Many seek the ruler’s favor, but a man’s justice comes from Yahweh.
Parallel translations
- KJV Many seek the ruler’s favour; but every man’s judgment cometh from the LORD.
- BSB Many seek the ruler’s favor, but a man receives justice from the LORD.
- NKJV Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for man comes from the Lord.
- NASB Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for mankind comes from the Lord.
- NLT Many seek the ruler’s favor, but justice comes from the Lord.
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
Many court a ruler's favor, but real justice comes from the LORD.
Overview
People seek advantage from powerful figures, yet earthly rulers are limited and often partial. Ultimate vindication and justice rest with God alone, who judges rightly. This frees believers from anxious flattery of the powerful and rests their hope in the LORD, the righteous Judge revealed fully in Christ, who will set all things right.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 19:6Many will entreat the favor of a ruler, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.
- Ps 20:9Save, Yahweh! Let the King answer us when we call!
- Prov 19:21There are many plans in a man’s heart, but Yahweh’s counsel will prevail.
- Ps 62:12Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness, for you reward every man according to his work.
- Isa 46:9–11Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me.
- Neh 1:11Lord, I beg you, let your ear be attentive now to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants, who delight to fear your name; and please prosper your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cup bearer to the king.
- Ezra 7:27–28Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify Yahweh’s house which is in Jerusalem;
- Prov 16:7When a man’s ways please Yahweh, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
- Esth 4:16“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
- Dan 4:35All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, What are you doing?
- 1 Cor 4:4For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord.
- Gen 43:14May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
- Isa 49:4But I said, “I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with Yahweh, and my reward with my God.”
- Prov 21:1The king’s heart is in Yahweh’s hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 29:26 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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