Proverbs

No. 63 Proverbs 18:17-24
Proverbs collects short sayings from Israel's wisdom teachers, most of them a single line with two halves. They are not promises but observations, the sort of thing learned by watching people for a long time....
No. 193 Proverbs 7:1-16
Proverbs is written as a father instructing a son, and this passage is the longest and most cinematic of its warnings. It opens with the usual charge, keep my words, bind them on your fingers, write them on...
No. 204 Proverbs 23:17-35
This passage is a run of parental instruction in Proverbs, and it moves from envy to appetite to the most extended description of drunkenness in the Bible.
No. 234 Proverbs 1:1-16
This is the very opening of Proverbs, where the book pauses to say what it is for before it hands you a single proverb. It is written, it says, to give wisdom and instruction, to hand prudence to the simple...
No. 249 Proverbs 11:17-31
Proverbs works by stacking short, independent lines, and the way to read a run of them is to look for the thread pulling through. In these verses the thread is giving and withholding, and it keeps insisting on...
No. 285 Proverbs 5:17-23
Proverbs 5 is a father's frank warning to his son about sexual faithfulness, and this passage is its positive heart. What stands out is that it does not argue for fidelity mainly by threat or restraint. It...
No. 298 Proverbs 16:1-16
This is a run of proverbs circling one relationship over and over: the one between our planning and God's directing. The plans of the heart belong to man, it opens, but the answer of the tongue is from the...
No. 311 Proverbs 6:1-16
This passage stacks three quick warnings, and at first they seem unrelated: a warning about co-signing a loan, a lecture to a lazy man, and a portrait of a troublemaker. But look at how each one ends, and a...
No. 470 Proverbs 26:17-28
This stretch of Proverbs is a gallery of destructive talkers, and it is full of vivid images. Meddling in someone else's quarrel is like grabbing a stray dog by the ears; you will get bitten. The person who...
No. 554 Proverbs 5:1-16
A father warns his son here about the seductive woman, the adulteress, and what strikes you first is how honestly he describes the deception. Her lips drip honey, he says, her speech is smoother than oil. He...
No. 560 Proverbs 8:1-16
In this chapter, wisdom is pictured as a woman, and the first thing to notice is where she is standing and how loud she is. Does not wisdom call out? the passage asks. She takes her stand at the top of the...
No. 603 Proverbs 13:17-25
Tucked into this run of proverbs is a line about companionship that is as true as anything in the book: whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm. It is stated simply,...
No. 611 Proverbs 2:1-16
This chapter is built as one long sentence, a chain of ifs leading to a then, and the structure is the whole lesson. If you receive my words and store up my commandments, the father says, if you turn your ear...
No. 649 Proverbs 17:1-16
This chapter opens with a proverb that quietly overturns the way most of us rank our lives: better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. Picture the two houses it sets side by...
No. 759 Proverbs 13:1-16
Proverbs 13 is a string of one-line observations set side by side, the way this book collects them: the wise son heeds correction, the guarded mouth keeps its owner out of ruin, the lazy crave and get nothing...
No. 837 Proverbs 6:17-35
Proverbs 6 opens with a famous list of the things the LORD hates, six of them, seven that are an abomination to him: proud eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots evil, feet...
No. 953 Proverbs 9:1-18
Proverbs stages a choice between two women, each hosting a meal, each calling to the same passersby. Wisdom has built her house with seven pillars, prepared her meat, mixed her wine, set her table, and sent...
No. 997 Proverbs 28:17-28
This is a cluster of proverbs, one-line contrasts about money, honesty, and trust. A few run together: whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of...
No. 1032 Proverbs 12:17-28
This cluster of proverbs is mostly about the tongue. A truthful witness gives honest evidence, but a false one breathes lies. Rash words are like sword-thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing....
No. 1106 Proverbs 25:1-16
This is a fresh collection of Solomon's proverbs, copied out by the men of Hezekiah. It opens with a saying about God concealing and kings searching out, then turns practical. Do not exalt yourself in the...
No. 1109 Proverbs 7:17-27
This is the climax of a father's warning to his son about the adulteress. She has decked her bed with myrrh and cinnamon, and she lures the young man with her invitation: my husband is away on a long journey,...
No. 1112 Proverbs 24:23-34
This closing set of the wise men's sayings ends with a vivid vignette. The sage says he walked past the field of a lazy man, the vineyard of someone with no sense, and looked at what he saw: it was overgrown...
No. 1177 Proverbs 21:17-31
This is a cluster of Solomon's proverbs on wealth, speech, and character, and it closes with two famous lines about God and human effort. The last verses declare that there is no wisdom, no understanding, no...
No. 1293 Proverbs 1:17-33
Wisdom is personified, crying aloud in the streets, at the busiest corners, at the city gates, calling to anyone who will listen. How long, she cries, will the simple love their simplicity, the mockers their...
No. 1345 Proverbs 14:1-16
This chapter gathers proverbs contrasting the wise and the foolish. The wise woman builds her house, the foolish tears it down; the fool's talk earns a rod, the wise are guarded by their words; the simple...
No. 1435 Proverbs 2:17-22
This passage is part of a warning in Proverbs about the seductions that lead a person off the path of life. It describes one who has forsaken the companion of her youth and forgotten the covenant of her God,...
No. 1507 Proverbs 24:17-22
These proverbs counsel restraint of the heart even toward enemies. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn...
No. 1563 Proverbs 14:17-35
This stretch of Proverbs gathers observations on wisdom and folly, anger and peace, wealth and the poor. He who is slow to anger has great understanding, it says, but the quick-tempered exalts folly. Whoever...
No. 1608 Proverbs 19:17-29
Among the proverbs gathered here is one that dignifies mercy to the poor beyond anything we might expect. He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, it says, and he will reward him. Around it stand other...
No. 1795 Proverbs 27:1-16
This chapter of Proverbs gathers sayings about friendship and honesty, and among them stands a striking pair: better is open rebuke than hidden love; faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an...
No. 1804 Proverbs 29:17-27
This cluster of proverbs mixes counsel about discipline, anger, pride, and trust. Among them stands one that reaches beyond the individual to a whole people: where there is no revelation, the people cast off...
No. 1910 Proverbs 4:1-16
A father instructs his sons, passing on the wisdom his own father taught him. Get wisdom, he urges; get understanding; do not forsake it, and it will preserve you. And he presses its worth: wisdom is the...
No. 1949 Proverbs 17:17-28
This cluster of proverbs touches on friendship, folly, and the heart, and it ends with a pair of sayings about speech: he who spares his words has knowledge, and he who is even-tempered is a man of...
No. 2036 Proverbs 16:17-33
Among this cluster of proverbs comes one that redefines strength: one who is slow to anger is better than the strong, and one who rules his own spirit than one who takes a city. The world measures strength by...
No. 2047 Proverbs 23:1-16
Among these proverbs comes a warning to those tempted to exploit the defenseless. Do not move the ancient boundary stone, it says, and do not encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is...
No. 2065 Proverbs 30:17-33
Among Agur's sayings is a meditation on small creatures that possess surprising wisdom. There are four things, he says, which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise. The ants, though not a...
No. 2357 Proverbs 12:1-16
Proverbs 12 gathers sharp contrasts between the wise and the fool, and it opens with a blunt one: whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. Later it returns to the theme....
No. 2486 Proverbs 21:1-16
Proverbs 21 gathers sayings about God, kings, and justice, and one of them turns from those in authority to the poor with a sharp warning: whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will himself cry out and...
No. 2514 Proverbs 8:17-36
Wisdom speaks in her own voice, and the passage lifts from practical benefits to the dawn of creation itself. Before the mountains were set in place, she says, before the earth or the seas, I was there beside...
No. 2524 Proverbs 22:1-16
Proverbs 22 opens with the value of a good name over riches and then sets down a leveling truth: the rich and the poor have this in common, that the LORD is the maker of them all. Around it run related...
No. 2643 Proverbs 27:17-27
Among the proverbs in this chapter is a searching line about how character is exposed: the crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, but a person is tested by the praise they receive. The image is of...
No. 2651 Proverbs 22:17-29
In this collection of the sayings of the wise comes a warning about the company we keep: do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one given to anger, lest you learn his ways and...
No. 2735 Proverbs 30:1-16
The words of Agur are an outsider's voice tucked into Proverbs, and they open with unusual self-abasement. I am too ignorant to be called a man, he says. I have not learned wisdom. Who has gone up to heaven...
No. 2839 Proverbs 20:1-16
This run of proverbs circles again and again to one uncomfortable subject: honesty, about our dealings and about our own hearts. Wine is a mocker; it is an honor to avoid strife; the sluggard who will not plow...
No. 2849 Proverbs 15:1-16
This cluster of proverbs keeps returning to two things: the tongue and the heart. A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. A gentle tongue is a tree of life, while a deceitful one...
No. 3013 Proverbs 10:17-32
This run of proverbs sets the righteous and the wicked side by side, and many of them weigh the power of words. Whoever heeds correction is on the path of life. When words are many, sin is not far behind, but...
No. 3060 Proverbs 19:1-16
These proverbs weigh integrity, poverty, and wisdom. Better is a poor person who walks in integrity than a fool with crooked lips. Zeal without knowledge is not good. Wealth attracts many friends, but the poor...
No. 3073 Proverbs 10:1-16
The proverbs of Solomon proper begin here, setting the wise against the foolish, the righteous against the wicked. A wise son gladdens a father; the LORD does not let the righteous go hungry; the diligent hand...
No. 3231 Proverbs 11:1-16
These proverbs contrast integrity and wickedness, and several threads run through them. One is honesty in dealings: a false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight. Another is...
No. 3371 Proverbs 25:17-28
This cluster of proverbs offers plain wisdom for daily life, and two threads stand out. First, how to treat an enemy: if your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to...
No. 3413 Proverbs 18:1-16
This cluster of proverbs holds wisdom up against folly in several ways. The fool delights not in understanding but only in airing his own opinion, and the one who answers before he hears, that is his folly and...
No. 3495 Proverbs 26:1-16
This chapter piles up vivid images of folly, and two threads stand out. The first is the danger of being wise in one's own eyes: do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than...
No. 3550 Proverbs 20:17-30
This cluster of proverbs holds several threads, and one shines clear: do not say, I will pay back evil; wait for the LORD, and he will save you. When we are wronged, the instinct is to repay it, but wisdom...
No. 3737 Proverbs 3:1-16
This passage is a treasury of wisdom, and at its center is one of Scripture's beloved verses: trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him,...
No. 3760 Proverbs 29:1-16
This chapter of Proverbs sets the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked, side by side across many areas of life, and two contrasts stand out. First, in the handling of anger: a fool gives full...
No. 3898 Proverbs 31:1-16
Among the counsels King Lemuel's mother gave him is a charge that rises above the rest in its nobility: open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are left desolate; open your mouth, judge...
No. 3913 Proverbs 3:17-35
This section of Proverbs, having praised wisdom, turns to practical righteousness toward our neighbors, and one command stands out for its immediacy: do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it...
No. 3919 Proverbs 4:17-27
Proverbs sets two paths before us. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness, and they do not know over what they stumble; but the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, shining brighter and...
No. 4103 Proverbs 24:1-16
Among the sayings in this chapter is a sharp command with a searching follow-up: rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. And then, anticipating our...
No. 4168 Proverbs 15:17-33
Among the many proverbs in this chapter is one that quietly rearranges our priorities: better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fattened ox and hatred with it. A simple meal of vegetables, shared in a...
No. 4211 Proverbs 28:1-16
Among the proverbs gathered here is one that cuts to the heart of how we deal with our sin: whoever conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will find mercy. Two paths are...
No. 4291 Proverbs 31:17-31
This portrait of a noble woman praises her industry, generosity, wisdom, and strength: she works with willing hands, opens her arms to the poor, speaks with wisdom, and is clothed with strength and dignity....