Editing Bible (section)

===Politics and law===
The Bible has been used to support and oppose political power. It has inspired revolution and "a reversal of power" because God is so often portrayed as choosing what is "weak and humble...(the stammering Moses, the infant Samuel, Saul from an insignificant family, David confronting Goliath, etc.)....to confound the mighty".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20xMAwAAQBAJ&dq=weak+and+humble+%28the+stammering+Moses%2C+the+infant+Samuel%2C+Saul+from+an+insignificant+family%2C+David+confronting+Goliath%2C+etc.%29+to+confound+the+mighty+-wikipedia&pg=PA123|title=The Subversion of Christianity|first=Jacques|last=Ellul|date=2 June 2011|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-60608-974-3 |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>Ellul, Jacques, [[The Subversion of Christianity]], Eerdman's Publishing Co., 1984, pp. 116, 123</ref> Biblical texts have been the catalyst for political concepts like [[democracy]], [[religious toleration]] and [[Freedom of religion|religious freedom]].<ref name="Scribner">{{cite book|editor1-last=Scribner|editor1-first=Robert W.|editor2-last=Grell|editor2-first=Ole Peter|editor3-last=Scribner|editor3-first=Bob |title=Tolerance and Intolerance in the European Reformation|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=United Kingdom|year=2002|isbn=978-0-521-89412-8}}</ref>{{rp|3}} These have, in turn, inspired movements ranging from [[abolitionism]] in the 18th and 19th century, to the [[civil rights movement]], the [[Anti-Apartheid Movement]], and [[liberation theology]] in Latin America. The Bible has been the source of many peace movements and efforts at reconciliation around the world .<ref>Powery, Emerson B. "The Bible and Social Reform: Musings of a Biblical Scholar." ''The Bible in the American Experience'' 2 (2020): 255.</ref>

The roots of many modern laws can be found in the Bible's teachings on due process, fairness in criminal procedures, and equity in the application of the law.<ref>Unterman, Jeremiah. ''Justice for All: How the Jewish Bible Revolutionized Ethics. U of Nebraska Press'', 2017. pp. 23–25</ref> Judges are told not to accept bribes (Deuteronomy 16:19), are required to be impartial to native and stranger alike (Leviticus 24:22; Deuteronomy 27:19), to the needy and the powerful alike (Leviticus 19:15), and to rich and poor alike (Deuteronomy 1:16, 17; Exodus 23:2–6). The right to a fair trial, and fair punishment, are also found in the Bible (Deuteronomy 19:15; Exodus 21:23–25). Those most vulnerable in a patriarchal society{{snd}}children, women, and strangers{{snd}}are singled out in the Bible for special protection (Psalm 72:2, 4).<ref name="Christopher Marshall">{{cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=Christopher |editor1-last=Atkin |editor1-first=Bill |editor2-last=Evans |editor2-first=Katrine |title=Human Rights and the Common Good: Christian Perspectives |date=1999 |publisher=Victoria University Press |location=Wellington, New Zealand |isbn=978-0-86473-362-7 |chapter="A Little lower than the Angels" Human rights in the biblical tradition}}</ref>{{rp|47–48}}

The Bible has been noted by scholars as a significant influence on the development of [[Nation|nationhood]] and [[nationalism]], first among ancient Jews and later in Christian societies. For the ancient Jews, it served as "both a national history and a source of law",<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Millar |first=Fergus |date=1987 |title=Empire, Community and Culture in the Roman near East: Greeks, Syrians, Jews and Arabs |url=https://doi.org/10.18647/1337/JJS-1987 |journal=Journal of Jewish Studies |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=147–148|doi=10.18647/1337/JJS-1987 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> providing a framework that established shared ancestry, common history, legal codes, and cultural markers that defined Jewish [[collective identity]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Citation |title=Constructing Jewish Nationalism: The Role of Scripture |date=2006 |work=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |pages=29–30, 48 |editor-last=Goodblatt |editor-first=David |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/elements-of-ancient-jewish-nationalism/constructing-jewish-nationalism-the-role-of-scripture/9D600C19BF6BA343287CE63CDF2A5C8E |access-date=2024-10-08 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511499067.003 |isbn=978-0-521-86202-8 |archive-date=8 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241008102119/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/elements-of-ancient-jewish-nationalism/constructing-jewish-nationalism-the-role-of-scripture/9D600C19BF6BA343287CE63CDF2A5C8E |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> It has been suggested that the practice of regular public readings of biblical texts during the Second Temple period facilitated the transmission of these identity-forming narratives across the wider Jewish public.<ref name=":1" /> Several scholars argue that substantial portions of the Hebrew Bible—particularly the [[Deuteronomistic History]] and the Tetrateuch—were composed specifically to establish and reinforce a distinct Israelite [[Ethnicity|ethnic]] and [[national identity]].<ref name=":1" /> Some scholars of nationalism, such as Adrian Hastings, contend that the model of ancient Israel presented in the Hebrew Bible provided the world with the original concept of nationhood, influencing the development of nationalism and European nation-states.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Hastings |first=Adrian |title=The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-521-59391-3 |location=Cambridge |pages=186–187}}</ref>