Proverbs 21:7

Every time you cheat financially, you put another nail in your own coffin. What you call rounding, God calls robbery. What you call immaterial, God calls purloining. What you call borrowing, God calls stealing. What you call exaggerating, God calls lying. What you call bargaining, God calls extortion. Fools often cheat in their ambition and greed to get ahead, but God will destroy them for rejecting equity, fairness, justice, and truth.

The context helps here. Solomon commended diligence and condemned haste in financial and professional matters (Pr 21:5). He warned that treasures obtained by lying were an illusion that will eventually bring death (Pr 21:6). Business folly, whether due to haste in decisions or falsifying information, leads to certain poverty. Such criminals do not fool God; He will destroy them; they should have learned the wisdom God wants you to learn.

Are you a robber? Do you purloin at work (Tit 2:9-10)? Did studying evolution keep you from learning English words? Purloin is a verb meaning to pilfer, to filch, to peculate, to snitch. Are you still in the dark? It means to misappropriate or steal by small amounts, especially by violating trust placed in you. It is a forgotten sin today. Do you milk the time clock? Make personal calls at work? Take home office supplies? Surf the Internet on your office computer? Text friends? Check social media? Arrive late? Leave early?

Are you a robber? Do you like to buy low and sell high? Is buying low so important that you point out every flaw in things you buy to get the price lower and then boast to others about the “steal of a deal” you got? God hates it (Pr 20:14)! Is selling high so important that you believe you have the right to charge whatever price the market can bear, like in cornering a market? God hates it (Pr 11:24-27)! God will bless the man that buys and sells at fair market prices, especially with orphans, widows, or the poor involved.

Are you a robber? Do you always use grace periods when paying? It is called grace, because your creditor will not prosecute you for stealing from him, even though you are past the due date. Do you cheat on income taxes by not disclosing all income or claiming personal expenses? Do you give a full measure in every situation calling for one? Do you hold back payments without due dates? Do you return overpayments? Is your resume perfectly true? Do you defend others as you do yourself? Do you return borrowed items?

Are you a robber? If so, confess your sin to God, repay any thefts you can, and resolve to be perfectly honest in all dealings. You need to learn judgment, which is knowing and doing what is just and right in every situation. The Bible and this book of wisdom were sent from the God of heaven to teach you righteous judgment. Learn it, and do it.