Therefore, hear, O kings, and understand; learn, you judges of the ends of the earth, Listen closely, you who hold the attention of the crowds, and who please yourselves by disturbing the nations.

The Apocrypha, while being part of Catholic Bibles, is not part of Protestant Bibles. There could be a debate on why it was removed. Perhaps it was because of the Reformation. Perhaps it was to save money in printing Bibles. Perhaps it was for some other reason.

Information on the Apocryphra from Wikipedia.

Here is an article on Martin Luther, who included the Apocrypha in his German edition of the Bible (Martin Luther was German).

In any case, some Reformists, while not accepting it as part of scripture, did think it had valuable things to say.  Martin Luther, a Reformist, consider it “useful for reading“.

In preparing for this article, I had to do a bit more research than usual and read through some of Martin Luther’s quotes.  Frankly, I was stunned by some of them.  And question some of them.  He’s the gift that keeps on giving.   And I’ll leave it at that.

Here is something to consider.  Corrupt kings were probably happy that this was no longer being preached from the pulpit.

Wisdom 6
6:1 Wisdom is better than power, and a prudent man is better than a powerful one.
6:2 Therefore, hear, O kings, and understand; learn, you judges of the ends of the earth.
6:3 Listen closely, you who hold the attention of the crowds, and who please yourselves by disturbing the nations.
6:4 For power has been given to you from the Lord and strength from the Most High, who will examine your works and scrutinize your thoughts.
6:5 For, when you were ministers of his kingdom, you did not judge correctly, nor keep the law of justice, nor walk according to the will of God.
6:6 Horribly and quickly he will appear to you, because he will make a severe judgment for those who are in charge.
6:7 For, to the little, great mercy is granted, but the powerful will endure powerful torment.
6:8 For the Lord will not exempt anyone’s character, nor will he stand in awe of anyone’s greatness, because he himself made the little and the great, and he is equally concerned for everyone.
6:9 But a powerful torture pursues the powerful.
6:10 Therefore, O kings, these, my words, are for you, so that you may learn wisdom and not perish.
6:11 For those who have justly preserved justice will be justified, and those who have learned these things will find what to answer.
6:12 Therefore, desire my words, love them, and you will have instruction.
6:13 Wisdom is pure and never fades away, and is easily seen by those who love her and found by those who seek her.
6:14 She anticipates those who desire her, so that she first reveals herself to them.
6:15 Whoever awakens early to seek her, will not labor, for he will find her sitting at his door.
6:16 Therefore, by thinking about her, understanding is perfected, and whoever remains watchful for her, will quickly be secure.
6:17 For she goes about seeking such as are worthy of her, and she reveals herself to them cheerfully in the ways, and meets them with all foresight.
6:18 For the very true beginning of her is the desire for instruction.
6:19 Therefore, the zeal for instruction is love, and love is the keeping of her laws, and the keeping of her laws is the perfection of incorruptibility,
6:20 while incorruptibility makes us near to God.
6:21 And so, the desire for wisdom leads to an everlasting kingdom.
6:22 If, therefore, your delight is in thrones and scepters, O kings of the people, love wisdom, so that you may reign forever;
6:23 love the light of wisdom, all you who lead the peoples.
6:24 But what wisdom is, and how she was made, I will report, and I will not hide the mysteries of God from you, but I will investigate her from the beginning of her birth, and I will place the knowledge of her in the light, and will not pass over the truth.
6:25 Neither will I hold to the path that dwindles away with envy, because such a man will not partake in wisdom.
6:26 For the proliferation of the wise is sanity for the world, and a wise king is the mainstay of the people.
6:27 Therefore, receive instruction by my words, and it will benefit you.

But wait.  There’s more.  This is found in the sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible, which are also in the Catholic Bible.

Psalm 2:1 (KJV) Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,

3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7 I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

 

Proverbs 17:23  A wicked man receives a bribe in secret, to pervert the ways of justice.

 

Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

 

Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

 

Ecclesiastes 10:5 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as an error which proceedeth from the ruler

 

James 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

It needs to be pointed out that God is not against blessing people financially.  If people tithe and give offerings and alms, the Lord fulfills the promises of scripture and rebukes the devourer and pours out a blessing.  There has to be obedience to the law of the tithe and other scriptures on giving for that to occur in fullness.  Servants of the Lord God in the Bible, such as Abraham and Job, were blessed financially.

The question or issue is regarding any corruption or evil involved in gaining wealth; that is the problem.  Are people killed, murdered, destroyed, used in slave labor, and stolen from in ways evident and not so obvious (such as through the printing of fiat money or creating disasters and then going in afterwards to pick up the real estate through pennies on the dollar)?

A case in point would be the Ukrainian war.  By now it should be evident that this is not about some lofty idealistic purpose.  This is the enrichment of the military industrial complex at the expense of Ukrainians used as cannon fodder and should be condemned internationally.  The criminals who are behind it, including those in Washington D.C., and especially those in Washington D.C., should be brought before an international tribunal and tried for war crimes.  How many lies have been told regarding this war, and how much death and destruction has occurred, first and foremost, to the Ukrainians?  And there have been effects to other nations as well, but none have paid as severe a price as the Ukrainians, among whom hundreds of thousands have been killed.  Follow the money trail and who is profiting?