Proverbschapter 11
31 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but an accurate weight is His delight.
Introduction
Solomon and others, Wisdom and poetry, Proverbs Overview.
This chapter continues the first collection of sayings in Proverbs, headed as the proverbs of Solomon. Its hearers did their business in the market at the city gate, where grain was weighed out and prices were set. Many of its sayings look at how one person's conduct touches a whole town. Listen for the language of scales and weights, of grain held back and grain sold, and of a city lifted up or brought down. Notice how often the chapter sets giving against keeping. Read it as teaching about trade, generosity and public life under the eye of God.
Context
- Who
- Buyers, sellers, and grain holders in a town that lived close to the edge
- What
- A collection of two-line sayings on honesty in trade, pride and humility, the effect of the righteous and the wicked on a city, and the rewards of generosity.
- Where
- The market inside the city gate, where grain was weighed and sold and the elders met to decide the town's affairs.
- When
- The reign of Solomon, about 970 to 931 BC, by the heading at Proverbs 10:1; the collection was copied and arranged later, as Proverbs 25:1 shows for a second one.
- Why
- To teach that the LORD cares how goods are weighed and sold and that a generous and upright life blesses a whole community.
Historical context
"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.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"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.
Significance
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.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
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.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No part of this chapter is read in the synagogue year. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0 for Proverbs, and no festival reading.
The corpus joins the first verse, on the false balance, to the weekly portion Ki Teitzei, through Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Teitzei 8:1 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Ki Teitzei 7:1. Through Bereshit Rabbati it also carries Parashat Bereshit 24 under the eighth verse, Parashat Vayechi 6 under the tenth, and Parashat Vayigash 15 under the seventeenth. All of these portions stand in the site's table.
How it is read
Rashi is the commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Several of his notes read the sayings as the history of Israel. The city exalted by the blessing of the upright becomes the Temple. "As long as the kings of Judah were upright, their prayer preserved the Temple" (Rashi on Proverbs 11:11:1). The people who fall for lack of guidance are Israel in trouble when they do not set their heart to fast and to repent (Rashi on Proverbs 11:14:1). The man of understanding who keeps silent under contempt is Saul, who held his peace when men despised him and brought him no gift (Rashi on Proverbs 11:12:1).
Charity runs through the chapter, and Rashi names it. The one who scatters and still increases is the one who scatters his money for such things as charity and is given more (Rashi on Proverbs 11:24:1). The righteousness that tends to life he reads with a proof from the daughters of Zelophehad, whose speech the Torah calls right (Rashi on Proverbs 11:19:1). The kind man who does himself good does good to his kin (Rashi on Proverbs 11:17:1).
The gold ring in a pig's snout he applies to the house of study. It is "a Torah scholar who turns away from the good way" (Rashi on Proverbs 11:22:1). The wicked man's wages are illusory because he thinks his prosperity will remain (Rashi on Proverbs 11:18:1). The surety of the fifteenth verse, which in chapter 6 he read as money, is read here as the wicked man who gave his heart as surety to idolatry (Rashi on Proverbs 11:15:1). The hope of the wicked is wrath because they are assured of Gehinnom (Rashi on Proverbs 11:23:1).
The corpus carries six further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. Four stand cited and unquoted at Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 11:4:1, 11:5:1, 11:10:1 and 11:13:1, and two at Metzudat David on Proverbs 11:1:1 and 11:20:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited here rather than quoted. On the second verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 65:22 and Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 5:1:15. On the third it holds Bava Metzia 35a:7, and on the fourth Aggadat Bereshit 35:1 and Bava Batra 10a:16. On the fifth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 60:12, and on the seventh Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 9:1:26 and Kohelet Rabbah 7:15:1. On the eighth it holds Bava Metzia 60b:6.
The city and the tongue draw the next run. On the tenth verse the corpus holds Bamidbar Rabbah 3:4, and on the eleventh Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 938:32. On the twelfth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 80:6 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 34:5:1. On the thirteenth it holds Aggadat Bereshit 82:2 and Bava Kamma 99b:20. On the fourteenth it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Yevamot 16:1 and Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 3:5, and on the fifteenth Ein Yaakov at Yevamot 13:3 with the Glick Edition at 13:1.
The reward carries the rest. On the seventeenth verse the corpus holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Taanit 1:45, and on the nineteenth Midrash Mishlei 11:1. On the twenty-first it holds Berakhot 61a:21, and on the twenty-second Midrash Aggadah, Numbers 5:12:1. On the twenty-sixth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 91:5, on the twenty-seventh Jerusalem Talmud Peah 8:8:1, on the thirtieth Avot DeRabbi Natan 34:11, and on the thirty-first Bereshit Rabbah 92:7. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Proverbs 11:2:1 to 11:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 11:4:1, 11:5:1, 11:10:1 and 11:13:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Proverbs 11:1:1 and 11:20:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/11.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, printing no portion, no Haftarah and no festival reading for this book, with Ki Teitzei, Bereshit, Vayechi and Vayigash in its PARASHOT table.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A False Balance, and the Shame That Follows Pride
Proverbs 11:1-3
Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD: “Dishonest scales” name the marketplace itself, where a merchant might keep two sets of stones, light ones for selling and heavy ones for buying. The LORD calls the practice “an abomination” and the honest weight “His delight,” and pride and disgrace come as cause and effect.
Proverbs 11:1
“Therefore let every man weigh his words, not with deceit and guile, for a false balance is abomination to the Lord. I do not mean that balance which weighs the wares of others, (though even in lesser matters deceit often costs dear,) but that balance of words is hateful to the Lord, which wears the mask of the weight of sober gravity, and yet practises the artifices of cunning. Great is God's anger, if a man deceive his neighbour by flattering promises, and by treacherous subtlety oppress his debtor, a craft which will not benefit himself.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Letters 1-10patristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Proverbs 11:1
“This emphatic reproduction of the old rule of Deu 25:13-14 is perhaps a trace of the danger of dishonesty incidental to the growing commerce of the Israelites. The stress laid upon the same sin in Pro 16:11; Pro 20:10; bears witness to the desire of the teacher to educate the youth of Israel to a high standard of integrity, just as the protest of Hosea against it Hos 12:7 shows the zeal of the prophet in rebuking what was becoming more and more a besetting sin.”
When pride comes, disgrace follows: close behind it. Adam Clarke explains the sequence: the proud man expects to be treated at his own estimate, seldom meets it, and is shamed again and again. Humility, the Hebrew tsenuim or the modest, comes with wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2
“When pride cometh - The proud man thinks much more of himself than any other can do; and, expecting to be treated according to his own supposed worth, which treatment he seldom meets with, he is repeatedly mortified, ashamed, confounded, and rendered indignant. With the lowly - צנועים tsenuim, ταπεινων, the humble, the modest, as opposed to the proud, referred to in the first clause.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The integrity of the upright guides them: Integrity goes ahead of the upright like a guide, and perversity turns on the faithless and destroys them. The verse follows the honest scales of verse 1, where Israel's growing trade tested a merchant's integrity. Each man's character leads him somewhere.
Proverbs 11:4-8
Riches are worthless in the day of wrath: “Riches are worthless in the day of wrath” states what money cannot buy, and righteousness stands as the one deliverance named. The four proverbs that follow work the same ground: “the wicked fall by their own wickedness,” and the two courses end apart even in trouble.
Proverbs 11:4
“In the day of public judgments riches often expose men rather than protect them, Ezek. vii. It is righteousness only that will deliver from the evil of death. A good conscience will make death easy, and take off the terror of it; it is the privilege of the righteous only not to be hurt of the second death, and so not much hurt by the first.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The righteousness of the blameless directs their path: Righteousness makes the path of the blameless straight, as a road is made level for travel. Clement of Alexandria quotes the line as keeping their way straight. The wicked fall over their own wickedness, and the stumbling block is inside them.
Proverbs 11:5
To be repeatedly requesting forgiveness for offenses repeatedly committed is not repentance, only its appearance. "The righteousness of the blameless keeps their way straight," proclaims Scripture, and again, "The righteousness of the innocent will set straight their way."
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 2patristic
The righteousness of the upright delivers them: Righteousness delivers the upright here as it delivered from death in verse 4. The faithless are caught by their own desires, in a snare their appetite laid. Their craving becomes the trap.
When the wicked man dies, his hope perishes: The saying ties the end of hope to the death of the wicked man. Albert Barnes reads it as evidence that Israel believed the righteous man's hope outlived his death. The strength the wicked man trusted vanishes with him.
Proverbs 11:7
Significant words, as showing the belief that when the righteous died, his “expectation” (i. e., his hope for the future) did not perish. The second clause is rendered by some, “the expectation that brings sorrow.”
The righteous man is delivered from trouble: The trouble set for the righteous man falls on the wicked man instead, as the gallows built for Mordecai took Haman in Esther 7:10. Matthew Henry says this exchange is certain at death and often seen in life. The trap changes owners.
Proverbs 11:8
“8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. As always in death, so sometimes in life, the righteous are remarkably favoured and the wicked crossed. Good people are helped out of the distresses which they thought themselves lost in, and their feet are set in a large room, Ps. lxvi.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Proverbs 11:9-11
With his mouth the ungodly man destroys his neighbor: “With his mouth the ungodly man destroys his neighbor,” and it takes knowledge to rescue the righteous from the harm his words intend. The next proverbs widen the view from neighbor to city: “When the righteous thrive, the city rejoices,” and one man's character moves a town's fortune.
Proverbs 11:9
"A hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor," etc. A heretic who pretends to teach Catholic doctrine deceives his listener; but those who justly follow the truth of the Gospel will be freed by Catholic knowledge so that they are not snatched by heretic deception.
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 11:9
“A hypocrite with his mouth - חנף chaneph might be better translated infidel than hypocrite. The latter is one that pretends to religion; that uses it for secular purposes. The former is one who disbelieves Divine revelation, and accordingly is polluted, and lives in pollution. This is properly the force of the original word. Such persons deal in calumny and lies, and often thus destroy the character of their neighbor.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
When the righteous thrive, the city rejoices: A whole town feels the fortunes of its people. Adam Clarke says the upright man blesses his neighborhood by his example, his advice and his prayers, so the city welcomes his prosperity. The death of a wicked man who cursed the place brings shouts of joy.
Proverbs 11:10
“When it goeth well - An upright, pious, sensible man is a great blessing to the neighborhood where he resides, by his example, his advice, and his prayers. The considerate prize him on these accounts, and rejoice in his prosperity. But when the wicked perish, who has been a general curse by the contagion of his example and conversation, there is not only no regret expressed for his decease, but a general joy because God has removed him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
By the blessing of the upright a city is built up: Albert Barnes takes the blessing of the upright as the prayers they offer for their city, like Abraham pleading for Sodom in Genesis 18. The wicked tear the same city down with their mouths. Speech builds or destroys a city.
Proverbs 11:11
The blessing of the upright - Probably the prayers which he offers for the good of the city in which he dwells, and which avail to preserve it from destruction (compare Gen 18:23-33); or “the blessing which God gives the upright.”
Proverbs 11:12-14
Whoever shows contempt for his neighbor lacks judgment: “Whoever shows contempt for his neighbor lacks judgment, but a man of understanding remains silent,” and the contrast sets up a specific case. The next verse gives it: “A gossip reveals a secret, but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence”. The third proverb widens to the whole people.
Proverbs 11:12
“None but the man “void of wisdom” will show contempt for those about him. The wise man, if he cannot admire or praise, will at least know how to be silent.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 11:12
“He that is void of wisdom - A foolish man is generally abundant in his censures; he dwells on the defects of his neighbor, and is sure to bring them into the most prominent view. But a man of understanding - a prudent, sensible man, hides those defects wherever he can, and puts the most charitable construction on those which he cannot conceal.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
A gossip reveals a secret: The gossip carries tales from house to house, and Albert Barnes warns that the man who brings tales about others will carry the hearer's secrets. A trustworthy person keeps a confidence quietly. Silence here is a form of faithfulness.
Proverbs 11:13
“The man who comes to us with tales about others will reveal our secrets also. Faithfulness is shown, not only in doing what a man has been commissioned to do, but in doing it quietly and without garrulity.”
For lack of guidance, a nation falls: The saying applies the counsel of Proverbs 1:5 to a whole nation. Albert Barnes points to 1 Kings 12:6, where Rehoboam asked the elders for counsel and then rejected it, and the kingdom split. Many counselors bring deliverance.
Proverbs 11:14
“Counsel - See Pro 1:5 note. This precept may well be thought of as coming with special force at the time of the organization of the monarchy of Israel. Compare 1Ki 12:6.”
Proverbs 11:15-16
He who puts up security for a stranger: “He who puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer” repeats the book's warning against pledging for another man's debt, first given at 6:1-5. Its second line, “the one who hates indebtedness is secure,” states the safer course plainly.
Proverbs 11:15
“He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it,.... Or in "breaking shall be broken" (q), ruined and undone; he engaging or becoming a bondsman for one whose circumstances he knew not; and these being bad bring a load upon him, such an heavy debt as crushes him to pieces.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 11:15
“See the marginal reference. The play upon “sure” and “suretiship” in the the King James Version (though each word is rightly rendered) has nothing corresponding to it in the Hebrew, and seems to have originated in a desire to give point to the proverb.”
The Liberal Soul Shall Be Made Fat
A gracious woman attains honor: Both the gracious woman and the ruthless men gain what they reach for. She gains honor, and they gain wealth and nothing more. Adam Clarke reports the Septuagint's longer version, in which a gracious woman raises up honor for her husband.
Proverbs 11:16
“A gracious woman retaineth honor - Instead of this clause, the Septuagint have, Γυνη ευχαριστος εγειρει ανδρι δοζαν, “A gracious woman raiseth up honor to the man;” Θρονος δε ατιμιας γυνη μισουσα δικαια, “But she that hateth righteous things is a throne of dishonor.” A good wife is an honor to her husband; and a bad wife is her husband’s reproach: if this be so, how careful should a man be whom he marries!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 11:17-19
A kind man benefits himself: “A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself,” so kindness and cruelty pay wages to the one who deals them. “The wicked man earns an empty wage,” gain promised and loss delivered, while “he who sows righteousness reaps a true reward”.
Proverbs 11:17
The merciful man doeth good to his own soul - Every gracious disposition is increased while a man is exercised in showing mercy. No man can show an act of disinterested mercy without benefiting his own soul, by improving his moral feeling. But he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh - We seldom see a peevish, fretful, vindictive man either in good health, or good plight of body. I have often heard it observed of such, “He frets his flesh off his bones.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 11:17
Prayer rises up quickly to the ears of God when lifted up by the recommendation of [alms and fasting]. Since, as it has been written, "the merciful man benefits his own soul," nothing belongs to each individual more than what has been spent on one's neighbor. Part of those physical resources which are used to help the poor become transformed into eternal riches. Born from this generosity are funds which will not be able to be diminished through use nor damaged through decay. "Blessed are the merciful, for God will have mercy on them."
Leo the Great · written before 461 · SERMON 16:2patristic
The wicked man earns an empty wage: The wicked man's wage looks real and then fails him, and Albert Barnes reads deceitful work as work that deceives the one doing it. The man who sows righteousness reaps a true reward. Sowing and reaping make the wage sure.
Proverbs 11:18
Deceitful work - Work which deceives and disappoints the worker; in contrast with the “sure reward” of the second clause. Omit “shall be” and render, “but he that soweth righteousness worketh a sure reward.”
Genuine righteousness leads to life: Righteousness and evil are both pursued here, and each runs to its own end. John Gill notes the Hebrew reads unto lives, in the plural, which he takes as the life that now is and the life to come. The pursuit of evil runs to death.
Proverbs 11:19
“As righteousness tendeth to life,.... Or, is unto life: not mere outward acts of moral righteousness; these may be done where there is no principle of spiritual life, and are no other than dead works, and will never bring to everlasting life; indeed the best righteousness of man's is no justification of life, nor can it entitle to it, nor is meritorious of it. Godliness, or true holiness, has the promise of this life and that to come, 1Ti 4:8; and so here in the Hebrew text it is, "unto lives" (x), in the plural number.”
Proverbs 11:20-22
The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD: Calling the perverse heart “an abomination to the LORD” echoes the scales of verse 1, bracketing the first half on that word. The Hebrew behind “Be assured” is hand to hand, an idiom for a pledge or conspiracy. The ring “in a pig’s snout” pictures beauty without discretion.
Be assured that the wicked will not go unpunished: The Hebrew opens with hand to hand, which the Berean renders be assured. Albert Barnes reads it two ways: men may join hands for evil and be punished, or punishment passes from hand to hand down the generations. The offspring of the righteous escape.
Proverbs 11:21
“The combined power of the wicked cannot free them from just punishment, while the unaided children of the righteous find deliverance by reason of their pious relationship (Ps 37:25, 26).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout: The nose ring was a common ornament in the East, and Adam Clarke notes the text alludes to it. Gold in a pig's snout still ends in the mud. A beautiful woman who lacks discretion wastes her beauty the same way.
Proverbs 11:22
“A jewel of gold in a swine’s snout - That is, beauty in a woman destitute of good breeding and modest carriage, is as becoming as a gold ring on the snout of a swine. Coverdale translates thus: “A fayre woman without discrete maners, is like a ringe of golde in a swyne’s snoute.” In Asiatic countries the nose jewel is very common: to this the text alludes.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 11:22
“Reason also forbids us to do violence to nature by piercing the lobes of the ear. Why not pierce the nostrils also? The Scriptures would then be accomplished indeed: "As a ring in the nose of the swine, so is beauty in a foolish woman." To conclude, if anyone thinks he is decorated when he wears gold, then he is less than his gold, and he who is less than gold is not its master.”
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Instructor Book 3patristic
Proverbs 11:23-27
The desire of the righteous leads only to good: The proverbs that follow work out the same contrast in the economics of giving. “One gives freely, yet gains even more,” and “A generous soul will prosper”. In famine “The people will curse the hoarder of grain, but blessing will crown the one who sells it”.
Proverbs 11:23
“The desire of the righteous is only good,.... Or, "what is good" (z); only good is the object of it.”
One gives freely, yet gains even more: One gives freely and gains more, and another withholds what is right and grows poor. John Gill pictures the giver scattering money among the poor and gaining by the blessing of God, and he points to Psalm 112. Generosity is sowing.
he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed: A generous soul will prosper, and Albert Barnes renders the Hebrew literally as the soul that blesses. Prosper translates a word for growing fat, the Eastern picture of health and plenty. He who refreshes others with water is refreshed himself.
Proverbs 11:25
“The soul that blesses will be enriched, etc. He who outwardly blesses by preaching receives inwardly the fatness of increase. And while he ceases not to drench the minds of his hearers with sacred discourse, he himself grows fat with the multiple drink of grace.”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 11:25
“Liberal soul - literally, “the soul that blesses,” i. e., gives freely and fully. The similitudes are both of them essentially Eastern. Fatness, the sleek, well filled look of health, becomes the figure of prosperity, as leanness of misfortune Pro 13:4; Pro 28:25; Psa 22:29; Isa 10:16. Kindly acts come as the refreshing dew and soft rain from heaven upon a thirsty land.”
The people will curse the hoarder of grain: The hoarder holds his grain back in a famine, waiting for prices to climb. John Gill notes the Targum adds in famine, and the curse is the cry of the hungry poor. The seller is crowned with blessing.
Proverbs 11:26
“He that withholdeth corn - Who refuses to sell because he hopes for a dearth, and then he can make his own price. The people shall curse him - Yes, and God shall curse him also; and if he do not return and repent, he will get God’s curse, and the curse of the poor, which will be a canker in his money during time, and in his soul throughout eternity.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 11:26
“He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him,.... That hoards it up for a better price, in hopes of a better market; and does not bring it out, and expose it to sale, when there is a scarcity of it; so the Targum adds, "in famine"; or, "in straits", as the Syriac version; in a time of distress through, famine: this will bring the curse of the poor upon him, who will imprecate the most dreadful things on him and his family.”
He who searches out good finds favor: Albert Barnes renders the verb as strives after: the man who seeks good for its own sake finds favor following him. The one who seeks evil finds it too. Each seeker gets what he looked for.
Proverbs 11:27
“Procureth - Better, striveth after. He who desires good, absolutely, for its own sake, is also unconsciously striving after the favor which attends goodness.”
Proverbs 11:28-29
He who trusts in his riches will fall: “He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like foliage,” the same contrast the Psalms draw. “He who brings trouble on his house will inherit the wind,” since wind is all a man holds once he has driven off everything solid.
Proverbs 11:28
“He that trusteth in his riches shall fall,.... As leaves in autumn, which are withered and dry.”
He who brings trouble on his house will inherit the wind: John Gill lists the ways a man troubles his house: harshness, idleness, greed and waste. His inheritance is wind, which slips through the hand. Such a fool ends as servant to the wise of heart.
Proverbs 11:29
“He that troubleth his own house,.... His family, his wife, and children, and servants; by being bitter to the one, and by provoking the others to wrath, and continually giving out menacing words to the rest; or through idleness, not providing for his family; or through an over worldly spirit, pushing on business, and hurrying it on beyond measure; or through a niggardly and avaricious temper, withholding meat and drink, and clothes convenient for them; see Pro 15:27; or through profuseness and prodigality.”
Proverbs 11:30-31
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,” the image the book uses for wisdom found (3:18) and desire fulfilled (13:12). At 1 Peter 4:18 the verse is quoted, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,” arguing from the hard road.
Proverbs 11:30
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life - עץ חיים ets chaiyim, “the tree of lives.” It is like that tree which grew in the paradise of God; increasing the bodily and mental vigor of those who ate of it. He that winneth souls is wise - Wisdom seeks to reclaim the wanderers; and he who is influenced by wisdom will do the same.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 11:30
“The fruit of righteousness and the tree of life is Christ. He alone, as man, fulfilled all righteousness. And with His own underived life He has brought forth the fruits of knowledge and virtue like a tree, whereof they that eat shall receive eternal life, and shall enjoy the tree of life in paradise, with Adam and all the righteous. But the souls of the unrighteous meet an untimely expulsion from the presence of God, by whom they shall be left to remain in the flame of torment.”
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · Hippolytus Exegetical Fragmentspatristic
If the righteous receive their due on earth: Albert Barnes reads the due of the righteous as discipline for their lesser sins, carried out on earth. If God corrects His own, the ungodly and the sinner have far more to fear. Peter quotes this saying in 1 Peter 4:18.
Proverbs 11:31
“Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth,.... Which Aben Ezra understands of the recompence of their good works. There is a reward for the righteous, and which they have now in keeping, though not "for" keeping, the commandments of God; they have the promise of this life, as well as of that which is to come, and which is made good to them; they have every good thing now which is proper and convenient for them; and they shall be recompensed in the new earth, in which only righteous persons will dwell.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 11:31
“The sense would appear to be, “The righteous is requited, i. e., is punished for his lesser sins, or as a discipline; much more the wicked, etc.” Compare 1Pe 4:18.”
Cross references
Proverbs 11:31
- Quoted in1 Peter 4:18And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
'If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly appear?'
Keep studying
Studies8
Words12
Trails1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 2; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; John Gill and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.