Proverbs 3:27-32

Amplified Bible

²⁷
^[a]Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due [its rightful recipients],
When it is in your power to do it.^(A)
²⁸
Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back,
And tomorrow I will give it,”
When you have it with you.^(B)
²⁹
Do not devise evil against your neighbor,
Who lives securely beside you.
³⁰
Do not quarrel with a man without cause,
If he has done you no harm.^(C)
³¹
Do not envy a man of violence
And do not choose any of his ways.^(D)
³²
For the devious are repulsive to the Lord;
But His private counsel is with the upright [those with spiritual integrity and moral courage].^(E)

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Footnotes

Proverbs 3:27 Using this verse as a proof text, the ancient rabbis offered the example of an employer who tells his foreman to hire workers at four zuz (small silver coins) each to do a job, and the foreman hires them at three instead. Even though they accepted the terms, the rabbis rule that they have the right to complain. Compare this with the parable of the landowner who hires workers for a denarius each. The difference there is that the first group receives a fair wage, while the last is overpaid as a matter of generosity (Matt 20:15).