Proverbs 17:26
It is not good to inflict damage on the just, nor to strike the leader who judges uprightly.
Catholic Public Domain Version
In The King James Version
Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity.
In Context
25A foolish son is the anger of the father and the grief of the mother who conceived him.
27Whoever moderates his words is learned and prudent. And a man of learning has a precious spirit.
Cross References
Genesis 18:25Far be it from you to do this thing, and to kill the just with the impious, and for the just to be treated like the impious. No, this is not like you. You judge all the earth; you would never make such a judgment.”
2 Samuel 3:39But I am still tender, and yet anointed king. And these men of the sons of Zeruiah are too harsh for me. May the Lord repay whoever does evil in accord with his malice.”
2 Samuel 19:7Now then, rise up and go out, and speak so as to make amends to your servants. For I swear to you by the Lord that if you will not go forth, not even one person will be left with you this night. And this will be worse for you than all the evils that have come to you, from your youth even to the present.”
Proverbs 17:15Those who justify the impious, and those who condemn the just, both are abominable with God.
Micah 5:1Now you will be devastated, you daughter of a robber. They have placed a blockade against us, with a rod they will strike the jaw of the judge of Israel.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:26
25 A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him. Observe, 1. Wicked children are an affliction to both their parents. They are an occasion of anger to the father (so the word signifies), because they contemn his authority, but of sorrow and bitterness to the mother, because they abuse her tenderness. The parents, being joint-sufferers, should therefore bring mutual comfort to bear them up under it, and strive to make it as easy as they can, the mother to mollify the father's anger,… Read the whole commentary →