Proverbschapter 19
29 verses · KJVProverbs book hub →
A.Better the Poor in His Integrity; a Prudent Wife Is From Jehovahvv. 1-14
Proverbs 19:1-3
Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity: The chapter opens on the book's better-than form again: integrity in poverty outweighs perverse lips in a fool, the same ranking of character above condition the earlier chapters use. A soul without knowledge is named not good, and hasty feet sin, haste and ignorance read together as one failure of attention. A man's own foolishness perverts his way and then his heart frets against the Lord, the commentators noting the order, the fault is his before the blame is misplaced.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:1, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:2, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:3, in their own words.
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 maketh many friends: The poor-and-friends cluster opens plainly: wealth makes many friends while the poor is separated even from his own neighbour, a social fact the book states without approving. A false witness draws the same two-fold sentence twice in the cluster, unpunished and perishing, the repetition at verses 5 and 9 read by the bench as deliberate emphasis rather than careless doubling. The poor man's brothers hating him and his friends going far, pursued with words that go unanswered, is the cluster's hardest line, and getting wisdom is named loving one's own soul against that backdrop.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:6, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:7, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:8, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:9, in their own words.
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
Delight is not seemly for a fool: Luxury does not suit a fool, and a servant ruling over princes suits even less, the verse naming things out of their proper order. A man's discretion shows in deferring his anger, and passing over a transgression is called his glory, the chapter praising restraint the same way it will praise it again before its end. The king's wrath roaring like a lion against his favour like dew on the grass gives the cluster its closing image of how far apart a ruler's two moods can fall.
Voices on this verse, 3What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 19:10, in their own words.
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
“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
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
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 19:11, in their own words.
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· seventh century· Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily XXXVpatristic
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
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:12, in their own words.
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 the calamity of his father: A foolish son is named his father's calamity, and a contentious wife a continual dropping, the household's two griefs set beside each other. Then the pairing turns: house and riches are the inheritance of fathers, ordinary and expected, but a prudent wife is from the Lord, a gift providence gives rather than an estate a family hands down. The commentators read the contrast as the verse's whole point, wealth is inherited but the right wife is given.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:13, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:14, in their own words.
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
B.Many Devices in a Man's Heart, but the Counsel of Jehovah Shall Standvv. 15-29
Proverbs 19:15-16
Slothfulness casteth into a 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 rather than a harmless habit. Keeping the commandment is named the keeping of one's own soul, while despising one's ways brings death, the two verses setting bodily neglect and spiritual neglect side by side as the same kind of failure.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:15, in their own words.
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
Proverbs 19:17
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord: is the book's boldest banking image, giving to the poor recast as a loan made to God himself, who will repay what was given. Bridges reads the verse as turning ordinary charity into an act of faith, since the borrower named is one who cannot default. The promise is stated without qualification, and the commentators let the verse's own boldness stand rather than softening it.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 19:17, in their own words.
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· fourth century· Commentary (church-history corpus)patristic
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
Chasten thy son while there is hope: , and let not thy soul spare for his crying, is read by the bench as urgency rather than harshness, correction offered while it can still take root and while the child's protest is not allowed to overrule the parent's judgment. A man of great wrath is named one who will suffer punishment, and delivering him from it only means it must be done again, the household discipline of the first verse answered by the civil discipline of the second.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:18, in their own words.
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
Proverbs 19:20-22
Hear counsel, and receive instruction: Hearing counsel and receiving instruction are named the path to wisdom in one's latter end, a phrase the commentators read as looking past the immediate moment to the whole shape of a life. Many devices are in a man's heart, yet the counsel of the Lord alone shall stand, the verse setting human planning against divine purpose without denying that a man plans. A man's desire is called his kindness, and a poor man is ranked better than a liar, character again outweighing condition as it did at the chapter's opening.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 19:22, in their own words.
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.”
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.”
Proverbs 19:23
The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: restates the book's motto from 1:7 in its own middle chapters, tying reverence directly to a satisfied and untroubled life rather than to dread. He that hath it shall abide satisfied, and shall not be visited with evil, the bench reading the promise as covering ordinary trouble rather than every hardship, since the book elsewhere shows the righteous suffering too.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:23, in their own words.
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
A slothful man hideth his hand: The sluggard hides his hand in his bosom and will not even bring it to his mouth again, a small comic picture the book repeats elsewhere to make laziness visible rather than abstract. Smiting a scorner is said to warn the simple, while reproving a man of understanding only sharpens what he already has, the same correction landing differently depending entirely on the hearer's disposition.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 19:25, in their own words.
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· third century· HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 12:6patristic
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.”
Proverbs 19:26-29
He that wasteth his father: Wasting a father and chasing away a mother earns the son the names shame and reproach, the household's worst outcome named without softening. Cease, my son, to hear instruction that causes error is read by the bench as ironic warning, telling the son to stop listening to bad counsel rather than good. An ungodly witness scorns judgment and the wicked mouth devours iniquity, and the chapter closes where the book often does, judgments prepared for scorners and stripes for the back of fools, consequence stated as fact rather than threat.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:26, in their own words.
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
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:28, in their own words.
Proverbs 19:28
“Ungodly witness - literally, “Witness of Belial,” “worthless,” “untruthful.” Devoureth iniquity - Seizes on it eagerly, as a dainty, lives on it.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 19:29, in their own words.
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.”
Where the chapter sits
Proverbs 19 falls in Solomon's proverbs proper (chapters 10–24). Short antithetical and synonymous couplets; the core of the book's gnomic register. Ch 22:17–24:34 labeled ''words of the wise''.
Before it: Sayings of Solomon: long discourses, chapters 1–9. After it: Hezekiah's men: Solomon's proverbs copied, chapters 25–29.
The whole shape of Proverbs→Key words
The Hebrew words this chapter turns on, by how often it uses them. Each one opens its word study.
| Word | What it means | Verses |
|---|---|---|
| נֶפֶשׁnephesh5 times, as נֶ֣פֶשׁ, נַפְשׁ֑וֹ, וְנֶ֖פֶשׁ | soul | 2, 8, 15, 16 and 1 more |
| יְהֹוָהYᵉhôvâh5 times, as יְ֝הוָ֗ה, וּ֝מֵיְהוָ֗ה, יְ֭הוָה | LORD | 3, 14, 17, 21 and 1 more |
| טוֹבṭôwb4 times, as טֽוֹב־, ט֑וֹב, טֽוֹב׃ | pleasant | 1, 2, 8, 22 |
| כְּסִילkᵉçîyl4 times, as כְסִֽיל׃, לִכְסִ֣יל, כְּסִ֑יל | fool | 1, 10, 13, 29 |
| בֵּןbên4 times, as בֵּ֣ן, בִּ֭נְךָ, בֵּ֝֗ן | son | 13, 18, 26, 27 |
| רוּשׁrûwsh3 times, as רָ֭שׁ, רָ֨שׁ׀, רָ֝שׁ | be poor | 1, 7, 22 |
Cross references
The 8 chapters this one speaks with, most first. Open a row for the verses it shares.
Proverbs 166 verses
Proverbs 19:21
Proverbs 16:1The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.Proverbs 19:1
Proverbs 16:8Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.Proverbs 19:21
Proverbs 16:9A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.Proverbs 19:12
Proverbs 16:14The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.Proverbs 19:8
Proverbs 16:20He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.Proverbs 19:11
Proverbs 16:32He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.- Read Proverbs 16 →
Proverbs 214 verses
Proverbs 19:2
Proverbs 21:5The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.Proverbs 19:13
Proverbs 21:9It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.Proverbs 19:25
Proverbs 21:11When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.Proverbs 19:5
Proverbs 21:28A false witness shall perish: but the man that heareth speaketh constantly.- Read Proverbs 21 →
Proverbs 283 verses
Proverbs 19:1
Proverbs 28:6Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.Proverbs 19:26
Proverbs 28:24Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer.Proverbs 19:17
Proverbs 28:27He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.- Read Proverbs 28 →
Proverbs 293 verses
Proverbs 19:18
Proverbs 29:15The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.Proverbs 19:2
Proverbs 29:20Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.Proverbs 19:6
Proverbs 29:26Many seek the ruler’s favour; but every man’s judgment cometh from the Lord.- Read Proverbs 29 →
The rest of the chapters this one speaks with, 4 of them, for a reader following a thread past the four above
- Proverbs 143 verses
- Proverbs 183 verses
- Proverbs 173 verses
- Proverbs 263 verses
Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.
The world behind itThe place, the time and the people around this chapter, for a reader who wants the setting.
The world behind this chapter
Proverbs 19The history
"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.
"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.
What it meant to them
"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.
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.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
Connections
Where this chapter reaches into the rest of Scripture, with the verse each connection stands on.
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Proverbs 19. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 10 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Basil of Caesarea, Commentary (church-history corpus); 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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Gill; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 12:6.