Matthew Henry

for it is pleasing when you keep them within you and they are constantly on your lips.

“The advantage designed us by them. The excellent things which God has written to us are not like the commands which the master gives his servant, which are all intended for the benefit of the master, but like those which the master gives his scholar…”

Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate,

“The aggravations of the sin. If their inability, by reason of their poverty, to right themselves, embolden us to rob them, it is so much the worse; this is robbing the poor because he is poor; this is not only a base and cowardly thing…”

Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.

“They have a real existence in nature and are the real gifts of Providence, but in the kingdom of grace they are things that are not; they are not a happiness and portion for a soul, are not what they promise to be nor what…”

Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.

“Drunkenness is the cause of drowsiness; it stupefies men, and makes them inattentive to business, and then all goes to wreck and ruin: thus men that have lived creditably come to be clothed with rags.”

For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well. Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.

“It is like a deep ditch and a narrow pit, which it is almost impossible to get out of; and therefore it is wisdom to keep far enough from the brink of it.”

Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has needless wounds? Who has bloodshot eyes?

“Those that have contentions have woe and sorrow; and drunkards are the fools whose lips enter into contention.”

Those who linger over wine, who go to taste mixed drinks.

“(2.) Of drinking that which is strong and intoxicating. They go up and down to seek wine that will please them; their great enquiry is, "Where is the best liquor?"”

Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.

“Red wine was in Canaan looked upon as the best wine, it is therefore called the blood of the grape.”

In the end it bites like a snake and stings like a viper.

“To take off the force of the temptation that there is in the pleasure of the sin, foresee the punishment of it, and what it will at last end in if repentance prevent not.”

Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perversities.

“(1.) The eyes grow unruly and behold strange women to lust after them, and so let in adultery into the heart. Est Venus in vinis--Wine is oil to the fire of lust.”

By wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established;

“Men may by unrighteous practices build their houses, but they cannot establish them, for the foundation is rotten ( Hab. ii. 9, 10 ); whereas what is honestly got will wear like steel and be an inheritance to children's children.”

A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge enhances his strength.

“A wise man will compass that by his wisdom which a strong man cannot effect by force of arms. The spirit is strengthened both for the spiritual work and the spiritual warfare by true wisdom. (4.)”

For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times.

“The just man falls, sometimes falls seven times perhaps, into sin, sins of infirmity, through the surprise of temptation; but he rises again by repentance, finds mercy with God, and regains his peace. (2.)”

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

“(3.) Where it is thus it is owing to the sinner's own slothfulness and folly. He is a sluggard, loves sleep, hates labour; and he is void of understanding, understands neither his business nor his interest; he is perfectly besotted.”

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

“11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. What an abominable thing sin is, and how hateful sometimes it is made to appear, even to the sinner himself.”

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being.

“They wound the reputation of him who is belied, and perhaps the wound proves incurable, and even the plaster of a recantation (which yet can seldom be obtained) may not prove wide enough for it.”

A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.

“Satan is an enemy that hates us, and yet in his temptations speaks fair, as he did to Eve, but it is madness to give credit to him, for there are seven abominations in his heart; seven other spirits does one unclean spirit bring more…”

Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

“The righteous God will take the wise, not only in their own craftiness, but in their own cruelty. It is the plotter's doom. Haman is hanged on a gallows of his own preparing.”

These are the words of Agur son of Jakeh—the burden that this man declared to Ithiel: “I am weary, O God, and worn out.

“The word calls him God with us; faith appropriates this, and calls him " God with me, who loved me, and gave himself for me, and into union and communion with whom I am admitted."”

Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in His cloak?

“(1.) The glories of the kingdom of his grace are unsearchable and unparalleled; for who besides has ascended into heaven and descended?”

Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

“It is sure, and therefore we must trust to it and venture our souls upon it. God in his word, God in his promise, is a shield, a sure protection, to all those that put themselves under his protection and put their trust in him.”

there is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are knives, devouring the oppressed from the earth and the needy from among men.

“The temper that puts them upon it is made up of cruelty and covetousness. Now those are two daughters of the horse-leech, its genuine offspring, that still cry, " Give, give, give more blood, give more money;" for the bloody are still blood-thirsty; being drunk…”

lest they drink and forget what is decreed, depriving all the oppressed of justice.

“It is a sad complaint which is made of the priests and prophets ( Isa. xxviii. 7 ), that they have erred through wine, and through strong drink they are out of the way; and the effect is as bad in kings, who when they…”

Give strong drink to one who is perishing, and wine to the bitter in soul. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

“But the scope of the place is to show that wine is a cordial, and therefore to be used for want and not for wantonness, by those only that need cordials, as Timothy, who is advised to drink a little wine, only for his stomach's…”

Her husband is known at the city gate, where he sits among the elders of the land.

“Nay, by his appearing clean and neat in his dress, every thing about him decent and handsome, yet not gaudy, one may know he has a good wife at home, that takes care of his clothes.”