These [are] the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:
Ver. 16. These are the things that ye shall do] Heb. These are the words. God will not so do all good for his people, but that they should reciprocate and do something for him by way of thankfulness. Particularly; these are the words, or commands, that ye shall not only know, but do. They are verba vivenda non legenda; word to live by not to be read, as lessons of music must be practised, and a copy not read only, but written after.
Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour] Let your words be few and ponderous. Lie not in jest, lest ye go to hell in earnest. Let Socrates be your friend, and Plato; but the truth much more. Rather die than lie for any cause.
Execute the judgment of truth and peace] That is, upright judgment pronounced or delivered with a calm and quiet mind; not angry, nor partial, nor of any distempered or troubled affection; such as hatred, fear, favour, Iudicium pacis, id est, placidum et rite compositum (Calv.). All that savours of self should be strained out, and justice, justice (as Moses speaketh), that is, pure justice without mud, should run down as a river, Deuteronomy 16:20. That magistrate hath too impotent a spirit whose services, like the dial, must be set only by the sun of self and sinister respects. He should have, as nothing to lose, so nothing to get; he should be above all price or sale, and "neither respect persons, nor receive gifts," 2 Chronicles 19:7 .