Proverbs21chapter 21

Proverbs 21:1-4

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water opens the chapter with the most absolute human will still turned wherever God directs it, and every way of a man is right in his own eyes matches it from below, self-judgment counting for nothing next to the Lord who pondereth hearts. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice puts a prophet's charge into proverb form, the same priority Samuel presses on Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22, obedience valued above ritual performed instead of it. An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin extends that charge even to ordinary work, Gill reading the whole activity of an unrepentant life as tainted at its root rather than only its worst moments.

Proverbs 21:5-7

The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness sets patience against haste, the hasty man's plans running only to want. The getting of treasures by a lying tongue names the fastest wrong shortcut, a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death, wealth that does not even benefit the man who lied for it. The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them closes the triplet on the same ground, because they refuse to do judgment, the same justice named at verse 3 now working as the standard a man's own dishonest gain is measured against and found short.

Proverbs 21:8-10

The way of man is froward and strange, but as for the pure, his work is right, states the chapter's basic division before the first of two proverbs on a quarrelsome wife. It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house chooses a cramped rooftop shelter over a spacious home made unlivable by contention. The soul of the wicked desireth evil closes the trio with the same appetite language the chapter has already used of the treasure-seeker, wickedness read as a craving the wicked man's own neighbour cannot satisfy or escape.

Proverbs 21:11-13

When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise describes public justice teaching by example, a lesson the onlooker learns without paying the scorner's price. The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked, watching where wickedness ends up, while God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness states the reason plainly rather than leaving it to be inferred. Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor closes the cluster on the same principle turned personal, the man who refuses to hear left to go unheard himself, the punishment fitted exactly to the failure.

Proverbs 21:14-16

A gift in secret pacifieth anger observes rather than commends a common tactic, a quiet bribe cooling wrath that an open one would only provoke further. It is joy to the just to do judgment sets the same word, judgment, against destruction for the workers of iniquity, one act producing opposite feelings depending on which side of righteousness a man stands on. The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead gives the wandering its full weight, and Gill reads the congregation of the dead as those already given over, the assembly a man joins by the direction he keeps walking in.

Proverbs 21:17-18

He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man names the appetite that spends a life down to nothing, wine and oil standing for indulgence that consumes rather than builds. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous reads oddly against ordinary justice, and the bench takes it as providence rather than atonement, the wicked man's own schemes working out, in the course of events, to the advantage of the righteous he meant to harm.

Proverbs 21:19-20

It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman restates verse 9's judgment in a harsher key, open desert now preferred to a house, and the bench reads the pair together as the chapter's own proof that a hard truth is worth repeating rather than softening the second time. Treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise, wasted by a foolish man who spends it up, turns from marriage back to money, the same contrast between the patient and the wasteful the chapter has already drawn at verse 5.

Proverbs 21:21-23

He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour promises what the wandering man of verse 16 forfeited, three rewards answering one pursuit. A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty pictures wisdom as a siege weapon stronger than the defended walls it is set against, strategy outperforming brute strength. Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles closes the trio on the book's steady theme of controlled speech, a small discipline credited with guarding the whole person.

Proverbs 21:24-26

Proud and haughty scorner is his name gives the arrogant man a title rather than a description, his own conduct having named him. The desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labour, sets craving without effort against the next verse's contrast. He coveteth greedily all the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not, wanting without working set beside giving without counting the cost, two appetites judged by what each is willing to do about itself.

Proverbs 21:27-29

The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination returns to verse 3's ground from the opposite direction, worship offered without obedience made worse rather than better when it is brought with a wicked mind. A false witness shall perish sets a liar's testimony against the man who heareth and speaketh constantly, truthful evidence outlasting the false report it corrects. The wicked man hardeneth his face closes the group on a picture of settled defiance, the upright directing his way while the wicked man only sets his.

Proverbs 21:30-31

There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord closes the chapter on the same sovereignty that opened it at verse 1, every human plan already accounted for by the will it cannot overrule. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord makes the point concrete with the best weapon Solomon's world had, trained war-horses credited with nothing next to the God who decides the battle's outcome. Bridges reads the closing pair as the chapter's own summary, every proverb about kings, wisdom, and strength answering finally to the one line that outranks them all.