Commentators have very divergent opinions as to whom this verse refers. Some think it refers to wise rulers while others are convinced it speaks of evil rulers. The bottom line is this – we don’t know. And that is exactly the point of this verse. Anyone who has lived very long has experienced the heartbreak of watching a person that we were convinced was full of integrity reveal themselves to not at all be what they once represented. We simply cannot know the heart. This knowledge is reserved only to God. As this relates to our attitudes towards those in authority, wisdom dictates that we spend less time maligning motives and/or putting unreserved truth in men, and more time praying to the One who searches and knows the hearts, asking Him to direct the affairs of men that we might be free to live a life of Godliness and honesty.