Respect of persons in judgment is by no means good:

24 He that saith to the guilty, "Thou art in the right,"

     Him the people curse, nations detest.

25 But to them who rightly decide, it is well,

     And upon them cometh blessing with good.

Partiality is either called שׂאת פנים, Proverbs 18:5, respect to the person, for the partisan looks with pleasure on the פני, the countenance, appearance, personality of one, by way of preference; or הכּר־פּנים, as here and at Proverbs 28:21, for he places one person before another in his sight, or, as we say, has a regard to him; the latter expression is found in Deuteronomy 1:17; Deuteronomy 16:19. הכּיר (vid., Proverbs 20:11) means to regard sharply, whether from interest in the object, or because it is strange. בּל Heidenheim regards as weaker than לא; but the reverse is the case (vid., vol. i. p. 204), as is seen from the derivation of this negative ( equals balj, from בּלה, to melt, to decay); thus it does not occur anywhere else than here with the pred. adj. The two supplements delight in this בל, Deuteronomy 22:29; Deuteronomy 23:7, 35. The thesis 23b is now confirmed in Proverbs 24:24 and Proverbs 24:25, from the consequences of this partiality and its opposite: He that saith (אמר, with Mehuppach Legarmeh from the last syllable, as rightly by Athias, Nissel, and Michaelis, vid., Thorath Emeth, p. 32) to the guilty: thou art right, i.e., he who sets the guilty free (for רשׁע and צדּיק have here the forensic sense of the post-bibl. חיּב and זכּי), him they curse, etc.; cf. the shorter proverb, Proverbs 17:15, according to which a partial, unjust judge is an abomination to God. Regarding נקב (קבב) here and at Proverbs 11:26, Schultens, under Job 3:8, is right; the word signifies figere, and hence to distinguish and make prominent by distinguishing as well as by branding; cf. defigere, to curse, properly, to pierce through. Regarding זעם, vid., at Proverbs 22:14. עמּים and לאמּים (from עמם and לאם, which both mean to bind and combine) are plur. of categ.: not merely individuals, not merely families, curse such an unrighteous judge and abhor him, but the whole people in all conditions and ranks of society; for even though such an unjust judge bring himself and his favourites to external honour, yet among no people is conscience so blunted, that he who absolves the crime and ennobles the miscarriage of justice shall escape the vox populi. On the contrary, it goes well (ינעם, like Proverbs 2:10; Proverbs 9:17, but here with neut. indef. subj. as ייטב, Genesis 12:13, and frequently) with those who place the right, and particularly the wrong, fully to view; מוכיח is he who mediates the right, Job 9:33, and particularly who proves, censures, punishes the wrong, Proverbs 9:7, and in the character of a judge as here, Amos 5:10; Isaiah 29:21. The genitive connection ברכּת־טוב is not altogether of the same signification as יין הטּוב, wine of a good sort, Sol 7:10, and אושׁת רע, a woman of a bad kind, Proverbs 6:24, for every blessing is of a good kind; the gen. טוב thus, as at Psalm 21:4, denotes the contents of the blessing; cf. Ephesians 1:3, "with all spiritual blessings," in which the manifoldness of the blessing is presupposed.