Proverbs 28:3

3 A ruler[a] who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.

Images for Proverbs 28:3

Proverbs 28:3 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
3 A poor man that oppresseth the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.
English Standard Version (ESV)
3 A poor man who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food.
New Living Translation (NLT)
3 A poor person who oppresses the poor is like a pounding rain that destroys the crops.
The Message Bible (MSG)
3 The wicked who oppress the poor are like a hailstorm that beats down the harvest.
American Standard Version (ASV)
3 A needy man that oppresseth the poor Is [like] a sweeping rain which leaveth no food.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
3 A poor person who oppresses poorer people is like a driving rain that leaves no food.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
3 A destitute leader who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no food.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
3 A ruler who beats poor people down is like a pounding rain that leaves no crops.

Proverbs 28:3 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 28:3

A poor man that oppresseth the poor
Either one that is poor at the time he oppresses another like himself, either by secret fraud or open injury; from whom the oppressed can get no redress, as sometimes he may and does from a rich man: or rather one that has been poor, but now become rich, and got into some place of authority and profit, who should remember what he had been; and it might be expected that such an one would put on bowels of compassion towards the poor, as knowing what it was to be in indigent circumstances; but if, instead of this, he exercises his authority over the poor in a severe and rigid manner, and oppresses them, and squeezes that little out of them they have: he [is like] a sweeping rain which leaveth no food:
like a violent hasty shower of rain; which, instead of watering the seed, herbs, and plants, and causing them to grow, as moderate rain does, it washes away the very seed sown in the earth, or beats out the ripe corn from the ears, or beats it down, so that it riseth not up again; the effect of which is, there is no bread to the eater, nor seed to the sower, and consequently a famine. The design of the proverb is, to show how unnatural as well as intolerable is the oppression of the poor, by one that has been poor himself; even as it is contrary to the nature and use of rain, which is to fructify, and not to sweep away and destroy; and which when it does, there is no standing against it or diverting it.

Proverbs 28:3 In-Context

1 The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
2 When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers, but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.
3 A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.
4 Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked, but those who heed it resist them.
5 Evildoers do not understand what is right, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.

Footnotes 1

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