Proverbs 17:15
He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, both are abominable before God.
Open Proverbs 17:15 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Qui justificat impium, et qui condemnat justum, abominabilis est uterque apud Deum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ὃς δίκαιον κρίνει τὸν ἄδικον, ἄδικον δὲ τὸν δίκαιον, ἀκάθαρτος καὶ βδελυκτὸς παρὰ θεῷ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- מַצְדִּ֣יק רָ֭שָׁע וּמַרְשִׁ֣יעַ צַדִּ֑יק תּוֹעֲבַ֥ת יְ֝הוָ֗ה גַּם שְׁנֵיהֶֽם
Haydock's commentary
God. We ought to suspend our judgment, or incline to the more favourable side, Matthew vii. 1., and Romans ii. 1.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter XXVII. The first source of duty is prudence, from whence spring three other virtues; and they cannot be separated or torn asunder, since they are mutually connected one with the other
126. The first source of duty, then, is prudence. For what is more of a duty than to give to the Creator all one’s devotion and reverence? This source, however, is drawn off into other virtues. For justice cannot exist without prudence, since it demands no small amount of prudence to see whether a thing is just or unjust. A mistake on either side is very serious. “For he that says a just man is unjust, or an unjust man is just, is accursed with God. Wherefore does justice abound unto the wicked?” says Solomon. Nor, on the other hand, can prudence exist without justice, for piety towards God is the beginning of understanding. On which we notice that this is a borrowed rather than an original idea among the worldly wise, for piety is the foundation of all virtues.