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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Proverbs 28:15

Poor people are helpless against a wicked ruler; he is as dangerous as a growling lion or a prowling bear.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Bear;   Poor;   Rulers;   Thompson Chain Reference - Animals;   Bears;   The Topic Concordance - Government;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Bear, the;   Magistrates;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Pardon;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Bear;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Bear;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Hunting;   Proverbs, Book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Bear;   Roar;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bear;   Range;   Ruler;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Bear;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Lion;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
A wicked ruler over a helpless peopleis like a roaring lion or a charging bear.
Hebrew Names Version
As a roaring lion or a charging bear, So is a wicked ruler over helpless people.
King James Version
As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.
English Standard Version
Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
New American Standard Bible
Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear Is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
New Century Version
A wicked ruler is as dangerous to poor people as a roaring lion or a charging bear.
Amplified Bible
Like a roaring lion and a charging bear Is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
World English Bible
As a roaring lion or a charging bear, So is a wicked ruler over helpless people.
Geneva Bible (1587)
As a roaring lyon, and an hungry beare, so is a wicked ruler ouer the poore people.
Legacy Standard Bible
Like a roaring lion and a rushing bearIs a wicked ruler over a poor people.
Berean Standard Bible
Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.
Contemporary English Version
A ruler who mistreats the poor is like a roaring lion or a bear hunting for food.
Complete Jewish Bible
Like a roaring lion or a bear prowling for food is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
Darby Translation
A roaring lion, and a ranging bear, is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
Easy-to-Read Version
An evil ruler over those who are helpless is like an angry lion or a charging bear.
George Lamsa Translation
As a roaring lion and a raging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor.
Lexham English Bible
Like a roaring lion and a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
Literal Translation
The wicked ruler is a roaring lion and a ranging bear over a poor people.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Like as a roaringe lyon and an hongrie beer, euen so is an vngodly prynce ouer the poore people.
American Standard Version
As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear, So is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
Bible in Basic English
Like a loud-voiced lion and a wandering bear, is an evil ruler over a poor people.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
As a roaring lion, and a ravenous bear; so is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
King James Version (1611)
As a roaring lyon and a ranging beare: so is a wicked ruler ouer the poore people.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
As a roaring Lion and an hungrye Beare, so is an vngodly prince ouer the poore people.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
A sluggard having hid his hand in his bosom, will not be able to bring it up to his mouth.
English Revised Version
As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A rorynge lioun, and an hungry bere, is a wickid prince on a pore puple.
Update Bible Version
[As] a roaring lion, and a ranging bear, [So is] a wicked ruler over a poor people.
Webster's Bible Translation
[As] a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; [so is] a wicked ruler over the poor people.
New English Translation
Like a roaring lion or a roving bear, so is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
New King James Version
Like a roaring lion and a charging bear Is a wicked ruler over poor people.
New Living Translation
A wicked ruler is as dangerous to the poor as a roaring lion or an attacking bear.
New Life Bible
A sinful ruler over poor people is like a lion making noise or a bear running to fight.
New Revised Standard
Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A growling lion, and a ranging bear, is a lawless ruler, over a poor people.
Douay-Rheims Bible
As a roaring lion, and a hungry bear, so is a wicked prince over the poor people.
Revised Standard Version
Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
Young's Literal Translation
A growling lion, and a ranging bear, [Is] the wicked ruler over a poor people.
THE MESSAGE
Lions roar and bears charge— and the wicked lord it over the poor.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear Is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

Contextual Overview

15 Poor people are helpless against a wicked ruler; he is as dangerous as a growling lion or a prowling bear.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a roaring: Proverbs 20:2, Hosea 5:11, 1 Peter 5:8

a ranging: Proverbs 17:12, 2 Kings 2:24, Hosea 13:8

so: Exodus 1:14-16, Exodus 1:22, 1 Samuel 22:17-19, 2 Kings 15:16, 2 Kings 21:16, Esther 3:6-10, Matthew 2:16

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 22:16 - Thou shalt 1 Samuel 23:10 - destroy the city 2 Samuel 17:8 - as a bear Psalms 10:9 - when Psalms 57:4 - among Proverbs 19:12 - king's Ecclesiastes 4:1 - and considered Ecclesiastes 4:13 - is a poor Isaiah 33:6 - wisdom Ezekiel 19:7 - and the land Ezekiel 32:2 - Thou art like Daniel 2:13 - the decree Zephaniah 3:3 - princes 2 Timothy 4:17 - and I Revelation 13:2 - and his feet

Cross-References

Genesis 26:3
Live here, and I will be with you and bless you. I am going to give all this territory to you and to your descendants. I will keep the promise I made to your father Abraham.
Genesis 28:5
Isaac sent Jacob away to Mesopotamia, to Laban, who was the son of Bethuel the Aramean and the brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Genesis 28:6
Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Mesopotamia to find a wife. He also learned that when Isaac blessed him, he commanded him not to marry a Canaanite woman.
Genesis 28:7
He found out that Jacob had obeyed his father and mother and had gone to Mesopotamia.
Genesis 28:8
Esau then understood that his father Isaac did not approve of Canaanite women.
Genesis 28:14
They will be as numerous as the specks of dust on the earth. They will extend their territory in all directions, and through you and your descendants I will bless all the nations.
Genesis 28:16
Jacob woke up and said, "The Lord is here! He is in this place, and I didn't know it!"
Genesis 28:20
Then Jacob made a vow to the Lord : "If you will be with me and protect me on the journey I am making and give me food and clothing,
Genesis 28:21
and if I return safely to my father's home, then you will be my God.
Genesis 31:3
Then the Lord said to him, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives. I will be with you."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[As] a roaring lion, and a ranging bear,.... Which are both terrible; the lion that roars for want of food, or when it is over its prey; and the hear, when it runs from place to place in quest of provision, being "hungry [and very] desirous" of food, has a keen appetite, as some think the word l signifies. The Targum and Jarchi take it to be expressive of the cry and roaring it makes at such a time, as well as the lion; see Isaiah 59:11; so the Tigurine version. "Roaring" is the proper epithet of a lion, and is frequently given it in Scripture, and in other writers m; and the bear, it is to have its name, in the Oriental language, from the growling and murmuring noise it makes when hungry; hence that of Horace n;

[so is] a wicked ruler over the poor people; one that rules over them in a tyrannical manner, sadly oppresses them, takes away the little from them they have, which is very cruel and barbarous; when he ought to protect and defend them, against whom they cannot stand, and whom they dare not resist; and who therefore must be as terrible to them, being as cruel and voracious as the above animals. Tyrants are frequently compared to lions, Jeremiah 4:7; and the man of sin, the wicked ruler and great oppressor of God's poor people, is compared to both; his feet are as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion, Revelation 13:2.

l שוקק "avidus", Pagninus, Montanus; "famelicus", Castalio, Schultens; "esuriens", V. L. Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus, Bochart; "adpetens", Michaelis. m "Leo fremit", Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16. "Spumat aper, fluit unda, fremit leo, sibilat anguis"; Licentius de Protheo. n "Nec vespertinus circumgemit ursus ovile", Epod. Ode 16. v. 51.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The form of political wretchedness, when the poverty of the oppressed subjects not only embitters their sufferings, but exasperates the brutal ferocity of the ruler.


 
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