Proverbs 28:16
A leader, may lack intelligence, yet abound in oppressions, The hater of greed, shall lengthen out days.
The Emphasised Bible by J. B. Rotherham
In The King James Version
In Context
15A growling lion, and a ranging bear, is a lawless ruler, over a poor people.
17A man oppressed with a person’s blood, unto a pit, shall flee, let them not hold him back.
Cross References
1 Kings 12:10Then spake unto him the young men who had grown up with him, saying, Thus, shalt thou say to this people that have spoken unto thee, saying—Thy father, made our yoke heavy, thou, therefore lighten it upon us, Thus, shalt thou speak unto them, My little finger, is thicker than my father’s loins;
Nehemiah 5:15whereas, the former pashas, who were before me, suffered themselves to be a burden upon the people, and took from them in bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver, even, their young men, bare rule over the people,—but, I, did not so, because of the fear of God.
Ecclesiastes 4:1Then again, I, considered all the oppressive deeds which were done under the sun,—and lo! the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter, and, on the side of their oppressing, is power, and they have no comforter.
Isaiah 33:15He that walketh righteously, And speaketh uprightly,—He that refuseth the gain of exactions That shaketh his hands free from holding a bribe, That stoppeth his ear from hearkening to deeds of blood, And shutteth his eyes from giving countenance to wrong,
Amos 4:1Hear ye this word, ye heifers of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,—who say to their lords, Bring in, and let us drink!
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 28:16
15 As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people. It is written indeed, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people; but if he be a wicked ruler, that oppresses the people, especially the poor people, robbing them of the little they have and making a prey of them, whatever we may call him, this scripture calls him a roaring lion and a ranging bear. 1. In respect of his character. He is brutish, barbarous, and blood-thirsty; he is rather to be put among the beasts of… Read the whole commentary →