There are many confronting—even offensive—precepts in the ancient Hebrew wisdom literature. The possibility of offence in these precepts is deliberate: it separates the stubbornly proud from the receptively humble. One precept is: The ungodly do not understand justice, but justice is plain to those who fear God. As Australia discards more of its Judeo-Christian heritage, but has nothing so reasonable and coherent to replace it, there are signs that our justice system is suffering serious distortions even if we define justice very simply: the firm determination to give our neighbour their due. Justice is now less likely to be delivered in…