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If a land is rebellious, its princes will be many;
    but with an intelligent and wise ruler there is stability.[a]
One who is poor and extorts from the lowly
    is a devastating rain that leaves no food.[b]
Those who abandon instruction[c] praise the wicked,
    but those who keep instruction oppose them.

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Footnotes

  1. 28:2 The first line expresses the paradox that rebellion, far from doing away with rulers, actually multiplies them. The second line is corrupt.
  2. 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.
  3. 28:4 Instruction: torah; the word is used both for the teaching of the wise and the law of Moses.

When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers,
    but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.

A ruler[a] who oppresses the poor
    is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.

Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked,
    but those who heed it resist them.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 28:3 Or A poor person