Top 7 Bible Verses About Justice With Commentary

Here are seven great Bible verses about justice and commentary that follows.

Proverbs 21:15 “When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.”

When there is justice in the land, the wicked are terrified because they will face righteous judgment and this causes the people to rejoice. When it isn’t, then the evil rejoice and the righteous are afraid. Today, in much of the world, we’ve got it as just the opposite of Proverbs 21:15. Someday the Righteous Judge will bring swift judgment and justice will finally be served (Rev 20:12-15). In Jeremiah’s day he asked, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive” (Jer 12:1)? Those are questions we could ask today but justice is coming…you can be sure of that.

Acts 8:33 “In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”

Someone once declared that they wanted justice and I told them that if they received justice, they wouldn’t like it. In fact, we really want mercy and not justice because mercy shows that “God doesn’t He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). If we received true justice for our sins, then we’d be eternally separated from God by our sins (Isaiah 59:2). The fact is that Jesus was denied justice so that we would receive mercy. His injustice brought us grace and mercy.

Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

The word “woe” is a judgment word. It is word meaning judged or condemned and the self-righteous Jews of Jesus’ day were doing everything and even more than the law required but they left out the most important matters and that’s justice, mercy, and faithfulness. The religious leaders were doing everything above and beyond the legal requirements of the law but they were leaving out the most important things; justice, mercy, and faithfulness which they “ought to have done” but “without neglecting the others” which apparently they had.

Proverbs 18:5 “It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice.”

It seems that there is a lot of partiality today in the judicial system today. The obvious thing is that showing partiality in a court of law or even when it comes to taxation is injustice and specifically aimed against the poor. To deprive justice is to associate oneself with the wicked.

Matthew 12:18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.”

Matthew is quoting from the Book of Isaiah (42:1) where the Prophet is writing about the coming Messiah and the fulfillment of Him in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ certainly proclaimed justice to the Gentiles but He will also pronounce justice upon all who disbelieve in Him at the end of this age (Rev 20:12-15). Jesus was full of the Spirit of God (Luke 4:1) while at the same time full God and fully Man (John 1).

Ecclesiastes 5:8 “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.”

Even though Solomon was king over Israel, he still observed “that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness” (Eccl 3:16). Solomon didn’t seem surprised about this but one thing he did say is that that corrupt official is being watched over by his own superior in a higher position of authority. That superior in turn is being watched over by yet a higher authority and ultimately, the Highest Authority oversee them all and that is God Himself.

Psalm 37:28 “For the Lord loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.”

It’s so easy when we are falsely accused or charged with something we didn’t do to seek revenge. When we are attacked for our faith, we want to respond in kind but God tells us to “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all” (Rom 12:17) and “never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom 12:19). Our response is to be just the opposite of the way the world reacts; “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink” (Rom 12:20). Since “the saints will judge the world” (1st Cor 6:2) we must wait upon God Who will straighten every crooked thing. We can trust the Just Judge of the universe to bring about final justice in all things.

Conclusion

I love what Amos wrote “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24) but as for the wicked, God says “you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood” (Amos 6:12) and wormwood means “bitter” so when justice is forsaken, all the land is left bitter and poisoned. Christians should “Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate” so that it “may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph” and to us too (Amos 5:15). I believe you need mercy rather than justice from God for none are good enough to enter the kingdom of heaven (Rom 3:10-12, 23) by their own merit (Eph 2:8-9).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.