A wicked [man] taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
Ver. 23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom,] i.e., Closely and covertly, as if neither God nor man should see him. The words may be also read thus: ‘He,' - that is, the corrupt judge - ‘taketh a gift out of the wicked man's bosom'; there being never a better of them, as Solomon intimateth by this ambiguous expression. Rain is good, and ground is good, yet ex eorum coniunctione fit lutum. a So giving is kind, and taking is courteous; yet the mixing of them makes the smooth paths of justice foul and uneven.
a Stapleton.