He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, both are abominable before God.

Whoso is justifying the wicked, And condemning the righteous, Even both of these are an abomination to Jehovah.

He that justifies the wicked, and he that comdemns the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

He who gives a decision for the evil-doer and he who gives a decision against the upright, are equally disgusting to the Lord.

Those who justify the impious, and those who condemn the just, both are abominable with God.

People need to be warned against an unjust acquittal, no less than against unjust condemnation. The word "justifieth" has its forensic sense, "to declare righteous," to acquit.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just,.... That absolves and clears the guilty, and pronounces him righteous in open court, where he stands arraigned, accused, and the fact proved; and that adjudges an innocent man to condemnation; or passes the sentence of it upon him, when it is a clear case he is not guilty;
even they both are abomination to the Lord: being contrary to law and justice, to the declared will of God, and the orders and instructions given by him to judges, Deuteronomy 25:1; such an abominable action were the Jews guilty of in desiring Barabbas, a wicked man, to be released, and Christ, the just One, to be condemned; and Pilate in complying with them. From this passage we learn, that the word "justify" is used in a forensic sense, for pronouncing persons just in a court of judicature; and in which sense it is used in the article of a sinner's justification before God: by which act, though it is an ungodly person that is justified, yet it is through the perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to him, and is quite agreeable to law and the justice of God; and not at all inconsistent with this passage, which represents the justification of a wicked man as an abomination: it is so where there is no righteousness, but not where there is; agreeably to which is the saying of an Heathen (r) poet,
"it is not righteous, neither rashly to condemn bad men good, nor good men bad.''
(r) Sophoclis Oedipus Tyrann. v. 622, 623.

It is an offence to God to acquit the guilty, or to condemn those who are not guilty.

abomination . . . Lord--as reversing His method of acting (Proverbs 3:32; Proverbs 12:2).

15 He that acquitteth the guilty and condemneth the righteous -
An abomination to Jahve are they both.
The proverb is against the partisan judge who is open to bribery, like Proverbs 24:24, cf. Isaiah 5:23, where, with reference to such, the announcement of punishment is emphatically made. רשׁע and צדּיק, in a forensic sense, are equivalent to sons (reus) and insons. גּם (cf. the Arab. jmy'na, altogether, but particularly the Pers. ham and the Turkish dkhy standing wholly thus in the numeral) is here, as at Genesis 27:45, equivalent to יחדּיו, Jeremiah 46:12 (in its unions = united). Whoever pronounces sentence of justification on the guilty, appears as if he must be judged more mildly than he who condemns the guiltless, but both the one and the other alike are an abhorrence to God.