Proverbs15chapter 15

Proverbs 15:1-2

A soft answer turneth away wrath: A soft answer turns wrath rather than merely surviving it, and the proverb credits the gentle word with real power over an angry man rather than treating gentleness as weakness. Grievous words do the opposite work, stirring anger that a different sentence could have stopped before it started. The tongue of the wise uses knowledge with intention, weighing a word before releasing it, while a fool's mouth simply pours out whatever is inside him.

Proverbs 15:3-4

The eyes of the Lord are in every place: The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good, a single verse that removes every hidden place a man might imagine for himself. Gill reads it as the ground under every other proverb in the chapter, since a soft answer and a wholesome tongue both matter because they are watched. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, feeding whoever stands near it, while perverseness in the same tongue breaks the spirit it touches.

Proverbs 15:5-7

A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: A fool despises his father's instruction while the man who regards reproof is called prudent, the same choice the book has offered since chapter one now stated in a single line. The house of the righteous holds much treasure, not necessarily money but a stability the wicked man's revenues, however large, still carry trouble inside them. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge freely, scattering it like seed, while the foolish heart keeps nothing worth scattering.

Proverbs 15:8-9

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight, a pair that measures worship by the worshipper rather than by the offering itself. Henry reads the contrast against the ritual of Israel's own law: the sacrifice was commanded, yet a wicked man's obedience to the form still offended the God the form was meant to honour. Verse 9 restates the same principle in the widest terms, the way of the wicked an abomination and the man who follows righteousness the one the Lord loves.

Proverbs 15:10-12

Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: Correction is grievous to the man who has already forsaken the right way, and the one who hates reproof is warned plainly that he shall die, the proverb naming the stakes rather than softening them. Hell and destruction lie open before the Lord, so how much more the hearts of the children of men, an argument from the greater to the lesser that leaves no human heart hidden from him. The scorner completes the group by refusing correction outright, loving no one who reproves him and never once going near the wise for fear of what he might hear.

Proverbs 15:13-15

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: A merry heart shows itself on the face, a cheerful countenance, while sorrow works from the inside to break the spirit that carries it. The heart of understanding actively seeks knowledge, hungry for it, while a fool's mouth is satisfied to feed on foolishness instead. The days of the afflicted are named evil without disguise, yet the same chapter insists that a merry heart turns even those days into a continual feast, the state of the heart outweighing the state of the circumstances.

Proverbs 15:16-17

Better is little with the fear of the Lord: Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it, a comparison the book repeats in different words because it will not let wealth stand as the measure of a good life. The famous verse follows in the same key: better a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred with it, a plain vegetable meal outweighing a feast because of who sits at the table rather than what is served. Bridges reads both verses as one lesson doubled, contentment measured by relationship and by the fear of the Lord rather than by the size of the portion.

Proverbs 15:18-19

A wrathful man stirreth up strife: A wrathful man stirs up strife while the man slow to anger appeases it, the same contrast between haste and patience the book has already drawn more than once. The way of the slothful is like a hedge of thorns, every step catching on an obstacle his own laziness invented, while the way of the righteous is made plain, cleared by the same diligence the sluggard refuses. Gill notes that the thorn hedge is the sluggard's own excuse turned into a picture, since his path is genuinely harder only because he has never bothered to clear it.

Proverbs 15:20-21

A wise son maketh a glad father: A wise son makes a glad father, while a foolish man despises his mother, the same family portrait the book returns to from its opening chapters. Folly is joy to the man destitute of wisdom, comfortable because he has nothing better to compare it with, while a man of understanding walks uprightly by a standard folly cannot see. The verse pair measures a household by its children's wisdom as plainly as later proverbs measure it by its master's greed.

Proverbs 15:22-23

Without counsel purposes are disappointed: Without counsel purposes are disappointed, but in the multitude of counsellors they are established, a proverb about planning rather than about crowds, since the counsellors' value is their honesty, not their number by itself. A man has joy in the right answer of his own mouth, and a word spoken in due season is named good without qualification, timing counted as part of the word's own worth. Henry ties the two verses together as one lesson: wisdom gathers counsel before speaking and then speaks it at the right moment.

Proverbs 15:24

The way of life is above to the wise: The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath, a verse the older commentators read as more than a metaphor for present success. Gill and Delitzsch both hear in it an early statement of the two destinies, an upward way and a downward one, offered to the same man at the same moment. The wise man's whole business, on this reading, is choosing which way he is already walking.

Proverbs 15:25

The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, tearing down what pride built the way flattery and folly tear down houses elsewhere in the book, but he will establish the border of the widow, the one person in Israel with no one else to defend her boundary line. The verse pairs judgment on the strong with protection of the weak in a single breath. Bridges reads it as proof that the Lord's justice and his mercy are never really two different actions.

Proverbs 15:26-27

The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord: The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord even before they become words or deeds, while the words of the pure are pleasant to him, the standard reaching back past speech to the thinking that produces it. The man greedy of gain troubles his own house, since greed corrodes the household closest to it before it damages anyone farther away, and the man who hates gifts, meaning bribes, shall live. Wesley reads the pairing as a warning that corruption always costs the corrupt man his own peace first.

Proverbs 15:28-30

The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, weighing a reply before it is given, while the mouth of the wicked simply pours out evil things the moment they occur to him. The Lord is far from the wicked in exactly the sense that matters, unwilling to hear them, but he hears the prayer of the righteous without delay. The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones fat, the chapter's recurring picture of good news working an actual, physical good on the body that receives it.

Proverbs 15:31-32

The ear that heareth the reproof of life: The ear that hears the reproof of life abides among the wise, correction treated as an entrance ticket rather than an insult. The man who refuses instruction despises his own soul, doing himself the injury he thinks he is avoiding, while the man who hears reproof gets understanding in direct exchange for the humility it cost him. Gill reads the pair as the chapter's own definition of wisdom, not the absence of correction but the willingness to receive it.

Proverbs 15:33

The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom: The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, the chapter's collection landing again on the motto that opened the book at 1:7, humility named here as its companion rather than its opposite. Before honour is humility states the order plainly: humility comes first, and whatever honour follows is not the thing a wise man aimed at directly. Bridges reads the closing verse as the whole chapter's summary, every soft answer and every merry heart finally resting on the same fear of the Lord.