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Easy-to-Read Version

Proverbs 28:15

An evil ruler over those who are helpless is like an angry lion or a charging 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.
George Lamsa Translation
As a roaring lion and a raging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor.
Good News Translation
Poor people are helpless against a wicked ruler; he is as dangerous as a growling lion or a prowling bear.
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 An evil ruler over those who are helpless is like an angry lion or a charging 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
Stay in this land, and I will be with you. I will bless you. I will give you and your family all these lands. I will do what I promised to Abraham your father.
Genesis 28:5
So Isaac sent Jacob to Rebekah's brother in Paddan Aram. Jacob went to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean. Laban was the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
Genesis 28:6
Esau learned that his father Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram to find a wife there. He also learned that Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman.
Genesis 28:7
Esau learned that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother and went to Paddan Aram.
Genesis 28:8
Esau saw from this that his father did not want his sons to marry Canaanite women.
Genesis 28:14
You will have as many descendants as there are particles of dust on the earth. They will spread east and west, north and south. All the families on earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.
Genesis 28:16
Then Jacob woke up and said, "I know that the Lord is in this place, but I did not know he was here until I slept."
Genesis 28:20
Then Jacob made a promise. He said, "If God will be with me, and if he will protect me on this trip, and if he gives me food to eat and clothes to wear,
Genesis 28:21
and if I return in peace to my father's house—if he does all these things—then the Lord will be my God.
Genesis 31:3
The Lord said to Jacob, "Go back to your own land where your ancestors lived. 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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