Proverbschapter 12
28 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
The hand of the diligent will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.
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. It speaks to smallholders who worked their own land and who were also called as witnesses at the town gate. Its sayings move between the field, the home and the court. Listen for the contrast between what lasts and what is only claimed, and for the way the chapter weighs honest and deceitful speech. Notice the picture of a wife who adds to her husband's honour. Read it as a portrait of an ordinary working life lived rightly, from the ploughed field to the witness's word.
Context
- Who
- Smallholders working their own land, and their wives and neighbours
- What
- A collection of two-line sayings on accepting correction, the worth of a good wife, care for animals, honest work, truthful testimony and the power of words.
- Where
- The terraced fields of the hill country, the homes that depended on them, and the court at the city gate.
- 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 show that steady work, truthful speech and a teachable spirit bring stability, while deceit and laziness bring loss.
Historical context
"He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread" assumes a specific kind of farming. The hills of Judah and Ephraim were worked in stone-walled terraces that had to be rebuilt after every winter, ploughed with a wooden ard behind a pair of oxen, and sown by hand. The work was constant, and a man who chased "vain persons" instead spent the year on someone else's schedule.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting" describes a real failure. Hunting with snares, nets, and a bow was how a household added meat, but game spoils in a day in that heat. Catching it and not dressing it out means the whole effort rots on the floor.
"A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast" was practical as well as kind. An ox or a donkey was the most expensive thing most families owned, plough, transport, and threshing power in one animal, and the Law itself ordered rest for the animal on the Sabbath and forbade muzzling the ox that treads out the grain.
The court sayings sit alongside the farming ones because the same men did both. "He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit" was heard by farmers who would be called as witnesses at the gate about a boundary or a stray animal that same season.
Significance
The chapter's promise is not that hard work makes a man rich, but that it puts bread on the table. That was the honest ceiling of a terrace farm, and the first hearers knew it.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The contrast running through it is between what lasts and what is only claimed. "The root of the righteous yieldeth fruit" is an image from a tree that has been in the ground long enough to survive a drought year.
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 chapter to two weekly portions. Under the seventh verse it carries Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Nitzavim 1:1, and under the thirty-first Midrash Tanchuma, Chayei Sara 4:1. Nitzavim and Chayei Sarah stand in the site's table of portions. Under the tenth verse, on the care of animals, it carries the Glick Edition of Ein Yaakov at Ketubot 5:9 and Nedarim 6:2.
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. The righteous man who regards the life of his beast he reads as a man who sees to "What his beasts and his household members need" (Rashi on Proverbs 12:10:1). The man who tills his land he reads by its plain sense, and then as the student "who constantly reviews his studies lest they be forgotten" (Rashi on Proverbs 12:11:1).
The sixteenth verse carries two readings. By the plain sense, the fool shows his anger the same day, while the prudent man covers shame and does not hasten to quarrel. By the Midrash Aggadah, the verse speaks of God and Adam. God did not wish to destroy His creatures. "He concealed his shame and postponed His decree from Adam’s day to His day, which is one thousand years" (Rashi on Proverbs 12:16:1).
The snare of the lips in the thirteenth verse he reads as the generation of the Flood, who asked what the Almighty is that they should serve Him. Noah the righteous man came out of the trouble (Rashi on Proverbs 12:13:1). The fruit of a man's mouth is the reward of those who engage in Torah. They eat the good of this world, and the principal remains for them for the world to come (Rashi on Proverbs 12:14:1).
The rest read the proverbs close to their plain sense. The wife who shames is like rot, a worm that grinds the bones (Rashi on Proverbs 12:4:1). The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood when they take counsel to murder, directly or through false testimony (Rashi on Proverbs 12:6:1). Those who plan evil have no joy because they are occupied with their thoughts of deceit (Rashi on Proverbs 12:20:1). No harm befalls the righteous in the sense that no sin comes before him by accident (Rashi on Proverbs 12:21:1).
The corpus carries four further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited and unquoted at Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 12:1:1, 12:5:1, 12:15:1 and 12:22:1.
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 first verse it holds Midrash Tehillim 26:2, and on the second Midrash Lekach Tov at Numbers 16:1:1 and 16:1:3. On the fourth, the worthy wife and the one who shames, it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 18:21 with Bereshit Rabbah 47:1 and 52:5. On the seventh it holds Bereshit Rabbah 30:1 and Jerusalem Talmud Shevuot 7:2:4, and on the ninth Bereshit Rabbah 64:7.
The work of the hands draws the next run. On the tenth verse the corpus holds Aggadat Bereshit 4:3 with the two Ein Yaakov passages named above. On the eleventh it holds Ein Yaakov at Sanhedrin 7:9 and the Glick Edition at 7:5, with Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 49:15:5. On the twelfth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 65:16 and 65:17, and on the thirteenth Aggadat Bereshit 7:2 and Bereshit Rabbah 34:3. On the fourteenth it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 14:24 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 7:1.
The tongue carries the rest. On the fifteenth verse the corpus holds Aggadat Bereshit 46:1 and Bereshit Rabbah 67:12. On the eighteenth it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Nedarim 3:1 and Ein Yaakov, Eiruvin 6:8. On the twentieth it holds Avodah Zarah 39a:11, and on the twenty-first Bamidbar Rabbah 12:3 and Berakhot 7b:21. On the twenty-sixth it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 37:9 and Midrash Tehillim 58:1, and on the twenty-seventh Avodah Zarah 19a:16 and Bereshit Rabbah 67:2. 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 12:2:1 to 12:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 12:1:1, 12:5:1, 12:15:1 and 12:22:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/12.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 Nitzavim and Chayei Sarah in its PARASHOT table.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Whoso Loveth Correction Loveth Knowledge
Proverbs 12:1-3
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge: The one who hates correction is called “stupid,” a Hebrew word that pictures a man reduced below his own humanity. The good man “obtains favor from the LORD,” but the LORD condemns “a man who devises evil”. Verse 3 restates the contrast as foundations, “the righteous cannot be uprooted”.
Proverbs 12:1
“Brutish - Dumb as a brute beast. The difference between man and brute lies chiefly in the capacity of the former for progress and improvement, and that capacity depends upon his willingness to submit to discipline and education. Compare Psa 49:12.”
The good man obtains favor from the LORD: Adam Clarke traces the good man's goodness to the grace of God, which changes his heart before he walks in obedience. As he obeys, his goodness and the LORD's favor grow together. The man who devises evil meets condemnation.
Proverbs 12:2
“A good man obtaineth favor - First, it is God who makes him good; for every child of Adam is bad till the grace of God changes his heart. Secondly, while he walks in the path of obedience he increases in goodness, and consequently in the favor of the Lord.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the righteous cannot be uprooted: The saying pictures the righteous man as a tree with deep roots, the image verse 12 returns to. Matthew Henry says that root yields fruit and gives the good man his stability. Wickedness is shifting ground.
Proverbs 12:3
“What is the care and aim of a good man: His root yields fruit, and is his strength and stability, and that is it that he desires, to do good and to be fixed and confirmed in doing good. The wicked desires only a net wherewith to fish for himself; the righteous desires to yield fruit for the benefit of others and God's glory, Rom. xiv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown: “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown” uses the phrase the book closes on in the portrait of Proverbs 31. Here she is set against her opposite, the wife “who causes shame,” pictured as “decay in his bones”. The contrast is honor that adorns against decay that consumes.
Proverbs 12:4
“A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband - אשת חיל esheth chayil, a strong woman.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 12:4
“A virtuous woman--in the wide sense of well-disposed to all moral duties (Pr 31:10). maketh ashamed--that is, by misconduct. rottenness--an incurable evil.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Proverbs 12:5-7
The plans of the righteous are just: “The plans of the righteous are just,” but “the counsel of the wicked leads to deceit,” so the contrast moves inward to the mind. The wicked “are overthrown and perish” with the finality Psalm 37 gives the wicked man's sudden end, but “the house of the righteous will stand”.
lie in wait for blood: The wicked use words as an ambush set for blood, like the gang of Proverbs 1:11. Albert Barnes reads the second line as the upright rescuing themselves by their speech. Words can kill or save.
Proverbs 12:6
“The words--or, "expressed designs" of the wicked are for evil purposes. the mouth--or, "words" of the righteous delivering instead of ensnaring men.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 12:6
“Shall deliver them - i. e., The righteous themselves.”
the house of the righteous will stand: The wicked are overthrown and perish, and the house of the righteous stands as a family line as well as a building. Adam Clarke notes that the righteous often see their families continue for generations, while the wicked seldom leave many in a direct line. The wicked are no more.
Proverbs 12:7
“The wicked are overthrown - Seldom does God give such a long life or numerous offspring. But the house of the righteous shall stand - God blesses their progeny, and their families continue long in the earth; whereas the wicked seldom have many generations in a direct line. This is God’s mercy, that the entail of iniquity may be in some sort cut off, so that the same vices may not be strengthened by successive generations. For generally the bad root produces not only a bad plant, but one worse than itself.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 12:7
“The wicked are overthrown, and are not,.... With such an overthrow as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Proverbs 12:8-9
A man is praised according to his wisdom: “A man is praised according to his wisdom,” and verse 9 tests that standard. It is better “to be lightly esteemed yet have a servant,” keeping a household running, “than to be self-important but lack food”. The verse sets real provision above self-regard, however the neighbors rank a man.
Better to be lightly esteemed yet have a servant: A lightly esteemed man with a servant stands above poverty. Albert Barnes gives a second reading, that the lowly man is his own servant and supplies his own food. Either way he is better off than the self-important man who lacks food.
Proverbs 12:9
“Two interpretations are equally tenable; (1) as in the King James Version, He whom men despise, or who is “lowly” in his own eyes (compare 1Sa 18:23), if he has a slave, i. e., if he is one step above absolute poverty, and has some one to supply his wants, is better off than the man who boasts of rank or descent and has nothing to eat. Respectable mediocrity is better than boastful poverty. (2) he who, though despised, is a servant to himself, i. e., supplies his own wants, is better than the arrogant and helpless.”
A righteous man regards the life of his animal: “A righteous man regards the life of his animal,” extending his care downward to a creature under his authority. By contrast, “the tender mercies of the wicked are only cruelty,” since even his kindness carries an edge. The verse shows righteousness in how power is used over the powerless.
Proverbs 12:10
“But the compassion of the wicked is cruel. Who not only do not sympathize with those under them, but also, according to what the Lord says: Beat the male and female servants, saying, My master is delayed in coming (Luke XII).”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
Proverbs 12:11-12
The one who works his land will have plenty of food: He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread commends steady labor against the man who follows vain persons. The wicked desireth the net of evil men, wanting the plunder without the planting, while the root of the righteous yields fruit on its own.
Proverbs 12:11
“The contrast is carried on between the life of industry and that of the idle, “vain person” of the “baser sort” (the “Raca” of Mat 5:22). We might have expected that the second clause would have ended with such words as “shall lack bread,” but the contrast goes deeper. Idleness leads to a worse evil than that of hunger.”
the root of the righteous flourishes: The Hebrew behind plunder can mean a net. Albert Barnes takes it as the net of God's judgment, which the wicked run into as if in love with their own ruin. The root of the righteous flourishes quietly.
Proverbs 12:12
“The meaning seems to be: The “net of evil men” (compare Pro 1:17) is that in which they are taken, the judgment of God in which they are ensnared. This they run into with such a blind infatuation, that it seems as if they were in love with their own destruction. The marginal rendering gives the thought that the wicked seek the protection of others like themselves, but seek in vain; the “root of the just” (i. e., that in them which is fixed and stable) alone yields that protection.”
Proverbs 12:13-16
An evil man is trapped by his rebellious speech: “An evil man is trapped by his rebellious speech,” but the righteous escapes, and in verse 14 speech fills a man with good. The fool's way is “right in his own eyes,” but “a wise man listens to counsel,” wise for his willingness to be corrected.
Proverbs 12:13
“The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips - A man who deals in lies and false oaths will sooner or later be found out to his own ruin. There is another proverb as true as this: A liar had need of a good memory; for as the truth is not in him, he says and unsays, and often contradicts himself.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
By fruitful speech a man is filled with good things: Speech and work are both pictured as crops that return to the one who planted them. Bede adds that a man's teaching bears fruit only when his own hands do the good he teaches. Words and deeds are harvested together.
Proverbs 12:14
“And according to the works of his hands it will be repaid to him. For otherwise, his teaching will not be fruitful if he himself is the first not to do the good that he teaches.”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
Rash Words Pierce; the Tongue of the Wise Is Health
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: The fool trusts his own eyes, and the wise man listens to counsel. The verse returns to the chapter's opening line, where loving discipline is loving knowledge. A man grows only as far as he will be taught.
A fool’s anger is known at once: The fool shows his anger the moment he feels it. Adam Clarke sets beside it the English proverb, a fool's bolt is soon shot. The prudent man overlooks the insult, and the Hebrew says he covers it.
Proverbs 12:16
“A fool’s wrath is presently known - We have a proverb very like this, and it will serve for illustration: - A fool’s bolt is soon shot. A weak-minded man has no self-government; he is easily angered, and generally speaks whatever comes first to his mind.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 12:17-22
He who speaks the truth declares what is right: Verses 17 to 22 gather proverbs on the tongue. Rash words are “like a piercing sword,” but “the tongue of the wise brings healing,” and “Truthful lips endure forever”. “Lying lips are detestable to the LORD,” as dishonest scales are at 11:1, and “those who deal faithfully are His delight”.
Proverbs 12:17
“The thought which lies below the surface is that of the inseparable union between truth and justice. The end does not justify the means, and only he who breathes and utters truth makes the righteous cause clear.”
Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword: Adam Clarke gives the Hebrew verb as boteh, blabbing out, the careless talker whose words go in like sword thrusts. The tongue of the wise brings healing to the same wounds. One tongue cuts and the other binds up.
Proverbs 12:18
“There is that speaketh - Instead of בוטה boteh, blabbing out, blustering, several MSS. have בוטח boteach, Trusting: and instead of כמדקרות kemadkeroth, As the piercings, seven MSS., with the Complutensian Polyglot, have במדקרות bemadkeroth, In the piercings. “There is that trusteth in the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.” But I suppose the former to be the true reading.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Truthful lips endure forever: Truth and lies are measured here by how long they last. Bede applies the first line to the faith of the Church, which always remains. A lying tongue lives only a moment.
Proverbs 12:19
“The lip of truth shall be established forever, etc. The faith of the Church shall always remain. But he who suddenly introduces new dogmas is a minister of the heretic.”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
the counselors of peace have joy: Both lines describe advisers, one planning evil and one counselling peace. Albert Barnes notes that deceit harms the people it advises, while counselors of peace keep joy for themselves and pass it on. Advice carries the heart of the adviser.
Proverbs 12:20
“The “deceit” of “those who imagine evil” can work nothing but evil to those whom they advise. The “counselors of peace” have joy in themselves, and impart it to others also.”
No harm befalls the righteous: The righteous still meet hardship, and the promise speaks of harm that ruins. Adam Clarke reads it with Romans 8:28: whatever happens to a righteous man, God turns to his good. The wicked are filled with trouble.
Proverbs 12:21
“There shall no evil happen to the just - No, for all things work together for good to them that love God. Whatever occurs to a righteous man God turns to his advantage. But, on the other hand, the wicked are filled with mischief: they are hurt, grieved, and wounded, by every occurrence; and nothing turns to their profit.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 12:21
“There shall no evil happen to the just,.... The evil of sin: no iniquity, as the Targum; which, and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, interpret of sin not being agreeable, convenient, suit able, and pleasing to a righteous man. Moreover, the Lord, by his Spirit and grace, weakens the power of sin in them; and, by his providence, prevents and removes occasion of sinning; and by his power preserves from it, from being overcome and carried away with it, at least finally and totally.”
Lying lips are detestable to the LORD: The verse closes a run on true and false speech that began at verse 17. Faithful dealing delights the LORD. Truth here reaches from the lips into the whole of a man's dealings.
Proverbs 12:23-25
A shrewd man keeps his knowledge to himself: “A shrewd man keeps his knowledge to himself,” while “a foolish heart proclaims its folly” for lack of the same restraint. “The hand of the diligent will rule,” but “laziness ends in forced labor”. “Anxiety weighs down the heart of a man,” and a good word cheers it again.
Proverbs 12:23
“A prudent man concealeth knowledge - “If a fool hold his peace he may pass for a wise man.” I have known men of some learning, so intent on immediately informing a company how well cultivated their minds were, that they have passed either for insignificant pedants or stupid asses.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The hand of the diligent will rule: The diligent man rules and the lazy man ends in forced labor, the lot of a subject people. Adam Clarke explains the first line: a man's own industry makes him independent and respected. Work decides who serves whom.
Proverbs 12:24
“The hand of the diligent shall bear rule - And why? because by his own industry he is independent; and every such person is respected wherever found.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Anxiety weighs down the heart of a man: Anxiety presses the heart down like a weight, and one good word lifts it. Matthew Henry names the best of such words, the good word of God, which calls the weary and burdened to Christ in Matthew 11. The cure is a word.
Proverbs 12:25
“Heaviness in the heart of a man maketh it stoop - Sorrow of heart, hopeless love, or a sense of God’s displeasure - these prostrate the man, and he becomes a child before them. But a good word maketh it glad - A single good or favorable word will remove despondency; and that word, “Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee,” will instantly remove despair.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 12:25
“Those therefore that are inclined to it should watch and pray against it. The cure of it: A good word from God, applied by faith, makes it glad; such a word is that (says one of the rabbin), Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee; the good word of God, particularly the gospel, is designed to make the hearts glad that are weary and heavy-laden, Matt. xi.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Proverbs 12:26-28
A righteous man is cautious in friendship: “A righteous man is cautious in friendship,” but “the ways of the wicked lead them astray”. “A lazy man does not roast his game,” too lazy to finish what his own hunting started. The chapter closes on its plainest line: “There is life in the path of righteousness”.
Proverbs 12:26
“The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor - That is, if the neighbor be a wicked man. The spirit of the proverb lies here: The Poor righteous man is more excellent than his sinful neighbor, though affluent and noble. The Syriac has it, “The righteous deviseth good to his neighbor.” A late commentator has translated it, “The righteous explore their pastures.” How מרעהו can be translated Their pastures I know not; but none of the versions understood it in this way.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
A lazy man does not roast his game: Albert Barnes notes that the verb for roast occurs nowhere else in Scripture, and some render it as keeping the catch in the net. Either way the lazy man loses what he had in hand. The diligent man values what he has.
Proverbs 12:27
“The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting,.... Because he takes none. The slothful man takes no pains to get anything for a livelihood, by hunting or otherwise; and though he loves to live well, and eat roast meat, yet what he roasts is not what he has got himself, but what another has laboured for. It is observed (o) that fowlers burn the wings of birds taken by them, that they may not fly away; to which the allusion may be.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 12:27
“The word rendered “roasteth” occurs nowhere else; but the interpretation of the King James Version is widely adopted. Others render the first clause thus: “The slothful man will not secure (keep in his net) what he takes in hunting,” i. e., will let whatever he gains slip from his hands through want of effort and attention.”
There is life in the path of righteousness: Adam Clarke notes the Hebrew for life in the path of righteousness is chaiyim, lives, which he takes as life now and life eternal. The Berean reads another path leading to death, where the King James reads no death. The righteous path is life.
Proverbs 12:28
“In the way of righteousness is life - חיים chaiyim, lives; life temporal, and life eternal. And in the pathway thereof there is no death - Not only do the general precepts and promises of God lead to life eternal, and promote life temporal; but every duty, every act of faith, patience of hope, and labor of love, though requiring much self-abasement, self-denial, and often an extension of corporal strength, all lead to life.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 12:28
“In the way of righteousness is life,.... The life of the soul, or spiritual life, as Aben Ezra; and eternal life, as Gersom.”
Proverbs 12:28
"The souls of those that bear a settled hatred are to death," says Solomon. But our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ says in the gospels: "If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift to God." .
Apostolic Constitutions · written before 380 · Constitutions of the Holy Apostlespatristic
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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); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.