Proverbs 28:2-4
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
2 If a land is rebellious, its princes will be many;
but with an intelligent and wise ruler there is stability.[a]
3 One who is poor and extorts from the lowly
is a devastating rain that leaves no food.[b]
4 Those who abandon instruction[c] praise the wicked,
but those who keep instruction oppose them.
Footnotes
- 28:2 The first line expresses the paradox that rebellion, far from doing away with rulers, actually multiplies them. The second line is corrupt.
- 28:3 The reference may be to tax farmers who collected taxes and took a commission. The collectors’ lack of wealth was the cause of their oppression of poor farmers. They are like a rain too violent to allow crops to grow.
- 28:4 Instruction: torah; the word is used both for the teaching of the wise and the law of Moses.
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