bribe
sha.chad is a payment offered to sway judgment, gain advantage, or secure a desired response.
The noun most often denotes a payment that corrupts judicial action: it is taken in connection with perverted justice, acquitting the guilty, or harming the innocent. In other clauses, it concerns a payment offered to gain an advantage, alter another party's action, or affect a response.
Senses in use
-
Payment that corrupts judgment · dominant
In Deuteronomy 16:19 the APB renders the clause "you shall not take a bribe" and says that such a payment blinds the wise and perverts righteous words. The same common masculine singular absolute noun appears where justice is perverted in Exodus 23:8, where the guilty are acquitted in Isaiah 5:23, and where an innocent person is harmed in Deuteronomy 27:25.
-
Payment offered to gain an outcome · common
In 1 Kings 15:19 the APB renders a payment of silver and gold sent with the request to break a covenant, while Proverbs 17:8 describes its owner gaining advantage. Proverbs 21:14 places a secret gift and a payment "in the bosom" in a saying about anger, and Proverbs 6:35 describes a payment that an aggrieved man will not accept; these clauses show its use as an offered inducement beyond a courtroom setting.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly presents the noun as "bribe" in judicial and corrupt-dealing clauses, but also uses "gift," "price or reward," and "ransom" in other contexts. Those variations reflect the surrounding clauses rather than separate English definitions by themselves.