LEV431 "Do not favor the poor nor show deference to the rich" [this verse]. "You shall neither side with mighty to do wrong nor shall you show deference to a poor man in his dispute" (Exodus 23:2-3). The many Jewish laws commanding the compassionate treatment of the poor (see, for example, chapters 12, 13, and 18), are applicable outside, but not inside, the courtroom. In a judicial setting, there must be one standard of justice for poor and rich alike. Thus, a judge should not reason to himself: "Since this man is poor and both I and this rich man are obliged to support him, I shall decide the case in his favor so that he will receive support in a clean [and non-embarrassing] manner" (Sifra on this verse). The Talmud holds up King David as a model of someone who showed both justice and charity. In the courtroom, he judged strictly on the basis of law, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. But after pronouncing a ruling in which he sentenced a poor man to pay damages, he would help the man out of his own pocket, thereby fulfilling the demands of both justice and kindness, justice to the injured party by ensuring him that he received what was due him, and kindness to the poor man by enabling him to pay his debt (Sanhedrin 6b). (This Talmudic teaching is offered in explanation of the biblical verse: [King] David administered justice and kindness to all of his people" (II Samuel 8:15).