Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
That they may do evil with both hands - That is, earnestly, greedily, to the uttermost of their power. The Vulgate translates: Malum manuum suarum dicunt bonum ; "The evil of their hands they call good."
The prince asketh - A bribe, to forward claims in his court.
The judge asketh for a reward - That he may decide the cause in favor of him who gives most money, whether the cause be good or evil. This was notoriously the case in our own country before the giving of Magna Charta; and hence that provision, Nulli vendemus justitiam aut rectum : "We will not sell justice to any man." And this was not the only country in which justice and judgment were put to sale.
The great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire - Such consider themselves above law, and they make no secret of their unjust determinations. And so they wrap it up - they all conjoin in doing evil in their several offices, and oppressing the poor; so our translators have interpreted the original vayeabtuha , which the versions translate variously. Newcome has, "And they do abominably."
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