Nearly three weeks after Donald Trump was first asked to name his favorite Bible verse, he finally has an answer: He likes what the Book of Proverbs says about not bending to envy.
"Proverbs, the chapter 'never bend to envy,'" Trump said in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network's The Brody File on Tuesday evening in California. "I’ve had that thing all of my life where people are bending to envy." It was not clear whether Trump appreciated the passage because he had struggled with envy personally, or whether he was referring to envy he had experienced from others.
It also wasn't clear which verse the Republican front-runner was talking about: A search of several of the most-used standard versions of the Bible did not turn up any verse or chapter that urges people not to "bend to envy."Here are some real passages from Proverbs that might apply to the Donald (all NIV):
- "Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse." (28:6)
- "The rich are wise in their own eyes; one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are." (28:11)
- "Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf." (11:28)
- "Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud." (16:19)
- "The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin." (10:14)
- "Why should fools have money in hand to buy wisdom, when they are not able to understand it?" (17:16)
- "Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions." (18:2)
- "Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue." (11:12)
- "Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife;quarrels and insults are ended." (22:10)
- "Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright." (14:9)
- "The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but he sets the widow’s boundary stones in place." (15:25)
And of course, the most Trump-relevant passage of all:
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." (16:18)
