Proverbs 28:15

A wicked ruler over vulnerable people is as dangerous as a roaring lion or charging bear. It condemns the cruelty of oppressive, predatory leadership.

Cross-references · 14

• 1 Pet 5:8Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
• Matt 2:16When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
• Prov 19:12A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
• Exod 1:22Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”
• Prov 20:2The terror of a king is like the roar of a lion; whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.
• 2 Kgs 21:16Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
• Exod 1:14–16and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.
• 1 Sam 22:17–19Then the king ordered the guards at his side, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they did not tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.
• 2 Kgs 15:16At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.
• Esth 3:6–10And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.
• 2 Kgs 2:24Then he turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Suddenly two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
• Hos 5:11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow worthless idols.
• Prov 17:12It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.
• Hos 13:8Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast would tear them apart.

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.