As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.

And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.

Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me.

Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.

Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.

They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.

They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.

They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;

Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.

The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.

He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:

That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?

Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.