Proverbschapter 21
31 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
The plans of the diligent bring plenty, as surely as haste leads to poverty.
Introduction
Solomon and others, Wisdom and poetry, Proverbs Overview.
Solomon's collection here speaks to the subjects of a strong king and to people who trusted their own preparations. It speaks often of the king and of the LORD who rules over him. The sayings range over justice, worship, the household, hard work and the end of the wicked. Listen for the sayings that rank right conduct above religious ritual, and for the picture of a quarrelsome house, which returns more than once. The chapter closes on the difference between getting ready for a day and deciding how it ends.
Context
- Who
- Subjects of a king, and men who trusted their own preparations
- What
- Sayings from Solomon's collection on the LORD's rule over kings, justice above sacrifice, the household and diligence.
- Where
- The kingdom of Israel under its king, with its watered royal gardens, its houses and its stables of war horses.
- When
- The reign of Solomon, about 970 to 931 BC; the book names him at Proverbs 10:1.
- Why
- To teach that the LORD weighs the heart and decides the outcome, whatever men prepare.
Historical context
"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." The image is irrigation. In Egypt and Mesopotamia, and in the watered gardens of a royal estate, a man opened and closed channels with his foot or a hoe and sent the water where he wanted it. A king looks like the least steerable force in the world; the proverb says he is a channel.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house." The flat roof was usable space, people slept, dried figs, and sat there in the evening, and a small shelter could be built in one corner. The proverb prefers that corner to a share of the main rooms.
"There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up." Oil was wealth you could store: pressed from olives in autumn, kept in jars, used for food, light, medicine, and trade. A wise household ended the year with jars still full.
"The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD." Solomon's Israel had chariot forces and horse trade on a scale the country had never seen. The proverb does not tell anyone to skip the preparation; it tells them where the outcome is decided.
Significance
"To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice" repeats a theme the prophets would later shout. The sacrificial system was Israel's daily religious life, and the proverb ranks honest dealing above it.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For first hearers under a strong monarchy, the opening verse was strangely comforting. Whatever the palace decided this year, the channel was in another hand.
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-three collections. The two it cites most often here are Midrash Tehillim and Bava Batra.
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 hears the Shechinah in the chapter's sayings about the quarrelsome wife. At the ninth verse he gives the plain reading first, and then the Midrash Aggadah: "He prophesied that the Shechinah would ultimately leave Israel, who is like a quarrelsome wife" (Rashi on Proverbs 21:9:1). At the nineteenth he says only, "This too was stated regarding the withdrawal of the Shechinah" (Rashi on Proverbs 21:19:1).
He names people from Scripture at several verses. The wise man who scales the city of the mighty is "Moses, our teacher, who went up among the angels," and what he brought down was the Torah (Rashi on Proverbs 21:22:1). The wicked as a ransom for the righteous is "such as Mordecai and Haman" (Rashi on Proverbs 21:18:1). The Righteous One who considers the house of the wicked is God, and the example given is the remembrance of Amalek (Rashi on Proverbs 21:12:1).
The gift in secret of the fourteenth verse is one word: "Charity" (Rashi on Proverbs 21:14:1). The joy of the righteous in doing justice he reads through Midrash Psalms 3:1 as God bringing pains on the righteous "in order that they merit the world to come" (Rashi on Proverbs 21:15:1). That is the Midrash's teaching, and Rashi names it as his source. The scorner punished of the eleventh verse teaches the simple, who "return [to God] in repentance" (Rashi on Proverbs 21:11:1).
The corpus carries six 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 21:1:1, 21:10:1, 21:13:1, 21:21:1 and 21:23:1 and Metzudat David on Proverbs 21:3:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, twenty-four filed as Midrash and sixteen 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 Aggadat Bereshit 1:4 and Berakhot 55a:9. At verse 2 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 67:12 and Sifrei Zuta 27:16:1. At verse 3 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Toldot 10, with Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayetze 38. At verse 4 it holds Midrash Tehillim 112:1. At verse 8 it holds Ketubot 36a:9 and Midrash Tehillim 58:1. At verse 9 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 28:9:8, with Otzar Midrashim, Chuppah of Eliyahu, Chuppat Eliyahu Rabbah 244. At verse 11 it holds Shemot Rabbah 27:6. At verse 13 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 5:3, with Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 5:6. At verse 14 it holds Bava Batra 9b:7, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 1:14. At verse 15 it holds Midrash Tehillim 3:1 and Midrash Tehillim 79:2. At verse 16 it holds Bava Batra 79a:3. At verse 18 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 9:1:14 and Midrash Tehillim 4:3. At verse 19 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 34:7 and Devarim Rabbah 9:2. At verse 20 it holds Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 34:9:2 and Midrash Tehillim 116:8. At verse 21 it holds Bava Batra 10a:1 and Bava Batra 9b:10. At verse 22 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 79:3 and Avot DeRabbi Natan 23:1. At verse 23 it holds Bava Metzia 83b:10, with Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayera 25. At verse 24 it holds Avodah Zarah 18b:14 and Avodah Zarah 18b:15. At verse 25 it holds Tamid 28a:3. At verse 26 it holds Mishnat Rabbi Eliezer 4:4. At verse 27 it holds Berakhot 22b:17, with Ein Yaakov, Berakhot 3:12. At verse 29 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 7:1. At verse 30 it holds Berakhot 19b:10. At verse 31 it holds Midrash Tanchuma, Shoftim 13:1. 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 21:2:1 to 21:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 21:1:1, 21:10:1, 21:13:1, 21:21:1 and 21:23:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Proverbs 21:3:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/21.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.
The King's Heart Is a Watercourse in Jehovah's Hand
Proverbs 21:1-4
The king’s heart is a waterway: y in the hand of the LORD," so the most absolute human will is still turned where He pleases. Doing righteousness and justice is "more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice," the priority Samuel presses on Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22.
Proverbs 21:1
“A desire to learn and a yearning for heavenly things is suitable to a religious emperor; for thus you will truly have "your heart" also "in the hand of God." Since then your piety desired to learn from us the faith of the catholic church, giving thanks for these things to the Lord, we counseled above all things to remind your piety of the faith confessed by the fathers at Nicea.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Letter to Jovian 56:1patristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Proverbs 21:1
“Rivers of water - See the Psa 1:3 note. As the cultivator directs the stream into the channels where it is most wanted, so Yahweh directs the thoughts of the true king, that his favors may fall, not at random, but in harmony with a divine order.”
the LORD weighs the heart: Every man's ways seem right to himself, and only the LORD weighs the heart. The verse answers verse 1 from below, the heart of the king in His hand and every other heart on His scale. Proverbs 16:2 makes the same point.
Proverbs 21:2
“The Lord pondereth the hearts - Every man feels strongly attached to his own opinions, modes of acting, etc.; and though he will not easily give up any thing to the judgment of a neighbor, whom he will naturally consider at least as fallible as himself, yet he should consider that the unerring eye of God is upon him; and he should endeavor to see that what he does is acceptable in the eye of his Maker and Judge.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 21:2
“He that has a high look and a proud heart, that carries himself insolently and scornfully towards both God and man, and that is always ploughing and plotting, designing and devising some mischief or other, is indeed a wicked man. The light of the wicked is sin. Sin is the pride, the ambition, the glory and joy, and the business of wicked men.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice: Albert Barnes notes the weight of these words from the king who built the temple and offered sacrifice past numbering, as 1 Kings 8:5 records. To the LORD, doing righteousness and justice is more desirable. The builder of the temple says so himself.
Proverbs 21:3
“Compare the marginal reference. The words have a special significance as coming from the king who had built the temple, and had offered sacrifices that could not be numbered for multitude” 1Ki 8:5.”
Clarke reads the Hebrew word as lamp, the prosperity and posterity of the wicked, where the Berean text renders it the guides of the wicked. He calls haughty eyes and a proud heart evil in the seed, root, branch and fruit. All of it is sin.
Proverbs 21:4
“A high look - The evidence of pride, self-conceit, and vanity. A proud heart, from which the high look, etc., come. And the ploughing - נר ner, lucerna, the lamp, the prosperity and posterity of the wicked; is sin - it is evil in the seed, and evil in the root evil in the branch, and evil in the fruit. They are full of sin themselves, and what they do is sinful.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 21:5-7
The plans of the diligent bring plenty: y, as surely as haste leads to poverty," setting patience against haste. Making a fortune by a lying tongue is "a vanishing mist, a deadly pursuit," wealth that does not profit the man who lied for it.
Proverbs 21:5
“Here diligence is opposed, not to sloth but to haste. Undue hurry is as fatal to success as undue procrastination.”
a vanishing mist, a deadly pursuit: Clarke notes that several manuscripts and the Septuagint read snares of death, and the man who makes his fortune with a lying tongue is caught. The Didache uses the same phrase of the double-tongued. The fortune is a vanishing mist.
Proverbs 21:6
“Of them that seek death - Instead of מבקשי mebakshey, “them that seek,” several MSS., some ancient editions, with Symmachus, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Arabic, have מקשי mokeshey, the snares. He who gets treasures by a lying tongue, pursues vanity into the snares of death. Our common translation may be as good. But he who, by the snares of his tongue, endeavors to buy and sell to the best advantage, is pursuing what is empty in itself; and he is ensnared by death, while he is attempting to ensnare others.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 21:6
“Thou shalt not be double-minded nor double-tongued; for to be double-tongued is a snare of death. Thy speech shall not be false, nor empty, but fulfilled by deed. Thou shalt not be covetous, nor rapacious, nor a hypocrite, nor evil disposed, nor haughty. Thou shalt not take evil counsel against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not hate any man; but some thou shalt reprove, and concerning some thou shalt pray, and some thou shalt love more than thy own life.”
Didache · written before 100 · The Didache, Chapter 2patristic
because they refuse to do what is just: The violence of the wicked turns back on them and sweeps them away. They refuse to do what is just, the same justice verse 3 ranks above sacrifice. Their own dishonest gain is measured by it and found short.
Proverbs 21:7
“Robbery - Probably the “violence” which the wicked practice. Shall destroy them - More literally, carries them away.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 21:7
“The robbery of the wicked - The wicked shall be terrified and ruined by the means they use to aggrandize themselves. And as they refuse to do judgment, they shall have judgment without mercy.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 21:8-10
The way of a guilty man is crooked: d, but the conduct of the innocent is upright," the chapter's division. The soul of the wicked man "craves evil," the appetite language used of the fortune seeker, and his neighbor finds no favor with him.
on a corner of the roof: The flat roof of an Eastern house served for rest and sleep in summer, Albert Barnes explains, and its corner lay open to every storm. Barnes reads the wide house as a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. Living outside is better than the tempest within.
Proverbs 21:9
“A wide house - literally, “a house of companionship,” i. e., a house shared with her. The flat roof of an Eastern house was often used for retirement by day, or in summer for sleep by night. The corner of such a roof was exposed to all changes of weather, and the point of the proverb lies in the thought that all winds and storms which a man might meet with there are more endurable than the tempest within.”
The soul of the wicked man craves evil: The verse speaks of wickedness as an appetite. His neighbor finds no favor with him, and can neither satisfy that craving nor escape it. The treasure seeker of verse 6 showed the same hunger.
Proverbs 21:11-13
When a mocker is punished: , "the simple gain wisdom," public justice teaching by example a lesson the onlooker learns without paying the mocker's price. Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor "shall cry out and receive no answer," the punishment fitted exactly to the failure.
Proverbs 21:11
“When the scorner is punished - When those who mock at religion, blaspheme against its Author, and endeavor to poison society, and disturb the peace of the community by their false doctrine, meet with that degree of punishment which their crimes, as far as they affect the public peace, deserve; then the simple, who were either led away, or in danger of being led away, by their pernicious doctrines, are made wise.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The Righteous One considers the house: Readers divide on this verse. The Berean text reads the Righteous One as God, who brings the wicked to ruin. Clarke and Gill read a righteous man, Clarke seeing his concern to instruct them, and Gill seeing him weigh their end and cease to envy.
Proverbs 21:12
“The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked,.... Not so much the stately palace he lives in, and the furniture of it, as the glory, splendour, riches, and largeness of his family; the flourishing condition he and they are in: he considers how they came into it, the short continuance of it, and what the end will be, which in a short time wilt be ruin and destruction; and therefore be does not envy their present happiness, or fret at it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 21:12
“The righteous man wisely considereth - This verse is understood as implying the pious concern of a righteous man, for a wicked family, whom he endeavors by his instructions to bring into the way of knowledge and peace.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
shuts his ears to the cry: Adam Clarke recalls the priest and Levite who passed by. The man who shuts his ear to the poor, he warns, will find the ear of God shut to his own cry. Basil of Caesarea adds that keeping one's goods from the needy earns no praise.
Proverbs 21:13
“Whoso stoppeth his ears - See the conduct of the priest and Levite to the man who fell among thieves; and let every man learn from this, that he who shuts his ear against the cry of the poor, shall have the ear of God shut against his cry. The words are quite plain; there is no difficulty here.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 21:13
“Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor,.... For want of bread; or, "of the weak", as the Septuagint and other versions; for want of help and protection, when in the greatest distress; and, with the most pressing importunity, entreats his assistance, and yet refuses to hear him out: or, if he does, will not relieve him, which is all one as if he heard him not, or denied him a hearing; he also shall cry himself; the Targum and Syriac version add, "unto God".”
Proverbs 21:13
“Benefactions to the needy, financed by unjust gains, are not acceptable with God. Even one who refrains from committing injustices, and yet does not share the goods he possesses with anyone, is not deserving of praise.… If you will make an offering to God from the fruits of injustice and rapine, it would be better not to possess such wealth and not to make an offering.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · On Mercy and Justicepatristic
Proverbs 21:14-16
A gift in secret soothes anger: r, and a covert bribe pacifies great wrath," an observation of a common tactic that stops short of commending it. "Justice executed is a joy to the righteous, but a terror to the workers of iniquity," one act producing opposite feelings on either side.
Proverbs 21:14
“A gift in secret pacifieth anger,.... Appeases an angry man; humbles and "brings his anger down" (y), as Aben Ezra and Gersom observe the word signifies; which before rose very high, and showed itself in big words and disdainful looks, as proud wrath does; or extinguishes it, as the Targum and Vulgate Latin version render it, and very fitly.”
Justice executed is a joy to the righteous: Bonaventure reads the verse as the sweetness of the commands of God to the righteous, for whom justice is a joy. To a sick palate sweet food tastes bitter, he writes, and so a perverse will feels justice. The workers of iniquity meet it with terror.
will rest in the assembly of the dead: Adam Clarke reads the dead here as the rephaim, the assembly of departed spirits in conscious existence. Bede, following a text that reads giants, takes them as unclean spirits. The man who strays from understanding will rest there.
Proverbs 21:16
“The man once enlightened, that wandereth out of the way of understanding, in which he had walked, shall remain - have a permanent residence - in the congregation of the dead; רפאים rephaim, the lost; either separate spirits in general, or rather the assembly of separate spirits, which had fallen from primitive rectitude; and shall not be restored to the Divine favor; particularly those sinners who were destroyed by the deluge. This passage intimates that those called rephaim are in a state of conscious existence.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The Horse Is Prepared, but Victory Is of Jehovah
Proverbs 21:17-18
He who loves pleasure will become poor: "The wicked become a ransom for the righteous, and the faithless for the upright," a line that reads oddly against ordinary justice. It reads as providence, the wicked man's schemes working out in the course of events to the advantage of the righteous he meant to harm.
Proverbs 21:17
“Wine and oil - i. e., The costly adjuncts of a princely banquet. The price of oil or precious unguent was about equal to the 300 days’ wages of a field laborer Mat 20:2. Indulgence in such a luxury would thus become the type of all extravagance and excess.”
The wicked become a ransom for the righteous: That the wicked become a ransom reads oddly against ordinary justice. The older writers take it as providence, the schemes of the wicked turning in events to the good of the upright they meant to harm. They keep ransom apart from atonement.
Proverbs 21:18
“The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous - God often in his judgments cuts off the wicked, in order to prevent them from destroying the righteous. And in general, we find that the wicked fall into the traps and pits they have digged for the righteous.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 21:18
“Compare the marginal reference. Evil doers seem to draw down the wrath of God upon their heads, and so become, as it were, the scapegoats of the comparatively righteous.”
Proverbs 21:19-20
Better to live in the desert: than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife restates the judgment of verse 9 in a harsher key. Precious treasures and oil are "in the dwelling of the wise," but a foolish man consumes them, turning from marriage back to money.
Proverbs 21:19
"It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman." You wives, therefore, demonstrate your piety by your modesty and meekness to all outside the church, whether they are women or men, in order to their conversion and improvement in the faith. And since we have warned you and instructed you briefly, whom we do esteem our sisters, daughters and members, as being wise yourselves, persevere all your lives in a blameless course of life.
Apostolic Constitutions · written before 380 · Constitutions of the Holy Apostlespatristic
in the dwelling of the wise: Albert Barnes notes that the fool literally swallows his store, while the wise man gains honestly and spends with measure. He also reads the oil as divine influence kept ready, as with the wise virgins of Matthew 25. The foolish man consumes it all.
Proverbs 21:20
“Spendeth it up - literally, swalloweth it. The wise man keeps a store in reserve. He gains uprightly, spends moderately, never exhausts himself. But the proverb may have also a higher application. The wise man stores up all “treasure to be desired” of wisdom, all “oil” of divine influence, which strengthens and refreshes, and so is ready at all times for the work to which the Master calls him. Compare Mat 25:1-13.”
Proverbs 21:21-23
He who pursues righteousness and loving devotion: n finds life, righteousness, and honor," three rewards answering one pursuit, what the wandering man of verse 16 forfeited. A wise man scales the city of the mighty and pulls down its stronghold, wisdom pictured as a siege weapon stronger than defended walls.
Proverbs 21:21
“The man who keeps “righteousness” will assuredly find it, but he will find besides it the “life” and the “honor” which he was not seeking. Compare 1Ki 3:13; Mat 6:33.”
pulls down the stronghold in which they trust: John Gill reads the verse of warfare, a wise man taking the city of the mighty by stratagem, and he cites Ecclesiastes 9:16. Origen of Alexandria reads the stronghold as the doctrines of the ungodly, in which they trust. Wisdom outlasts strength.
Proverbs 21:22
“A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty,.... Which makes good what is elsewhere said, that "wisdom is better than strength", Ecc 9:16; and sometimes more is done by prudence and wisdom, by art and cunning, by schemes and stratagems, than by power and force; especially in military affairs, and particularly in besieging and taking fortified cities; when one wise man, by his wisdom, may so order and manage things, as to be able, with a few under his command, to mount the walls of a city and take it, though defended by a mighty garrison in it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 21:22
"The wise person assaults strong cities and demolishes the fortifications in which the ungodly trusted." Do you think when Solomon said this he wanted to teach us that the wise person seized cities and demolished fortifications built from stones? Or, rather, is he indicating that the city and the walls are the doctrines of the ungodly and the syllogisms of philosophers, with which they augment every impiety that is contrary to the divine law and that is observed among pagans or barbarians?
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Joshua 18:3patristic
He who guards his mouth and tongue: The Desert Fathers record the counsel of a hermit to keep the tongue and the belly under control. The verse gives the reason for the tongue. Guarding it keeps the soul from distress.
Proverbs 21:23
“Pambo said to Antony, 'What shall I do?' Antony said, 'Do not trust in your own righteousness. Do not go on sorrowing over a deed that is past. Keep your tongue and your belly under control.'”
Desert Fathers · written before 500 · The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monkspatristic
Proverbs 21:24-26
Mocker is the name of the proud: d and arrogant man," his conduct having named him. "The craving of the slacker kills him because his hands refuse to work." All day long he covets more, "but the righteous give without restraint," wanting without working set beside giving without counting the cost.
The craving of the slacker kills him: The slacker craves, and his hands refuse to work, so the craving itself kills him. Verse 26 sets his endless wanting beside the righteous who give without restraint. Both are appetites, judged by what each is willing to do.
Proverbs 21:25
“The desire of the slothful killeth him - He desires to eat, drink, and be clothed: but as he does not labor, hence he dies with this desire in his heart, envying those who possess plenty through their labor and industry. Hence he is said to covet greedily all the day long, Pro 21:26, while the righteous, who has been laborious and diligent, has enough to eat, and some to spare.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 21:25
“Killeth him - He wastes his strength and life in unsatisfied longings for something which he has not energy to gain. The wish to do great or good things may sometimes be taken for the deed, but if the hindrance is from a man’s own sloth, it does but add to his condemnation.”
the righteous give without restraint: Albert Barnes renders all day long as every day. The wish of the slacker in verse 25 turns into restless, covetous desire, he explains. The righteous, free of that desire, give without grudging.
Proverbs 21:26
“All the day long - Better, every day. The wish of the slothful man passes into restless, covetous, dissatisfied desire; the righteous, free from that desire, gives without grudging.”
Proverbs 21:27-29
"The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable" returns to the ground of verse 3, worship without obedience made worse when brought with ill intent. A lying witness will perish, but the man who listens to truth "will speak forever," true testimony outlasting the false.
Proverbs 21:27
“A lower depth even than Pro 15:8. The wicked man may connect his devotion with his guilt, offer his sacrifice and vow his vow (as men have done under paganism or corrupted Christianity) for success in the perpetration of a crime.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 21:27
For it is one thing to shew mercy on account of our sins; another thing to sin on account of shewing mercy; which can no longer indeed be called mercy, since it cannot grow into sweet fruit, being embittered by the poison of its pestiferous root. For hence it is that the Lord through the prophet rejects even sacrifices themselves, saying, "I the Lord love judgment, and I hate robbery in a whole burnt offering." Hence again He has said, "The sacrifices of the ungodly are abominable, which are offered of wickedness."
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 21 (Admonition 22)patristic
the man who listens to truth: Albert Barnes explains that the man who listens to truth and repeats simply what he has heard speaks a testimony that abides. Bede reads the lying witness as one who claims to serve God and fails to show it in deeds. That witness will perish.
Proverbs 21:28
Speaketh constantly - His testimony abides evermore who repeats simply what he has heard, whether from the lips of men or from the voice within, in contrast with “the false witness.”
A wicked man hardens his face: Bede sets Judas and Peter side by side. Judas, reproved by the Lord himself, would not restrain his evil course, while Peter, upright in heart, corrected himself. One hardened his face and the other made his way sure.
Proverbs 21:30-31
There is no wisdom, no understanding: The chapter closes on the sovereignty that opened it: "There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD." A horse is prepared for the day of battle, the best weapon, "but victory is of the LORD," the God who decides the outcome.
victory is of the LORD: Adam Clarke notes that the Law forbade a king to multiply horses in Deuteronomy 17:16, and that Solomon gathered them anyway. Here Solomon owns that a horse prepared for the day of battle still leaves the outcome to the LORD. Victory is of the LORD.
Proverbs 21:31
“The horse is prepared against the day of battle - Horses were not used among the Jews before the time of Solomon. There was a Divine command against them, Deu 17:16; but Solomon transgressed it; see 1Ki 10:29. But he here allows that a horse is a vain thing for safety; and that however strong and well appointed cavalry may be, still safety, escape, and victory, are of the Lord.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
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); Basil of Caesarea, ON MERCY AND JUSTICE; Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks; Didache, The Didache, Chapter 2; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; John Gill; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 18:3.