Rulers: Wicked

Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.

But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.

And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.

‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. …

For the LORD humbled Judah because Ahaz king of Israel had thrown off restraint in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the LORD.

…and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them …

Our kings and leaders and priests and fathers did not obey Your law or listen to Your commandments and warnings that You gave them. …

Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty; though rising up, they have no assurance of life.

They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.

You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

…to vindicate the fatherless and oppressed, that the men of the earth may strike terror no more.

“For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”

The wicked wander freely, and vileness is exalted among men.

A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David. Do you indeed speak justly, O rulers? Do you judge uprightly, O sons of men?

No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.

“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree?

They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings in the day of His wrath.

Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—both are detestable to the LORD.

It is surely not good to punish the innocent or to flog a noble for his honesty.

Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a helpless people.

A leader who lacks judgment is also a great oppressor, but he who hates dishonest profit will prolong his days.

When the wicked come to power, people hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous flourish.

When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

By justice a king brings stability to the land, but a man who exacts tribute demolishes it.

If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:

…a servant who becomes king, a fool who is filled with food,

Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”

Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.

Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take a warning.

For the youth has come from the prison to the kingship, though he was born poor in his own kingdom.

If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.

There is an evil I have seen under the sun—an error that proceeds from the ruler: …

Woe to you, O land whose king is a youth, and whose princes feast in the morning.

Blessed are you, O land whose king is a son of nobles, and whose princes feast at the proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness.

Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.

The LORD brings this charge against the elders and leaders of His people: “You have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.

Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees, …

…you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended! …

Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.

For you said, “We have made a covenant with death; we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol. When the overwhelming scourge passes through it will not touch us, because we have made lies our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”

For the ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who look for evil will be cut down—

…those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.

For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.

Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.

He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.

And now what have I here? declares the LORD. For My people have been taken without cause; those who rule them taunt, declares the LORD, and My name is blasphemed continually all day long.

So justice is turned away, and righteousness stands at a distance. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.

Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.

They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the rights of the needy.

Should I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?

And you, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, the day has come for your final punishment.’

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Remove the turban, and take off the crown. Things will not remain as they are: Exalt the lowly and bring low the exalted.

See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.

Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock? …

Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: …

For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Enough, O princes of Israel! Cease your violence and oppression, and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing My people, declares the Lord GOD.’

The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary stones; I will pour out My fury upon them like water.

They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies.

Samaria will be carried off with her king like a twig on the surface of the water.

“For they know not how to do right,” declares the LORD. “They store up violence and destruction in their citadels.”

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “An enemy will surround the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your citadels.”

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.”

The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.

Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.

For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.

“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—

…you who rejoice in Lo-debar and say, ‘Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?’

Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice? …

Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right, …

Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.

The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day for your watchmen has come, the day of your visitation. Now is the time of their confusion.

Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

…and wealth indeed betrays him. He is an arrogant man never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself and collects all the peoples as his own. …

“On the Day of the LORD’s sacrifice I will punish the princes, the sons of the king, and all who are dressed in foreign apparel.

Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.

Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit here to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck.”

But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.