Proverbs

²When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but when the ruler is a man of discernment, understanding, and knowledge, its stability will long continue. ³A poor man who oppresses the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaves no food [plundering them of their last morsels]. [Matt. 18:28.] ⁴Those who forsake the law [of God and man] praise the wicked, but those who keep the law [of God and man] contend with them. [Prov. 29:18.] ⁵Evil men do not understand justice, but they who crave and seek the Lord understand it fully. [John 7:17; I Cor. 2:15; I John 2:20, 27.] ⁶Better is the poor man who walks in his integrity than he who willfully goes in double and wrong ways, though he is rich. ⁷Whoever keeps the law [of God and man] is a wise son, but he who is a companion of gluttons and the carousing, self-indulgent, and extravagant shames his father. ⁸He who by charging excessive interest and who by unjust efforts to get gain increases his material possession gathers it for him [to spend] who is kind and generous to the poor. [Job 27:16, 17; Prov. 13:22; Eccl. 2:26.]