Luxury is not appropriate for a fool—
how much less for a slave to rule over princes!

When a land is in rebellion, it has many rulers,
but with a discerning and knowledgeable person, it endures.

Its abundant harvest goes to the kings
You have set over us,
because of our sins.
They rule over our bodies
and our livestock as they please.
We are in great distress.

“I will make youths their leaders,
and the unstable will govern them.”

Woe to you, land, when your king is a youth
and your princes feast in the morning.

Youths oppress My people,
and women rule over them.
My people, your leaders mislead you;
they confuse the direction of your paths.

I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; instead, she is to be silent.

I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even though no one is pursuing you.

He handed them over to the nations;
those who hated them ruled them.

The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is a slave to the lender.

A man will even seize his brother
in his father’s house, saying:
“You have a cloak—you be our leader!
This heap of rubble will be under your control.”
On that day he will cry out, saying:
“I’m not a healer.
I don’t even have food or clothing in my house.
Don’t make me the leader of the people!”

Slaves rule over us;
no one rescues us from their hands.

“But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to rule over us!’

Are you a king because you excel in cedar?
Didn’t your father eat and drink
and administer justice and righteousness?
Then it went well with him.