Proverbschapter 10
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Speaks with:Proverbs 17×5Psalms 37×5Proverbs 12×5Proverbs 6×4Proverbs 21×3Proverbs 10×3
Summary
Chapter summary
The proverbs of Solomon proper begin, the two-line antitheses. 'A wise son maketh a glad father.' Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, 'but righteousness delivereth from death.' The memory of the righteous is blessed. 'Hatred stirreth up strifes; but love covereth all transgressions' (1 Peter 4:8 echoes it). In the multitude of words there wanteth not transgression. 'The blessing of Jehovah, it maketh rich; and he addeth no sorrow therewith.' The fear of Jehovah prolongeth days.
Context
Poetry · Solomon, Agur, Lemuel — Proverbs overview
- A. 1–14 A Wise Son, and the Blessing of Jehovah That Maketh Rich
- B. 15–32 The Mouth of the Righteous Is a Fountain of Life
The outline
A.A Wise Son, and the Blessing of Jehovah That Maketh Richvv. 1 to 14
Read vv. 1 to 14 →B.The Mouth of the Righteous Is a Fountain of Lifevv. 15 to 32
Read vv. 15 to 32 →
The world behind this chapter
Proverbs 10The history
The book changes gear here. The heading "the proverbs of Solomon" starts a long collection of two-line sayings, and nearly all of them work by contrast: the first line says one thing, the second says its opposite. That shape is a memory device. A saying built on a hinge can be carried around in the head all day and repeated at the right moment.
The farming lines assume a calendar with no slack in it. "He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame" refers to the few weeks when the whole household — men, women, children, hired hands — was in the field with sickles from first light. Grain left standing shattered and fell, and rain in the harvest window could ruin the crop outright.
"Treasures of wickedness profit nothing" speaks into a society without safe storage. Wealth was grain, oil, livestock, metal, and cloth, all of it perishable, stealable, or seizable. A man who got it by fraud had no institution protecting his claim to it.
Several sayings weigh the mouth: the lips of the righteous feed many, a talebearer reveals secrets, he that refrains his lips is wise. In a village where reputation was the only credit rating, what you said about a neighbour could end his ability to borrow seed.
What it meant to them
These lines were not read as unbreakable laws but as the way life usually runs. Israel already had Job on the shelf for the exceptions.
For the first hearers the effect was cumulative. Line after line put diligence, honest speech, and restraint on one side and shortcuts on the other, until the pattern felt less like advice and more like the shape of the world.
Sources cited
- Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Proverbs 10. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.