Proverbs 15:27

27. Greedy of gain בוצע בצע , ( botsea’h batsa’h.) We have no English phrase exactly equivalent. See note on Proverbs 1:19. It is applied to the extortion of kings and nobles who. despoil a people, (Jeremiah 22:17; Ezekiel 22:13;) to robbery by freebooters, (Proverbs 1:19;) and also and especially to the gain from bribes and other unlawful means. Bribery, direct and indirect, is the bane of public men and the curse of a country. But let those who thus make the most of their position for their own pockets who make laws and administer them for their own selfish ends remember the words of Jehovah, that they are laying up trouble for their own families. It is the hater of iniquitous gain that shall live in fame, and his family after him. The proverb has had some remarkable illustrations in our own time and land. Compare Proverbs 1:19; Proverbs 11:29; Proverbs 20:21; Proverbs 28:16.