Proverbs 4:17

For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. they lay...: or, they pry as fowlers lie in wait As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. cage: or, coop They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.

There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. violated: Heb. offered violence to Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. oppression: or, deceit wrongfully: Heb. without right

Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. sabaoth: Heb. hosts Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. eaten...: Heb. of secrecies

Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children. They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. corn: Heb. mingled corn, or, dredge they gather...: Heb. the wicked gather the vintage

Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? new...: or, month set...: Heb. open falsifying...: Heb. perverting the balances of deceit That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. deceit: Heb. lying, or, falsehood