Proverbs13chapter 13

Proverbs 13:1-3

A wise son heareth his father’s instruction while a scorner will not even hear rebuke, and the chapter opens exactly where the discipline theme of chapter 12 left off. A man eats good by the fruit of his mouth just as surely as the transgressor's own appetite for violence feeds him nothing but trouble, and the same organ that feeds a man can destroy him: he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.

Proverbs 13:4-6

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing states the sluggard's whole problem in one line, wanting without working, while the diligent soul is made fat by the labor the sluggard refuses. A righteous man hates lying and a wicked man is called loathsome for the shame it brings him, and the cluster closes on the same guard-and-guide image the book uses often: righteousness keeps the upright in his way, while wickedness overthrows the sinner it seemed to serve.

Proverbs 13:7-9

There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing sets a paradox next to its opposite, one that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches, and the bench reads both as pointing past bank accounts toward what a man actually possesses before God. The ransom of a man's life are his riches follows, money's power to buy a way out of trouble, while the poor man simply hears no threat worth ransoming himself from. The chapter's light image closes the group: the light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out, a flame with no oil left to feed it.

Proverbs 13:10-12

Only by pride cometh contention names the single root under most quarrels, while the well advised carry wisdom instead of a grievance to defend. Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, easy money that runs out as easily as it came, while wealth gathered by labor increases steadily, the same contrast the book draws between the diligent and the sluggard elsewhere. The cluster closes on its most quoted line: hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life, the same tree-of-life image the book uses for wisdom found and for the righteous man's fruit, now applied to a longing finally met.

Proverbs 13:13-15

Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed, but he that fears the commandment is rewarded, and the next verse names the reason: the law of the wise is a fountain of life, water that keeps flowing rather than a rule that merely restricts. Good understanding gives favour while the way of transgressors is called hard, the bench reading hard as the path itself, rocky and slow, rather than any outside punishment added to it.

Proverbs 13:16-19

Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge, weighing what he says, while a fool lays his folly open for anyone to see. A wicked messenger falls into mischief he was only supposed to report, while a faithful ambassador is called health to those who sent him, and poverty and shame await the one who refuses instruction while honor waits for the one who receives reproof. The cluster closes on a proverb the book states almost as a law of the soul: the desire accomplished is sweet, but it is abomination to fools even to depart from the evil that stands between them and it.

Proverbs 13:20-22

He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed simply by the company he keeps, a proverb the bench applies as plainly to friendship as to any direct choice. Evil pursues sinners the way a hunter pursues game, while good is repaid to the righteous on the same terms, and the cluster closes on generations: a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, while the wealth the sinner spent his life gathering is laid up for the just man who outlasts him.

Proverbs 13:23

Much food is in the tillage of the poor states that the ground itself does not discriminate by wealth, yielding as much to a poor man's labor as to a rich man's, but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment names the real danger, not poverty but folly, since even a poor man's field can be lost to bad decisions rather than bad luck. The bench reads the verse as a check on the assumption that poverty is always a moral verdict.

Proverbs 13:24-25

He that spareth his rod hateth his son is stated as the verse stands, without softening; the withheld rod is named hatred and the applied one, chastening betimes, is named love. The readings divide on how the proverb is carried into practice, whether it commands physical correction directly or states a principle of parental seriousness in a culture where the rod was the ordinary instrument of correction, and the bench holds both readings without settling a question the verse itself does not settle. The chapter closes on appetite answered rightly: the righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul, while the wicked's belly wants regardless of how much passes through it.