Proverbschapter 11
31 verses · BSBProverbs book hub →
Speaks with:Proverbs 10×4Proverbs 20×3Matthew 5×3Proverbs 16×2Proverbs 29×2Proverbs 28×2
Summary
Chapter summary
'A false balance is an abomination to Jehovah; but a just weight is his delight.' When pride cometh, then cometh shame. Riches profit not in the day of wrath. 'Where no wise guidance is, the people falleth; but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.' The liberal soul shall be made fat, 'and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.' As a ring of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman without discretion. 'He that winneth souls is wise.'
Context
Poetry · Solomon, Agur, Lemuel — Proverbs overview
- A. 1–15 A False Balance, and the Shame That Follows Pride
- B. 16–31 The Liberal Soul Shall Be Made Fat
The outline
A.A False Balance, and the Shame That Follows Pridevv. 1 to 15
Read vv. 1 to 15 →B.The Liberal Soul Shall Be Made Fatvv. 16 to 31
Read vv. 16 to 31 →
The world behind this chapter
Proverbs 11The history
"A false balance is abomination to the LORD" describes an actual piece of equipment. Trade used a beam balance with stone weights, and archaeologists have dug up sets of inscribed Judean weights — the beka, the pim, the shekel — some of them shaved or over-cut. A dishonest trader carried two sets in his bag: a heavy stone for buying and a light one for selling.
"He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him" points at grain hoarding. In a bad year a man with full storage jars could sit on his grain, watch the price climb, and sell in the hungry month. It was perfectly legal and universally hated, and the proverb sides with the town against him.
The chapter is full of the language of the assembly: "by the blessing of the upright the city is exalted," "in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." Decisions in an Israelite town were made in public by the elders at the gate, so a wise or corrupt handful genuinely could lift or ruin the place.
"As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout" would have raised a laugh and a wince. The pig was unclean and despised, and a gold nose ring was the sort of ornament a bride wore. The mismatch is the whole joke.
What it meant to them
The first hearers did their business standing at that gate, watching a stone drop into a pan. The chapter says God is watching the pan.
And the chapter refuses to let riches be the final measure: "riches profit not in the day of wrath." To people who could see exactly who in town had the fullest jars, that was a deliberately unsettling line.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Proverbs 11. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.