Proverbschapter 13
25 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
The slacker craves yet has nothing, but the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied.
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 were parents raising children and poor families holding on to the little they had. Many of its sayings are about teaching and correction, and about the difference between what is gained quickly and what is built slowly. Listen for the lamp of the household and the tree of life, two pictures the chapter uses for a life that goes on. Notice how far ahead some of the sayings look, reaching to the grandchildren. Read it as teaching about patience and about a family's future.
Context
- Who
- Parents raising children, and poor families holding on to what little they have
- What
- A collection of two-line sayings on heeding instruction, guarding speech, honest and dishonest gain, hope, the company one keeps and the discipline of children.
- Where
- A one-room house lit by a small lamp at night, and the small field that fed the family who lived in it.
- 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 wisdom gained through instruction and steady labour builds a lasting household, while quick gain and scorn of correction lead to ruin.
Historical context
"The lamp of the wicked shall be put out" is a household image before it is a metaphor. An Israelite house had one small clay lamp, a saucer pinched at the lip with a wick floating in olive oil, and a careful family kept it burning through the night. A dark house meant a dead household, which is why an extinguished lamp became the standard picture of a family line ending.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"Much food is in the tillage of the poor; but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment" reflects subsistence farming, where a small plot worked well fed a family and one bad decision, planting late, neglecting the terrace wall, selling seed grain, wiped out the year.
"He that spareth his rod hateth his son" belongs to a world where the father was also the judge, the schoolmaster, and the trade teacher. Correction was physical and expected across the whole ancient Near East. The proverb's own frame, though, ties the rod to love, not to temper, the same pairing the book uses when it compares God's correction to a father's.
"Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase" uses a word for empty, breath-like gain, a windfall, a scheme, plunder. Money that arrived without work also left without notice, since there was nowhere to bank it.
Significance
"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick" spoke to people whose hopes ran on the seasons: a harvest four months out, a birth, a son coming home from the king's service.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The chapter keeps setting the long view against the short one. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, two generations he will never meet, which was the highest ambition an Israelite farmer had.
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 through Bereshit Rabbati. It carries Parashat Chayei Sarah 3 under the seventeenth verse and Parashat Vayera 21 under the twenty-fourth, both portions in the site's table. It also carries Midrash Mishlei 13:5 under the twenty-fifth.
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. Every one of the twenty-four notes the corpus holds on this chapter carries its English text. The wise son he reads two ways. The verse is elliptical, meaning a wise son asks for and loves his father's discipline, or the son is wise because of that discipline (Rashi on Proverbs 13:1:1).
His note on the twenty-third verse shows the great Masorah bearing on a reading. Rashi reports what he saw in the great Masorah about the vowels and accent of two words, and reads the verse by them. The plowing of the poor is the debate of students, and "much Torah emanates from pupils whose teachers learn from them through their debate concerning the halachah" (Rashi on Proverbs 13:23:1).
The seventh verse carries three readings in one note. The man who makes himself rich and has nothing is the one who shows himself rich. By a second reading he is the man whose fortunes turn. By a third he grows rich by robbing the poor and ends with nothing, while the one who scatters his money to the poor has great wealth in store (Rashi on Proverbs 13:7:1). The ransom of a man's life is his wealth because he gave charity with it (Rashi on Proverbs 13:8:1).
Study runs through the other notes. Wealth gained by vanity is study gathered in bundles, which is forgotten little by little (Rashi on Proverbs 13:11:1). The one who despises the word is the one who despises one of the words of the Torah (Rashi on Proverbs 13:13:1). The figures of Scripture appear here as well. The wicked messenger is Balaam (Rashi on Proverbs 13:17:1). The prudent man who acts with knowledge is David seeking a young girl in 1 Kings 1:2 (Rashi on Proverbs 13:16:1). The sinner's wealth laid up for the righteous is Haman's house given to Mordecai in Esther 8:2 (Rashi on Proverbs 13:22:1). The one who spares the rod will end by hating his son, "because he will see him getting into mischief" (Rashi on Proverbs 13:24:1).
The corpus carries no note on this chapter without an English text.
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 Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 10:3:3, and on the second Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Eiruvin 5:11. On the seventh it holds Ein Yaakov at Menakhot 9:2 and the Glick Edition at Menachot 9:1, with Jerusalem Talmud Bava Kamma 6:7:3. On the eighth it holds Midrash Tehillim 91:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 21:30:2. On the ninth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 12:6 and Chagigah 12a:11.
The learning and the hope draw the next run. On the tenth verse the corpus holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Nezikin 10:31. On the eleventh, study in bundles, it holds Eruvin 54b:9, Avodah Zarah 19a:14 and Ein Yaakov, Eiruvin 5:12. On the twelfth, hope deferred, it holds Berakhot 32b:9 and 55a:1 with Devarim Rabbah 1:23. On the thirteenth it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 23:2, Midrash Tehillim 34:1 and Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 131:1.
The companions and the inheritance carry the rest. On the fourteenth verse the corpus holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 34:11, and on the sixteenth the Glick Edition of Ein Yaakov at Megillah 1:22 and Nedarim 3:4. On the twentieth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 42:7, and on the twenty-first Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 1:9:4 and Makkot 2:6:9. On the twenty-second it holds Aggadat Bereshit 37:1 and Bava Kamma 119a:8. On the twenty-third it holds Bereshit Rabbah 49:8 and 65:18, on the twenty-fourth Bereshit Rabbah 98:8, and on the twenty-fifth Bamidbar Rabbah 21:20. 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 13:1:1 to 13:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/13.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 Chayei Sarah and Vayera in its PARASHOT table.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Hope Deferred Maketh the Heart Sick
Proverbs 13:1-3
A wise son heeds his father’s discipline: “A wise son heeds his father’s discipline,” but “a mocker does not listen to rebuke,” and the chapter returns to the discipline theme. “From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things,” and the same organ that feeds a man can destroy him.
Proverbs 13:1
Heareth - The verb of the second clause is inserted in the first, just as in the next verse that of the first is inserted in the second. Stress is laid upon the obstinacy of the scorner who refuses to hear, not only “instruction,” but also the much stronger “rebuke.”
From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things: Speech is pictured as a crop that feeds the speaker. John Gill notes the word his is supplied, so the fruit may come from another man's lips as well as his own. The faithless hunger for violence instead.
Proverbs 13:2
“A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth,.... Or, "of the mouth"; either another's or his own, since the word his is not in the text; though it is supplied by the Targum, Aben Ezra, the Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions, as by us. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "shall eat of the fruits of righteousness". I should choose to translate the whole thus: "a good man shall eat of the fruit of his mouth": so Aben Ezra interprets it, "a good man shall eat"; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it.”
He who guards his mouth protects his life: Adam Clarke recalls how often men have lost their lives by treasonous or blasphemous words. The one who opens his lips wide puts no bounds on his talk and invites ruin. A guarded mouth is a guarded life.
Proverbs 13:3
“He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life - How often have the foolish, headstrong, and wicked, forfeited their lives by the treasonable or blasphemous words they have spoken! The government of the tongue is a rare but useful talent. But he that openeth wide his lips - He that puts no bounds to his loquacity, speaks on every subject, and gives his judgment and opinion on every matter.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 13:4-6
The slacker craves yet has nothing: “The slacker craves yet has nothing” states his whole problem in one line, wanting without working, while “the soul of the diligent is fully satisfied”. The cluster closes on the guard image the book uses often: “Righteousness guards the man of integrity, but wickedness undermines the sinner”.
Proverbs 13:4
“The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing - We often hear many religious people expressing a desire to have more of the Divine life, and yet never get forward in it. How is this? The reason is, they desire, but do not stir themselves up to lay hold upon the Lord. They are always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. They seek to enter in at the strait gate, but are not able, because they do not strive.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The righteous hate falsehood: John Gill renders falsehood as a word of falsehood, and says the righteous man hates it as contrary to honor, truth and conscience. The wicked bring shame and disgrace. Hatred of lies protects a good name.
Proverbs 13:5
“A righteous man hateth lying,.... Or, "a word of falsehood" (y); as being contrary to honour, truth, and conscience.”
Righteousness guards the man of integrity: Righteousness stands guard like a sentry over the man of integrity. Wickedness works from within and undermines the sinner who houses it. The verse completes verse 5, where the righteous hate falsehood as contrary to truth and conscience.
Proverbs 13:7-9
One pretends to be rich, but has nothing: “One pretends to be rich, but has nothing,” and the same verse sets its opposite: “another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth”. “Riches may ransom a man’s life,” since money can buy a way out of trouble, while “a poor man hears no threat”.
Riches may ransom a man’s life: Wealth can buy a man out of danger, and John Gill points to Jeremiah 41, where men saved their lives by offering Ishmael hidden stores. The poor man hears no threat. Nobody robs a man with nothing.
Proverbs 13:8
“A man's riches ought to avail to the ransom of his soul, not to its destruction. And a treasure is a ransom, if a man use it well; on the other hand it is a snare, if a man know not how to use it. What is a man's money to him but a provision for his journey? Much is a burthen, a little is useful.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Letters 1-10patristic
The light of the righteous shines brightly: Albert Barnes notes that the Hebrew has the light of the righteous rejoicing, as the sun does in Psalm 19:5. He marks the difference between light and lamp. The righteous carry light within, and the lamp of the wicked shines for a while and is extinguished.
Proverbs 13:9
“Very beautiful in its poetry is the idea of the light “rejoicing” in its brightness (compare Psa 19:5; Job 38:7). Note also the distinction between the “light” and the “lamp.” The righteous ones have the true light in them. That which belongs to the wicked is only derived and temporary, and even that shall be extinguished before long. Compare a like distinction in Joh 1:8; Joh 5:35.”
Proverbs 13:10-12
Arrogance leads only to strife: “Dishonest wealth will dwindle,” but wealth earned through hard work grows, the contrast the book draws elsewhere between the diligent and the sluggard. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life,” the book's image for wisdom found and the righteous man's fruit.
Proverbs 13:10
“By pride cometh contention - Perhaps there is not a quarrel among individuals in private life, nor a war among nations, that does not proceed from pride and ambition. Neither man nor nation will be content to be less than another; and to acquire the wished-for superiority all is thrown into general confusion, both in public and private life. It was to destroy this spirit of pride, that Jesus was manifested in the extreme of humility and humiliation among men. The salvation of Christ is a deliverance from pride, and a being clothed with humility.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 13:10
“Either: (1) “By pride alone comes contention” - that is the one unfailing spring of quarrels; or (2) “By pride comes contention only” - it, and it alone, is the fruit of pride.”
Dishonest wealth will dwindle: Albert Barnes renders the Hebrew behind dishonest wealth literally as wealth by a breath, a windfall that comes without labor. It leaves as easily as it came. What is earned through hard work grows and is multiplied.
Proverbs 13:11
“By vanity - literally, “by a breath,” i. e., by a windfall, or sudden stroke of fortune, not by honest labor. The general meaning seems to be that the mere possession of riches is as nothing; they come and go, but the power to gain by skill of hand (“labor”) is everything.”
Hope deferred makes the heart sick: Adam Clarke traces the sickness in stages: delay pains the mind, longer delay sickens the heart, and final disappointment kills it. Desire fulfilled is a tree of life, the image Proverbs 3:18 gives to wisdom. Waiting is its own suffering.
Proverbs 13:12
“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick - When once a good is discovered, want of it felt, strong desire for the possession excited, and the promise of attainment made on grounds unsuspected, so that the reality of the thing and the certainity of the promise are manifest, hope posts forward to realize the blessing. Delay in the gratification pains the mind; the increase of the delay prostrates and sickens the heart; and if delay sickens the heart, ultimate disappointment kills it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 13:12
“When the desire cometh - The desire comes, it is a tree of life: i. e., the object of our desires is attained. Compare Pro 3:18.”
Proverbs 13:13-15
He who despises instruction will pay the penalty: “He who despises instruction will pay the penalty,” but “the one who respects a command will be rewarded”. “Good understanding wins favor,” but “the way of the faithless is difficult,” and difficult describes the path itself, with no outside punishment added to it.
Proverbs 13:13
“Whoso despiseth the word - The revelation which God has in his mercy given to man - shall be destroyed; for there is no other way of salvation but that which it points out. But he that feareth the commandment - That respects it so as to obey it, walking as this revelation directs - shall be rewarded; shall find it to be his highest interest, and shall be in peace or safety, as the Hebrew word ישלם may be translated.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
He That Walketh With Wise Men Shall Be Wise
The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life: Adam Clarke gives the Hebrew as mekor chaiyim, the vein of lives, and compares it to the great artery carrying blood from the heart. The same teaching turns a man from the snares of death. Life flows and traps close.
Proverbs 13:14
“The law of the wise is a fountain of life - Perhaps it would be better to translate, “The law is to the wise man a fountain of life.” It is the same to him as the “vein of lives,” מקור חיים mekor chaiyim, the great aorta which transmits the blood from the heart to every part of the body.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the way of the faithless is difficult: Albert Barnes says the word behind difficult first means permanent, used of hard dry rock and of stagnant pools. The way of the faithless is barren ground or impassable marsh, set against the fountain of life in verse 14. Good understanding wins favor.
Proverbs 13:15
“The way of transgressors is hard - Never was a truer saying; most sinners have more pain and difficulty to get their souls damned, than the righteous have, with all their cross-bearings, to get to the kingdom of heaven.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 13:15
“Hard - The primary meaning of the original word is permanence (compare Deu 21:4; Mic 6:2). This may be applied as here to the hard dry rock, to running streams, or to stagnant pools. In either case, the idea is that of the barren dry soil, or the impassable marsh, in contrast with the fountain of life, carrying joy and refreshment with it.”
Proverbs 13:16-19
Every prudent man acts with knowledge: “Every prudent man acts with knowledge,” weighing what he says, while “a fool displays his folly” for anyone to see. The cluster closes on a near law of the soul: “Desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but turning from evil is detestable to fools”.
A wicked messenger falls into trouble: A messenger carried his master's word and his master's interests. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read wicked here as unfaithful, the envoy who falls into trouble and whose errand fails. A faithful envoy brings healing to those who sent him.
Proverbs 13:17
“A wicked messenger - The Septuagint: basileuv yrasuev, a bold king; instead of מלאך malach, a messenger, they had read מלך melech, a king: but they are singular in this rendering; none of the other versions have it so. He that betrays the counsels of his government, or the interests of his country, will sooner or later fall into mischief; but he that faithfully and loyally fulfils his mission, shall produce honor and safety to the commonwealth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 13:17
“A wicked--or, "unfaithful" messenger falleth into mischief--or, "by mischief," or "evil," and so his errand fails. Contrasted is the character of the faithful, whose faithfulness benefits others.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Poverty and shame come to him who ignores discipline: The verse returns to the chapter's opening theme, the son who heeds discipline and the mocker who will not listen to rebuke. Ignoring correction costs a man both his money and his name. Heeding it brings honor.
Desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul: Albert Barnes calls the link between the two lines obscure and offers two readings. Satisfied desire is sweet, so fools cling to the evil, or fools refuse to turn from the very evil that keeps desire from being satisfied. Both readings leave the fool stuck.
Proverbs 13:19
The connection is somewhat obscure. Either, “Satisfied desire is pleasant, therefore it is an abomination to fools to depart from the evil on which their minds are set;” or, “Sweet is the satisfaction of desire, yet the wicked will not depart from the evil which makes that satisfaction impossible.”
Proverbs 13:20-22
He who walks with the wise will become wise: “He who walks with the wise will become wise,” but “the companion of fools will be destroyed” by the company he keeps. The cluster closes on generations: “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,” but “the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous”.
Proverbs 13:20
“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise - To walk with a person implies love and attachment; and it is impossible not to imitate those we love. So we say, “Show me his company, and I’ll tell you the man.” Let me know the company he keeps, and I shall easily guess his moral character.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Disaster pursues sinners: Sinners chase evil, and John Gill says the evil of punishment chases them in turn until it overtakes them. Judgment seems to linger, yet it moves at full speed. The righteous are repaid with prosperity.
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children: A good man's inheritance reaches his children's children. Adam Clarke counts his honestly gained property as part of it, and quotes the Latin saying that ill-gotten goods never reach the third heir. In the end the righteous receive the sinner's wealth.
Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaveth an inheritance - He files many a prayer in heaven in their behalf, and his good example and advices are remembered and quoted from generation to generation. Besides, whatever property he left was honestly acquired, and well-gotten goods are permanent. The general experience of men shows this to be a common case; and that property ill-gotten seldom reaches to the third generation. This even the heathens observed. Hence: De male quaesitis non gaudet tertius haeres. “The third generation shall not possess the goods that have been unjustly acquired.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor: “Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor,” so the ground yields as much to a poor man's as to a rich man's. Yet “without justice it is swept away”.
Proverbs 13:23
The contrast is the ever recurring one between honest poverty and dishonest wealth. “The new-plowed field of the poor is much food, but there are those, who, though rich, perish through their disregard of right.”
Proverbs 13:24-25
He who spares the rod hates his son: “He who spares the rod hates his son” is stated without softening, and “he who loves him disciplines him diligently”. Readers divide on whether the proverb commands physical correction directly or states a principle of parental seriousness, and the verse does not settle the question.
Proverbs 13:24
“Then the provident guide of the soul has regard to this, that he may circumscribe her pleasures and cut off her desires, that she may not delight herself in them. That father's corrections are profitable, who spares not the rod, that he may render his son's soul obedient to salutary precepts. For he visits with a rod, as we read, I will visit their offences with the rod. And so he who smites the soul of the Israelites with a rod on the cheek, by this Divine punishment instructs her in the discipline of patience.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Letters 61-70patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 13:24
“He that spareth his rod hateth his son - That is, if he hated him, he could not do him a greater disservice than not to correct him when his obstinacy or disobedience requires it. We have met with this subject already, and it is a favourite with Solomon. See Psa 34:10 (note) and Psa 37:3 (note). The Rev. Mr. Holden makes some sensible observations on this passage: “By the neglect of early correction the desires (passions) obtain ascendancy; the temper becomes irascible, peevish, querulous.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
A righteous man eats to his heart’s content: Origen noticed that the wicked often feast while Paul, a righteous man, went hungry, so the verse read literally seems false. The Hebrew speaks of eating to satisfy the soul. The stomach of the wicked stays empty.
Proverbs 13:25
If you take [this verse] according to the literal sense that "when the just person eats he will fill his soul but the souls of the impious will be in poverty," it will appear false. For the souls of the impious take food with eagerness and strive after "satiety," but the just meanwhile are hungry. Finally, Paul was just, and he said, "Up to this hour we are hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and we are beaten with fists." And again he says, "In hunger and thirst, in many fastings."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Leviticus 16:5.4patristic
Keep studying
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; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 16:5.4.