Showing partiality is never good, yet some will do wrong for a mere piece of bread.
Parallel translations
- WEB To show partiality is not good; yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
- KJV To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.
- BSB To show partiality is not good, yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
- NKJV To show partiality is not good, Because for a piece of bread a man will transgress.
- NASB To show partiality is not good, Because for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Showing partiality is wrong, yet some will betray justice for the smallest bribe. It condemns favoritism and the corruption of integrity for trivial gain.
Overview
The proverb declares partiality evil and exposes how cheaply some will sell their integrity, doing wrong even for a piece of bread. It warns against the slow corruption that begins with small compromises. God shows no partiality, and the gospel forms a people who likewise reject favoritism and love their neighbors impartially (James 2:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 13:19You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the souls who should not die, and to save the souls alive who should not live, by your lying to my people who listen to lies.’
- Prov 24:23These also are sayings of the wise. To show partiality in judgment is not good.
- Prov 18:5To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.
- Exod 23:2“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice.
- Mic 7:3Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.
- Exod 23:8“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.
- Rom 16:18For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.
- Mic 3:5Yahweh says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:
- Hos 4:18Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way.
- 2 Pet 2:3In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 28:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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