Proverbs 28:1-9

The Message

² When the country is in chaos,
    everybody has a plan to fix it—
But it takes a leader of real understanding
    to straighten things out.

³ The wicked who oppress the poor
    are like a hailstorm that beats down the harvest.

⁴ If you desert God’s law, you’re free to embrace depravity;
    if you love God’s law, you fight for it tooth and nail.

⁵ Justice makes no sense to the evilminded;
    those who seek God know it inside and out.

⁶ It’s better to be poor and direct
    than rich and crooked.

⁷ Practice God’s law—get a reputation for wisdom;
    hang out with a loose crowd—embarrass your family.

⁸ Get as rich as you want
    through cheating and extortion,
But eventually some friend of the poor
    is going to give it all back to them.

⁹ God has no use for the prayers
    of the people who won’t listen to him.