If a ruler pays attention to liars, all his advisers will be wicked.

君王若听谎言，他一切臣仆都是奸恶。

君王若听谎言，他一切臣仆都是奸恶。

君王若听谎言，他一切臣仆都是奸恶。

君王若听谗言，臣仆必成奸徒。

如果掌权者听信谎言，他所有的臣仆必都是坏人。

如果管辖者听信虚假的话语，所有事奉他的人都会是恶人。

君王若聽謊言，他一切臣僕都是奸惡。

君王若聽謊言，他一切臣僕都是奸惡。

君王若聽謊言，他一切臣僕都是奸惡。

君王若聽讒言，臣僕必成奸徒。

如果掌權者聽信謊言，他所有的臣僕必都是壞人。

掌權者傾聽虛假的話，他的臣僕就都邪惡。

如果管轄者聽信虛假的話語，所有事奉他的人都會是惡人。

君長若聽誑言、臣僕則盡奸邪、

君聽虛妄、臣下化之。

秉權者聽誑言、其臣僕必皆邪惡、

If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.

If rulers listen to lies, all their officials become evil.

If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked.

If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

If a ruler pays attention to falsehood, All his ministers become wicked.

If a ruler pays attention to lies, All his servants become wicked.

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

If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants[ are] wicked.

If a ruler listens to lies, all his ministers will be wicked.

If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.

When a king sits in judgment, he weighs all the evidence, distinguishing the bad from the good.

As surely as a north wind brings rain, so a gossiping tongue causes anger!

All day long you plot destruction. Your tongue cuts like a sharp razor; you’re an expert at telling lies.You love evil more than good and lies more than truth. InterludeYou love to destroy others with your words, you liar!

Is that why you have conspired against me? For not one of you told me when my own son made a solemn pact with the son of Jesse. You’re not even sorry for me. Think of it! My own son— encouraging him to kill me, as he is trying to do this very day!”Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing there with Saul’s men, spoke up.“ When I was at Nob,” he said,“ I saw the son of Jesse talking to the priest, Ahimelech son of Ahitub.Ahimelech consulted the Lord for him. Then he gave him food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”King Saul immediately sent for Ahimelech and all his family, who served as priests at Nob.When they arrived, Saul shouted at him,“ Listen to me, you son of Ahitub!”“ What is it, my king?” Ahimelech asked.“ Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me?” Saul demanded.“ Why did you give him food and a sword? Why have you consulted God for him? Why have you encouraged him to kill me, as he is trying to do this very day?”“ But sir,” Ahimelech replied,“ is anyone among all your servants as faithful as David, your son in law? Why, he is the captain of your bodyguard and a highly honored member of your household!This was certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him! May the king not accuse me and my family in this matter, for I knew nothing at all of any plot against you.”“ You will surely die, Ahimelech, along with your entire family!” the king shouted.And he ordered his bodyguards,“ Kill these priests of the Lord, for they are allies and conspirators with David! They knew he was running away from me, but they didn’t tell me!” But Saul’s men refused to kill the Lord’s priests.Then the king said to Doeg,“ You do it.” So Doeg the Edomite turned on them and killed them that day, eighty five priests in all, still wearing their priestly garments.Then he went to Nob, the town of the priests, and killed the priests’ families— men and women, children and babies— and all the cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats.Only Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David.When he told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord,David exclaimed,“ I knew it! When I saw Doeg the Edomite there that day, I knew he was sure to tell Saul. Now I have caused the death of all your father’s family.Stay here with me, and don’t be afraid. I will protect you with my own life, for the same person wants to kill us both.”

But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him.“ We know where David is hiding,” they said.“ He is in the strongholds of Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the southern part of Jeshimon.Come down whenever you’re ready, O king, and we will catch him and hand him over to you!”“ The Lord bless you,” Saul said.“ At last someone is concerned about me!Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty.Discover his hiding places, and come back when you are sure. Then I’ll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I’ll track him down, even if I have to search every hiding place in Judah!”

I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride.I will search for faithful people to be my companions. Only those who are above reproach will be allowed to serve me.I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence.

One day Recab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon from Beeroth, went to Ishbosheth’s house around noon as he was taking his midday rest.The doorkeeper, who had been sifting wheat, became drowsy and fell asleep. So Recab and Baanah slipped past her.They went into the house and found Ishbosheth sleeping on his bed. They struck and killed him and cut off his head. Then, taking his head with them, they fled across the Jordan Valley through the night.When they arrived at Hebron, they presented Ishbosheth’s head to David.“ Look!” they exclaimed to the king.“ Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul who tried to kill you. Today the Lord has given my lord the king revenge on Saul and his entire family!”But David said to Recab and Baanah,“ The Lord, who saves me from all my enemies, is my witness.Someone once told me,‘ Saul is dead,’ thinking he was bringing me good news. But I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That’s the reward I gave him for his news!How much more should I reward evil men who have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed? Shouldn’t I hold you responsible for his blood and rid the earth of you?”So David ordered his young men to kill them, and they did. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies beside the pool in Hebron. Then they took Ishbosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

One day Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, accused Abner of sleeping with one of his father’s concubines, a woman named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah.Abner was furious.“ Am I some Judean dog to be kicked around like this?” he shouted.“ After all I have done for your father, Saul, and his family and friends by not handing you over to David, is this my reward— that you find fault with me about this woman?May God strike me and even kill me if I don’t do everything I can to help David get what the Lord has promised him!I’m going to take Saul’s kingdom and give it to David. I will establish the throne of David over Israel as well as Judah, all the way from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.”Ishbosheth didn’t dare say another word because he was afraid of what Abner might do.

Jehu responded with a second letter:“ If you are on my side and are going to obey me, bring the heads of your master’s sons to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.” Now the seventy sons of the king were being cared for by the leaders of Samaria, where they had been raised since childhood.When the letter arrived, the leaders killed all seventy of the king’s sons. They placed their heads in baskets and presented them to Jehu at Jezreel.

So the elders and other town leaders followed the instructions Jezebel had written in the letters.They called for a fast and put Naboth at a prominent place before the people.Then the two scoundrels came and sat down across from him. And they accused Naboth before all the people, saying,“ He cursed God and the king.” So he was dragged outside the town and stoned to death.