The king's wrath is the herald of death,
but the wise will appease it. 15 When the king's face brightens it
spells life, his favor is like the rain in spring.
Proverbs 17:11
Proverbs 17:11
The
wicked person thinks of nothing but rebellion, but a cruel messenger will be
sent to such a one.
Like the roaring of a lion, the anger of a king, but like dew
on the grass his favor.
Like the roaring of a lion is the fury of a
king; whoever provokes him sins against himself.
If you take your seat at a great man's
table, take careful note of what you have before you;
Fear Yahweh, my child, and fear the
king; do not ally yourself with innovators;22
for suddenly disaster will loom for them, and who knows what ruin will seize
them and their friends?
In the presence of the
king do not give yourself airs, do not take a place among the great;7 better to be invited, 'Come up here', than be humiliated in the
presence of the prince.
Obey the king's command and, because of
the divine promise, 3 be in no hurry to depart from it; do
not be obstinate in a bad cause, since the king will do as he likes in any
case.
4
Since the word of a king is sovereign, what is the point of saying, 'Why do
that?'
5
One who obeys the command will come to no harm; the heart of the sage knows the
right moment and verdict, 6 for there is a right moment and verdict
for everything; but misfortune lies heavy upon anyone 7
who does not know what the outcome will be, no one is going to say how things
will turn out.
If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave
your post; composure mitigates grave offences.
Do not ask the Lord for the highest place, or the king for
a seat of honor.
Do not try to carry a burden too heavy
for you, do not associate with someone more powerful and wealthy than yourself.
Why put the clay pot next to the iron cauldron? It will only break when they
bang against each other.
3
The rich does wrong and takes a high line; the poor is wronged and has to beg
for pardon. 4
If you are useful the rich will exploit you, if you go bankrupt he will desert
you.
5
Are you well off? - he will live with you, he will clean you out without a
single qualm. 6
Does he need you? - he will hoodwink you, smile at you and raise your hopes; he
will speak politely to you and say, 'Is there anything you need?'
7
He will make you feel small at his dinner parties and, having cleaned you out
two or three times over, will end by laughing at you. Afterwards, when he sees
you, he will avoid you and shake his head about you.
8
Take care you are not hoodwinked and thus humiliated through your own
stupidity.
When a powerful man invites you, be
reserved; and he will invite you the more often. 10 Do
not push forward, lest you be repulsed; and do not remain at a distance, lest
you be forgotten.
Do not affect to treat him as an equal, do not
trust his flow of words; since all this talking is expressly meant to test you,
under cover of geniality he will be weighing you up.
And if anyone requires you to go one mile, go
two miles with him.
Pray for those who persecute you
When you are invited by any one to a
marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man
than you be invited by him; 9 and he who invited you
both will come, and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you will
begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you
are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he
may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher’; then you will be honored in the
presence of all who sit at table with you. 11 For every one
who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted.”
Everyone is to obey the governing
authorities, because there is no authority except from God and so whatever
authorities exist have been appointed by God.2 So anyone who
disobeys an authority is rebelling against God's ordinance; and rebels must
expect to receive the condemnation they deserve.3 Magistrates
bring fear not to those who do good, but to those who do evil. So if you want
to live with no fear of authority, live honestly and you will have its
approval;4
it is there to serve God for you and for your good. But if you do wrong, then
you may well be afraid; because it is not for nothing that the symbol of
authority is the sword: it is there to serve God, too, as his avenger, to bring
retribution to wrongdoers.5 You must be obedient, therefore, not
only because of this retribution, but also for conscience's sake.6
And this is why you should pay taxes, too, because the authorities are all
serving God as his agents, even while they are busily occupied with that
particular task. 7 Pay to each one what is due to each:
taxes to the one to whom tax is due, tolls to the one to whom tolls are due,
respect to the one to whom respect is due, honor to the one to whom honor is
due.
Remind them to be obedient to the
officials in authority; to be ready to do good at every opportunity
I urge then, first of all that
petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving should be offered for
everyone, 2
for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live peaceful and
quiet lives with all devotion and propriety.
For the sake of the Lord, accept the
authority of every human institution: the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14
and the governors as commissioned by him to punish criminals and praise those
who do good. 15
It is God's will that by your good deeds you should silence the ignorant talk
of fools. 16
You are slaves of no one except God, so behave like free people, and never use
your freedom as a cover for wickedness.17 Have respect for
everyone and love for your fellow-believers; fear God and honor the emperor.
No comments:
Post a Comment