Proverbschapter 19
29 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.
Introduction
Solomon and others, Wisdom and poetry, Proverbs Overview.
Solomon's collection here speaks to ordinary households, to poor families, to the neighbours who lent to them and to fathers raising grown sons. The sayings come from village life, the leaking roof, the shared bowl and the neighbour who needs a loan. Some are hard observations about how the world treats the poor, and others set God's care beside them. Listen for the sayings about a son who can still be corrected, and for the plain account of how wealth gathers friends. The chapter keeps returning the hearer's plans to the LORD.
Context
- Who
- Poor households, lenders, and fathers of grown sons
- What
- Sayings from Solomon's collection on poverty and wealth, lending, false witness, family life and correction.
- Where
- Israelite village houses with flat clay roofs, and the lending between neighbours that kept poor families alive.
- When
- The reign of Solomon, about 970 to 931 BC; the book names him at Proverbs 10:1.
- Why
- To teach that kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and to press for correction while a son can still learn.
Historical context
"The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping" describes a specific misery. Roofs were beams and brush packed with clay, rolled flat with a stone roller after each rain. When the seal failed, water came through in a slow, endless drip that could not be ignored and could not be quickly fixed while the rain kept falling.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again." Israelite law forbade charging a fellow Israelite interest and required cancelling debts in the seventh year, so lending to a poor neighbour was closer to charity than to business. This proverb says God takes the note.
"House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD." Marriages were arranged between families, with a bride-price paid and a contract made. The proverb quietly admits that the one part of a young man's future his father could not negotiate was whether the marriage would be good.
"A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again" is a joke about a shared dish. Everyone ate with their hands from a common bowl in the middle. The picture is a man who cannot be bothered to finish the reach.
Significance
"Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour" said out loud what poor hearers already knew, and did not dress it up.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The chapter's centre of gravity is correction while it still works: "chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying." To a father in a society with no second chances for a ruined young man, that was urgent, not harsh.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No public reading in the synagogue is drawn from this chapter. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts was probed for this lane over Proverbs 16 to 31. It printed parashot total 0, haftarah uses total 0 and 0 chapters with a synagogue reading. It printed null for a festival reading of the book. The same probe printed 54 weekly portions and 6 festival readings in the table as a whole. The corpus ties no custom of the home or the synagogue to this chapter, so this part records the absence.
The chapter is met in the study of the Midrash and the Talmud instead. The corpus links it to twenty-five collections. The two it cites most often here are Ein Yaakov and Aggadat Bereshit.
How it is read
Rashi is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Every quotation is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern. Rashi reads the chapter as a book of the household and the study hall. The soul without knowledge of the second verse is a person "without Torah" (Rashi on Proverbs 19:2:1). The man whose folly perverts his way rages against the LORD. Rashi shows him by Genesis 42:28, where the brothers of Joseph ask what God has done to them (Rashi on Proverbs 19:3:1). The sleep of the lazy man has a figure and an allegory: "This is the figure, but the allegory is that it concerns one who neglects his studies" (Rashi on Proverbs 19:15:1).
The loan to the LORD of the seventeenth verse is read as charity pleading at a deathbed. "When he becomes ill and is close to death, his charity defends him before the Divine standard of justice" (Rashi on Proverbs 19:17:1). The discipline of a son of the eighteenth verse is limited in one phrase: "Do not deal him a lethal blow" (Rashi on Proverbs 19:18:1). The desire of a man of the twenty-second verse is read plainly: "The main reason why people are attracted to a person is because of his kindness" (Rashi on Proverbs 19:22:1).
At the twenty-fourth verse Rashi sets out three readings of one word and names where he heard them. The lazy man's hand may be buried in a warm kettle. It may be hidden in winter, a reading he heard "In the name of Rabbi Isaac HaLevi". It may be hidden in a rend of his cloak (Rashi on Proverbs 19:24:1). The quarrels of a bad wife he compares to rain dripping into a house that drives out its people (Rashi on Proverbs 19:13:1).
The corpus carries seven further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They are cited by ref alone: Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 19:1:1, 19:5:1, 19:8:1 and 19:20:1 and Metzudat David on Proverbs 19:9:1, 19:14:1 and 19:21:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-two filed as Midrash and eight as Talmud, and the text of none, so each is cited here by its ref and never quoted or paraphrased. At verse 1 it holds Midrash Mishlei 19:1. At verse 2 it holds Ein Yaakov, Eiruvin 10:3, with Eruvin 100b:14 and with Eruvin 100b:15. At verse 3 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 62:2, with Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Chayei Sarah 3 and with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Taanit 1:37. At verse 5 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 13:20 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 873:1. At verse 7 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov on Lamentations 1:2:1, with Midrash Tanchuma, Mishpatim 9:4 and with Shemot Rabbah 31:13. At verse 10 it holds Chullin 133a:16. At verse 11 it holds Otzar Midrashim, Tractate of Emanations 1:9. At verse 12 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 38:3 and Aggadat Bereshit 8:1. At verse 13 it holds Otzar Midrashim, Chuppah of Eliyahu, Chuppat Eliyahu Rabbah 254. At verse 14 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 68:3, with Ein Yaakov, Moed Katan 3:18 and with Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 22:23:2. At verse 15 it holds Ruth Rabbah (Lerner) 1:2:1, with Ruth Rabbah, Petichta 2. At verse 16 it holds Ein Yaakov, Niddah 2:7, with Niddah 16b:11 and with Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 13:1. At verse 17 it holds Bava Batra 10a:15, with Berakhot 18a:12 and with Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Toldot 10. At verse 18 it holds Midrash Mishlei 19:2, Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 25:3:17 and Midrash Tehillim 38:1. At verse 21 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 22:6, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 3:7 and with Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 3:9. At verse 23 it holds Berakhot 14a:18 and Berakhot 55b:6. At verse 25 it holds Midrash Shmuel 12:2, with Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Yitro 3:1. At verse 29 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 1:1 and Bamidbar Rabbah 13:4. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and it is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Proverbs 19:2:1 to 19:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 19:1:1, 19:5:1, 19:8:1 and 19:20:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Proverbs 19:9:1, 19:14:1 and 19:21:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/19.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.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Better the Poor in His Integrity; a Prudent Wife Is From Jehovah
Proverbs 19:1-3
Better a poor man who walks: Integrity in poverty outweighs perverse lips in a fool, the same ranking of character above condition the earlier chapters use. A man's own foolishness perverts his way and then his heart frets against the Lord, the fault is his before the blame is misplaced.
Proverbs 19:1
“The “perverse” man is the rich fool, as contrasted with the poor man who is upright. Pro 19:1-2 are missing in the Septuagint.”
Even zeal is no good without knowledge: John Gill reads knowledge here as the knowledge of God and divine things, and he reports that Jarchi read it as the law. Zeal without it runs blind. The man who hurries his footsteps misses the mark.
Proverbs 19:2
“Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good,.... Without knowledge of things natural and civil, especially without the knowledge of God and Christ, and divine and spiritual things; to be without this is not good, yea, very bad; for men without such knowledge and understanding are, like the beasts that perish, and for lack of it do. Jarchi interprets it, without the law.”
his heart rages against the LORD: Albert Barnes renders subverts as overturns or makes to fail. Folly brings its own disaster and then complains in anger against the providence of God. The fault is the man's own before his heart rages against the LORD.
Proverbs 19:3
The non-wisdom which, having brought about disasters by its own perverseness, then turns round and “fretteth,” i. e., angrily complains against the Providence of God. Perverteth - Rather, “overturneth,” “maketh to fail.”
Proverbs 19:4-9
Wealth attracts many friends: , but a poor man is deserted by his friend, a social fact the book states without approving it. A false witness receives the same sentence at verses 5 and 9, first that he "will not go unpunished" and then that he "will perish."
Proverbs 19:4
The poor is separated from his neighbor - Because he has the “disease of all-shunned poverty.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 19:4
“How those that are rich and great are courted and caressed, and have suitors and servants in abundance. The prince that has power in his hand, and preferments at his disposal, has his gate and his ante-chamber thronged with petitioners, that are ready to adore him for what they can get.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Proverbs 19:4
“He who only follows words will have nothing, etc. And the Apostle says: For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified (Rom. II).”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
A false witness will not go unpunished: The verse returns almost word for word at verse 9, and the repetition gives emphasis. Here the liar will not escape. In verse 9 he will perish, and the warning on false witness frames the cluster on the poor and their friends.
Proverbs 19:5
“There are true martyrs and false ones, because there are true and false witnesses. But Scripture says, "The false witness shall not go unpunished." If the false witness will not escape punishment, neither will the true witness be denied a crown. And it was, indeed, easy to bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth, because he is God; but to do so to the death, that was a great work.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · SERMON 286:1patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 19:5
“It is very unseemly for one that is a servant to sin and his lusts to rule over and oppress those that are God's freemen and made kings and priests to him. 11 The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Many seek the favor of the prince: John Gill takes the prince as the liberal and bountiful man, and reports that Aben Ezra and Gersom saw great men seeking places at court. Everyone befriends the gift giver. Favor follows the open hand.
Proverbs 19:6
“Many will entreat the favour of the prince,.... Or of the liberal and bountiful man; as kings and princes generally are, Luk 22:25; such have many to wait upon them, and are humble petitioners to them. Aben Ezra and Gersom interpret the many of great and honourable men, who are courtiers to kings and princes; who wait upon them, ask favours of them, and seek for places under them.”
He may pursue them with pleading: Albert Barnes reads the last line as a maxim of its own, the poor man pursuing words and promises of help that come to nothing. He sets the verse beside verse 1, which honors the poor man who walks with integrity. His brothers hate him and his friends avoid him.
Proverbs 19:7
“It seems best to follow the Vulgate in taking the last clause as a separate maxim, He who pursues words, nought are they; i. e., the fair speeches and promises of help come to nothing. A various reading in the Hebrew gives, “he pursues after words, and these he shall have” - i. e., these, and nothing else. This and other like maxims do not in reality cast scorn and shame on a state which Christ has pronounced “blessed.” Side by side with them is Pro 19:1, setting forth the honor of an upright poverty.”
He who acquires wisdom loves himself: Albert Barnes notes that the Hebrew reads to gain a heart, the higher powers of reason and feeling together. Gaining that heart is gaining wisdom. The man who safeguards understanding will find success.
Proverbs 19:8
“Wisdom - literally, as in the margin, to gain a “heart,” i. e., the higher faculties both of reason and feeling, is identical with gaining wisdom, i. e., the faculty which seeks and finds.”
one who pours out lies will perish: The verse repeats verse 5 and changes its end, the false witness who pours out lies now perishing. John Gill reads perish as lost for ever, and he extends the lies to false doctrine. The witness will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 19:9
“A false witness shall not be unpunished,.... See Gill on Pro 19:5; and he that speaketh lies shall perish; or "be lost", shall be undone for ever; he shall not enter into the holy city, but have his part in the lake of fire: they that speak lies in hypocrisy, doctrinal ones, and are given up to believe and profess them, such shall be damned, 2Th 2:11.”
Proverbs 19:10-12
Luxury is unseemly for a fool, and worse still is "a slave to rule over princes," things set out of their proper order. A man's insight gives him patience and "his virtue is to overlook an offense," restraint the chapter praises again before its end.
Proverbs 19:10
“Delight is not seemly for a fool - תענוג taanug, splendid or luxurious living, rank, equipage, etc. These sit ill on a fool, though he be by birth a lord. For a servant to have rule over princes - I pity the king who delivers himself into the hands of his own ministers. Such a one loses his character, and cannnot be respected by his subjects, or rather their subjects. But it is still worse when a person of mean extraction is raised to the throne, or to any place of power; he is generally cruel and tyrannical.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 19:10
“Delight is not seemly for a fool,.... Such an one as Nabal, whose name and nature were alike; and whose prosperity ill became him, and the mirth and delight he had in it, 1Sa 25:25; for, as the wise man elsewhere says, "the prosperity of fools shall destroy them", Pro 1:26; they do not know how to make a right use of their prosperity; nor to moderate their enjoyments, pleasures, and delights.”
Proverbs 19:10
“The fool is incapable of properly using pleasure as knowledge, yet for him to have it is less incongruous than the undue elevation of servants. Let each abide in his calling (1Co 7:20).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
his virtue is to overlook an offense: Gregory the Dialogist cites the verse as a man's learning known by his patience, so the less patient the less learned. Adam Clarke turns the second line against the duel, where honor demands blood for an offense. A man's virtue is to overlook it.
Proverbs 19:11
“Through the vice of impatience, doctrine itself, the nurse of virtues, is scattered. For it is written: "A man's learning is known through patience." Therefore, the less patient anyone is shown to be, the less learned he is shown to be. For one cannot truly impart good things by teaching if he does not know how to tolerate the evils of others with equanimity in his way of living.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily XXXVpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 19:11
“It is his glory to pass over a transgression - “No,” says what is termed a man of honor; “he must meet me as a gentleman; I must have his blood, let God say what he will.” O poor, dastardly coward! thou canst not bear the reproach of poor, flimsy, paltry fellows who ridicule thee, because thou hast refused to commit murder. Such laws should be put down by law; and the man that gives a challenge should be hanged, because he intends to commit murder.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
like the roar of a lion: John Gill notes that Scripture compares tyrants to lions, as Jeremiah does Nebuchadnezzar, and he recalls the rage of Ahasuerus against Haman. Jarchi, he reports, read the king as God. The favor of a king falls like dew on the grass.
Proverbs 19:12
“The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion,.... Which is very terrible when hungry, and is after its prey, and has got it. Kings, especially tyrannical ones, are compared to lions; as Nebuchadnezzar by Jeremiah, Jer 4:17; and Nero by the Apostle Paul, 2Ti 4:7; and the rage of such is very dreadful, as Ahasuerus's was to Haman. Jarchi interprets the king, of the holy blessed God.”
Proverbs 19:13-14
A foolish son is his father’s ruin: and a quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping, the household's two griefs set side by side. Then the pairing turns: houses and wealth "are inherited from fathers," ordinary and expected, "but a prudent wife is from the LORD."
Proverbs 19:13
“Calamity - The Hebrew word is plural (as in Psa 57:1; Psa 91:3), and seems to express the multiplied and manifold sorrow caused by the foolish son. Continual dropping - The irritating, unceasing, sound of the fall, drop after drop, of water through the chinks in the roof.”
a prudent wife is from the LORD: Adam Clarke describes the prudent wife as a woman of good understanding who keeps from complaining, though she may often have cause. Houses and wealth come down from fathers. She comes from the LORD.
Proverbs 19:14
“A prudent wife is from the Lord - One who has a good understanding, אשה משכלת ishshah mascaleth; who avoids complaining, though she may often have cause for it.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Many Devices in a Man's Heart, but the Counsel of Jehovah Shall Stand
Proverbs 19:15-16
Laziness brings on deep sleep: Slothfulness casts a man into deep sleep, and the idle soul suffers hunger, the book's steady picture of laziness as a self-inflicted wound. Keeping the commandment is named the keeping of one's soul, the two verses setting bodily neglect and spiritual neglect as the same kind of failure.
Proverbs 19:15
“Into a deep sleep - תרדמה tardemah, the same into which Adam was thrown, before Eve was taken from his side. Sloth renders a man utterly unconscious of all his interests. Though he has frequently felt hunger, yet he is regardless that his continual slothfulness must necessarily plunge him into more sufferings.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
keeps a commandment preserves his soul: Keeping the commandment is named the keeping of the soul itself. Verse 15 set bodily idleness beside it, and the careless man here dies of the same neglect in his ways. The two verses treat both failures alike.
Proverbs 19:16
“Keepeth his own soul - i. e., His life in the truest and highest sense.”
Kindness to the poor is a loan: n to the LORD," the book's banking image, giving to the poor recast as a loan to God himself. The verse names a borrower who cannot default, for "He will repay the lender," and the promise is stated without any qualification.
Proverbs 19:17
“If you help a poor person in the Name of the Lord, you are making a gift and at the same time granting a loan. You are making a gift because you have no expectation of being reimbursed by that poor person. You are granting a loan because the Lord will settle the account. It is not much that the Lord receives by means of the poor, but He will pay a great deal on their behalf.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · Commentary (church-history corpus)patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 19:17
“Note the original greatness of the thought. We give to the poor. Have we lost our gift? No, what we gave, we have lent to One who will repay with usury. Compare the yet nobler truth of our Lord’s teaching Mat 25:40.”
Proverbs 19:18-19
Discipline your son, for in that: The command "Discipline your son, for in that there is hope" is urgent, correction offered while it can still take root. A man of great anger must pay the penalty. The household discipline of the first verse is answered by the civil discipline of the second.
Proverbs 19:18
“Let not thy soul spare for his crying - This is a hard precept for a parent. Nothing affects the heart of a parent so much as a child’s cries and tears. But it is better that the child may be caused to cry, when the correction may be healthful to his soul, than that the parent should cry afterwards, when the child is grown to man’s estate, and his evil habits are sealed for life.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
A man of great anger: brings his penalty on himself. Rescuing him from it only means doing so again. The civil discipline of this verse answers the household discipline of verse 18, where a father corrects his son while there is hope.
Proverbs 19:19
“A man of great wrath - He who is of an irritable, fiery disposition, will necessarily get himself into many broils; and he that is surety for him once is likely to be called on again and again for the same friendly office.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 19:19
“The sense of the last words seems to be that the connection between wrath and punishment is so invariable, that all efforts to save the passionate man from the disastrous consequences which he brings on his own head are made in vain.”
Proverbs 19:20-22
Listen to counsel and accept discipline: "Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail," setting human planning against divine purpose. "The desire of a man is loving devotion," and it is "better to be poor than a liar," character again outweighing condition.
the purpose of the LORD will prevail: The verse sets the many plans in a man's heart against the one purpose of the LORD. It allows that a man plans. His purpose alone will stand.
Proverbs 19:21
“Contrast the many purposes of man, shifting, changing, from good to better, from bad to worse, and the one unchanging righteous “counsel” of Yahweh.”
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 19:21
“What lies hidden in the designs of God I confess I do not know—I am only a man—but this I know with full certainty, that, whatever it is, it is more just, more wise, and more solidly based on incomparable perfection than all the judgments of people.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · LETTER 104patristic
Proverbs 19:21
“There are many devices, etc. - The same sentiment as in Pro 16:1 (note), where see the note.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
better to be poor than a liar: John Gill offers two readings of the first line, the kindness of God that every man desires, or a man's own desire to show kindness. Albert Barnes reads the liar as the man who makes false excuses for withholding a gift. The poor man's wish counts as the kindness itself.
Proverbs 19:22
“The “liar” is probably the man, who makes false excuses for not giving, and so is inferior to the poor man, whose “desire,” the wish to do good, is taken, in the absence of means to carry it into effect, for the act of kindness itself.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 19:22
“The desire of a man is his kindness,.... Either the grace and kindness of God, which is, desirable by every sensible man, as being most excellent, and better than life and anything in it; or it is his desire to show kindness.”
The fear of the LORD leads to life: e" restates the motto of 1:7, tying reverence to a life at rest rather than to dread. The one who has it may "rest content, without visitation from harm."
Proverbs 19:23
“Shall abide satisfied - Better, one that is satisfied hath a sure abiding-place. The word “abide” has, most probably, here as elsewhere, its original sense of “passing the night.” Even in the hour of darkness he shall be free from fear.”
Proverbs 19:24-25
The slacker buries his hand in the dish: and will not even bring it back to his mouth, a comic picture to make laziness visible. Strike a mocker and the simple will beware, while rebuking the discerning means "he will gain knowledge," the same correction landing differently on each hearer.
Proverbs 19:24
“A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom - Is too lazy to feed himself, If he dip his hand once in the dish, he is too lazy to put it in a second time. It is a strange case that a man, through his excessive slothfulness, would rather starve than put himself to the trouble to eat.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 19:24
“A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom,.... In cold weather to keep it warm, and at other times, as unwilling to use it in labour; it is the proper posture and just attitude of a slothful man.”
Proverbs 19:24
“Hideth his hand in his bosom - Better, dippeth his hand in the dish (compare 2Ki 21:13). The scene brought before us is that of an Eastern feast. There are no knives, or forks, or spoons. Every guest has to help himself, or be helped by the host. Compare Joh 13:26.”
Strike a mocker, and the simple will beware: Barnes finds nearly the whole theory of punishment here, a penalty for the hardened mocker as a warning to others, and discipline for the discerning. Origen of Alexandria cites the verse for sinners punished to teach others. Rebuke adds knowledge to the discerning.
Proverbs 19:25
“Words which embrace nearly the whole theory of punishment. If the man who offends is a “scorner,” hardened beyond all hope of reformation, then punish him by way of retribution and example, and let the penalty be sharp, that even the unwary and careless may beware. If the man be “understanding,” then let the punishment take the form of discipline. Admonish, reprove, educate.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 19:25
“If you want to take Scripture as a witness that sinners are punished for the education of others, even if those unabashed may be beyond treatment, hear Solomon in the Proverbs who says, "When a pest is being whipped, the fool will be more astute." He did not say that he who is being whipped will be more astute and more sensible through the whips, but he said that the fool will change from foolishness into common sense through whips employed on the pest.”
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Jeremiah 12:6patristic
Proverbs 19:26-29
He who assaults his father: or evicts his mother is named "a son who brings shame and disgrace." A corrupt witness mocks justice and a wicked mouth swallows iniquity. The chapter closes where the book often does, with judgments prepared for mockers and "beatings for the backs of fools."
Proverbs 19:26
“He that wasteth his father - Destroys his substance by riotous or extravagant living, so as to embitter his latter end by poverty and affliction; and adds to this wickedness the expulsion of his aged widowed mother from the paternal house; is a son of shame - a most shameful man; and a son of reproach - one whose conduct cannot be sufficiently execrated. Who tormentith the fader, and fleeth the modir, schenful schal ben, and unblisful - Old MS. Bible.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
you will stray from the words of knowledge: Albert Barnes reads the verse as irony, advice to do what weakness already urges, given with full knowledge of where it leads. Cease to hear instruction and the straying follows. The son is warned by being told to fail.
Proverbs 19:27
“Cease, my son, to hear the instruction,.... The counsel of bad men, or the doctrine of false teachers.”
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 19:27
“Cease, my son - Hear nothing that would lead thee away from God and his truth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 19:27
“They are greedy, and glad of that which gives them an opportunity to sin: The mouth of the wicked eagerly devours iniquity, drinks it in like water, Job xv. 29 Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
A corrupt witness mocks justice: Albert Barnes renders the corrupt witness as a witness of Belial, worthless and untruthful. The wicked mouth seizes iniquity eagerly, he explains, like a dainty it lives on. Such a witness mocks justice.
Proverbs 19:28
“Ungodly witness - literally, “Witness of Belial,” “worthless,” “untruthful.” Devoureth iniquity - Seizes on it eagerly, as a dainty, lives on it.”
Judgments are prepared for mockers: John Gill reads the judgments as coming from the magistrate or from the Lord, and often from both. A mocker who escapes the one meets the other. Beatings wait for the backs of fools.
Proverbs 19:29
“Judgments are prepared for scorners,.... Either by the civil magistrate, or by the Lord, and indeed by both; and if they miss the one, they will certainly meet the other; though they mock at present punishment and a future judgment, yet everlasting fire is prepared for them, Mat 25:41; and stripes for the back of fools; as scorners are; which shall be inflicted on them sooner or later; if they are not stricken with the stripes of men, they shall endure the strokes of divine justice and vengeance hereafter.”
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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); Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily XXXV; John Gill; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 12:6.