Bribery – Proverbs 17:23

When the apostle Paul was jailed because the Jews in Jerusalem accused him of fomenting a riot in the temple area, he sought release through a trial before the Roman ruler.  But it became evident to him that the Roman ruler was not going to rule on his case until Paul bribed him (Acts 24:26).  Paul had no choice but to appeal to Caesar, a right of Roman citizens, for a trial in his courts in Rome.

The wicked accepts a bribe in secret

to pervert the ways of justice. (Proverbs 17:23, ESV)

A “survey found that, although there have been improvements in certain countries, fraud and corruption have not reduced globally since the equivalent survey in 2012. More than 1 in 10 respondents are aware of a significant fraud in their company in the past two years, and this figure is higher still in the Middle East, Japan and Latin America.” [Source: The Global Fraud Survey]

“Despite the pervasiveness of the problem, it is actually very difficult to precisely measure the amount of money lost through corrupt practices each year. While the main international financial institutions (the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund) demur at suggestions to try to establish a baseline figure for “grand corruption” (funds stolen by government officials), a remarkable February 2020 World Bank working paper provided a peek behind the curtain, finding that World Bank aid disbursements to the most aid-dependent countries coincided with significant increases in deposits held in offshore financial centers known for bank secrecy and private wealth management. The amounts of foreign aid that had gone missing “suggest[s] a leakage rate of around 7.5 percent for the average highly aid-dependent country.” [Source: The Global Crisis of Corruption]

Over 12 months, one in four people paid a bribe when they came into contact with one of nine institutions and services. [Source: Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer (2010) surveying 91,500 people across 86 countries]

Bribery hurts!  But many people see it as no option because of corruption among those with power.  The poor suffer the most, of course, and whole economies, as demonstrated above, can be hurt to the deficit of the poor for the most part.