Proverbs 17:26
It's not right to impose a fine on someone who's innocent or to flog good leaders for their honesty.
Free Bible Version
In The King James Version
Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity.
In Context
25A stupid son brings grief to his father and sadness to his mother who gave birth to him.
27If you're wise, you'll be careful what you say; and if you're sensible, you'll keep your temper.
Cross References
Genesis 18:25No, you can't do something like that! You can't kill the good with the wicked, otherwise you would be treating the good and the wicked in the same way. You can't do that! Isn't the Judge of all the earth going to do the right thing?”
2 Samuel 3:39I am weak right now, even though I'm anointed as king and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too powerful for me. But may the Lord repay the evil man according to the evil he has done.”
2 Samuel 19:7So get up, go out, and thank your men. I swear by the Lord that if you don't, you won't have a man left by tonight. That will be far worse for you than all the disasters you've had from your youth until now.”
Proverbs 17:15The Lord hates it when the wicked are acquitted and the innocent condemned.
Micah 5:1Gather your troops together, Jerusalem! An enemy is besieging us. They will strike Israel's leader on the cheek with a rod.
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 →