאת פּני (cf. Pro 24:23), προσωποληψία, acceptio personae, is this, that one accepts the פני, i.e. the personal appearance of any one (πρόσωπον λαμβάνει), i.e., regards it as acceptable, respectable, agreeable, which is a thing in itself not wrong; but in a judge who ought to determine according to the facts of the case and the law, it becomes sinful partiality. הטּות, in a forensic sense, with the accus. of the person, may be regarded in a twofold way: either as a turning aside, מדּין, Isa 10:2, from following and attaining unto the right, or as an oppression, for the phrase הטּה משׁפּט [to pervert justice] (cf. Pro 17:23) is transferred to the person who experiences the oppression = perversion of the law; and this idea perhaps always underlies the expression, wherever, as e.g., Mal 3:5, no addition brings with it the other. Under Pro 17:15 is a fuller explanation of לא־טוב.