What does the Old Testament say about justice?

Justice runs through the Hebrew Bible like a seam — named, commanded, mourned, and demanded back from rulers who corrupt it. Here is what the text actually says, book by book, without smoothing over the tensions. The Law's concrete provisions The law does not speak of justice abstractly. Deuteronomy 24:17 commands: you shall not wrest the justice due to the foreigner or the fatherless, nor take the widow's clothing to pledge. Exodus 23:8 gives the reason bribes are banned: “a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous”. The gleaning laws of Deuteronomy 24:19–21 are procedural justice made agricultural: forgotten sheaves, un-beaten olive boughs, and un-gleaned vineyards are left for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow. The prophets' indictment When those provisions are ignored, the prophets speak. Micah 3:9–11 names it plainly: the heads of Jacob abhor justice and pervert all equity; her leaders judge for bribes. Isaiah 59:14 frames it as civilizational collapse: “Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street”. What is required Micah 6:8 is the summary: “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God”.