Proverbs 29:12

American Standard Version (1901)

If a ruler hearkeneth to falsehood, All his servants are wicked.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

מֹ֭שֵׁל מַקְשִׁ֣יב עַל־דְּבַר־שָׁ֑קֶר כָּֽל־מְשָׁרְתָ֥יו רְשָׁעִֽים׃

Transliteration

mōšēl maqšîḇ ʿal-dəḇar-šāqer kol-məšārətāyw rəšāʿîm

Grammar Details

• *mōšēl*: qal participle, masculine singular - ruler/one who rules
• *maqšîḇ*: hiphil participle, masculine singular - listening/paying attention
• *ʿal*: preposition - to/upon
• *dəḇar*: noun, masculine singular construct - word of
• *šāqer*: noun, masculine singular - falsehood/lie
• *kol*: noun, masculine singular construct - all of
• *məšārətāyw*: piel participle, masculine plural + 3rd masculine singular suffix - his servants/ministers
• *rəšāʿîm*: adjective/substantive, masculine plural - wicked/evil ones

Word Meanings

• *mōšēl*: ruler/governor/one who rules
• *maqšîḇ*: listening to/giving attention to/heeding
• *ʿal-dəḇar-šāqer*: to word of falsehood/to lies/to false reports
• *kol-məšārətāyw*: all his servants/all his ministers/all his officials
• *rəšāʿîm*: wicked/evil/corrupt

Referenced Verses

• 1 Sam 22:8-9 : 8 that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that discloseth to me when my son maketh a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or discloseth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 And he inquired of Jehovah for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. 11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king. 12 And Saul said, Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord. 13 And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who among all thy servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into thy council, and is honorable in thy house? 15 Have I to-day begun to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute anything unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for thy servant knoweth nothing of all this, less or more. 16 And the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house. 17 And the king said unto the guard that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of Jehovah; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of Jehovah. 18 And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and he slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. 19 And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen and asses and sheep, with the edge of the sword. 20 And one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. 21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Jehovah's priests. 22 And David said unto Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned [the death] of all the persons of thy father's house. 23 Abide thou with me, fear not; for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: for with me thou shalt be in safeguard.
• 1 Sam 23:19-23 : 19 Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert? 20 Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him up into the king's hand. 21 And Saul said, Blessed be ye of Jehovah; for ye have had compassion on me. 22 Go, I pray you, make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, [and] who hath seen him there; for it is told me that he dealeth very subtly. 23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking-places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me of a certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.
• 2 Sam 3:7-9 : 7 Now Saul had a concubine, whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and [Ish-bosheth] said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father's concubine? 8 Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head that belongeth to Judah? This day do I show kindness unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David; and yet thou chargest me this day with a fault concerning this woman. 9 God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Jehovah hath sworn to David, I do not even so to him; 10 to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beer-sheba. 11 And he could not answer Abner another word, because he feared him.
• 2 Sam 4:5-9 : 5 And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, as he took his rest at noon. 6 And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they smote him in the body: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. 7 Now when they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and went by the way of the Arabah all night. 8 And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, thine enemy, who sought thy life; and Jehovah hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. 9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As Jehovah liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity, 10 when one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his tidings. 11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed, shall I not now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth? 12 And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth, and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.
• 1 Kgs 21:11-13 : 11 And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. 12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 13 And the two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him: and the base fellows bare witness against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did curse God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones.
• 2 Kgs 10:6-7 : 6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be on my side, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to-morrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, who brought them up. 7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them unto him to Jezreel.
• Ps 52:2-4 : 2 Thy tongue deviseth very wickedness, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. 3 Thou lovest evil more than good, And lying rather than to speak righteousness. {{Selah 4 Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.
• Ps 101:5-7 : 5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I destroy: Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer. 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall minister unto me. 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: He that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before mine eyes.
• Prov 20:8 : 8 A king that sitteth on the throne of judgment Scattereth away all evil with his eyes.
• Prov 25:23 : 23 The north wind bringeth forth rain: So doth a backbiting tongue an angry countenance.