Proverbs 29:4–7

PROVERBS CHAPTER 29.

Warning against Stubbornness and Rebellion.

DESCRIPTION OF STUBBORNNESS AND DISOBEDIENCE. — V. 4. The king by judgment, by maintaining the cause of righteousness and justice, establisheth the land, so that it is in good condition, so that safety and prosperity are assured to all its citizens; but he that receiveth gifts, is influenced in his administration by bribes which are offered him, overthroweth it, for in such a manner good government is bound to be perverted.

V. 5. A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet, for all his fine talk lacks sincerity, serving merely as a veil of hypocrisy to keep his victim from realizing the peril into which he is being led.

V. 6. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare, he is caught in his own wickedness; but the righteous doth sing and rejoice, not only for a moment, but constantly, on account of the good fortune which is the reward of virtue.

V. 7. The righteous considereth the cause of the poor, regarding them as entitled to certain rights in life; but the wicked regardeth not to know it, he refuses to listen to reason and to consider the right of the poor, he has neither compassion nor justice in his make-up.