Proverbs Chapter 29 verse 12 Holy Bible

ASV Proverbs 29:12

If a ruler hearkeneth to falsehood, All his servants are wicked.
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BBE Proverbs 29:12

If a ruler gives attention to false words, all his servants are evil-doers.
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DARBY Proverbs 29:12

If a ruler hearken to lying words, all his servants are wicked.
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KJV Proverbs 29:12

If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.
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WBT Proverbs 29:12


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WEB Proverbs 29:12

If a ruler listens to lies, All of his officials are wicked.
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YLT Proverbs 29:12

A ruler who is attending to lying words, All his ministers `are' wicked.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - All his servants are wicked. The ruler is willing to be deceived, and does not care to hear the truth, so his servants flatter and lie to him, and the whole atmosphere is charged with unreality and deceit. Qualis rex, talis grex. Ecclus. 10:2, "As the judge of the people is himself, so are his officers; and what manner of man the ruler of the city is, such are all that dwell therein." Claudian, 'IV. Cons. Hon.,' 299 - "Componitur orbisRegis ad exemplum: nec sic inflectere sensusHumanos edicta valent, ut vita regentis.Mobile mutatur semper cum principe vulgus." "By the king's precedentThe world is ordered; and men's minds are movedLess by stern edicts than their ruler's life.The fickle crowd aye by the prince is swayed." Cicero, 'De Leg.,' 3:13, "Ut enim cupiditatibus principum et vitiis iufici solet tota civitas, sic emendari et corrigi continentia." And ibid., 14, "Quo perniciosius de republica merentur vitiosi principes, quod non solum vitia concipiunt ipsi, sod ea infundunt in civitatem; neque solum obsunt, ipsi quod corrumpuntur, sed etiam quod corrumpunt, plusque exemplo, quam peccato, nocent."

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.--If a ruler shows that he likes adulation and falsehood rather than unpleasant truths, his attendants will provide him with what he wishes. (Comp. Ecclesiasticus 10:2.) So Jeremiah complains (Jeremiah 5:31) that prophets, priests, and people were all wilfully deceiving each other.