Proverbschapter 24
34 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
I went past the field of a slacker and by the vineyard of a man lacking judgment.
Introduction
Solomon and others, Wisdom and poetry, Proverbs Overview.
The words of the wise run to verse 22 of this chapter, and a short second collection follows under its own heading, further sayings of the wise. Both speak to landowners, and to men who could speak up for a neighbour in danger and might prefer to stay silent. The first hearers lived by vineyards, fields and the justice of the city gate. Listen for the sayings about envy of the wicked, and for the refusal to let a bystander plead ignorance. The chapter ends with a lesson the teacher drew from something he saw with his own eyes.
Context
- Who
- Landowners, and men who could speak up for a condemned neighbour but would rather not
- What
- The last of the words of the wise, then a short second collection of further sayings of the wise from verse 23.
- Where
- The fields and walled vineyards of the hill country, and the city gate where cases were decided.
- When
- Undated by the text; the book sets these sayings of the wise after Solomon's sayings of about 970 to 931 BC.
- Why
- To teach courage in rescuing the condemned, restraint toward a fallen enemy, and diligence in field and vineyard.
Historical context
The closing picture is the most concrete in the book: a field and a vineyard "all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down." Hill-country vineyards needed a stone wall to keep out jackals and grazing animals, terraces rebuilt each year, and constant clearing. Walls fall in the winter rains. A single lazy season shows, and two seasons lose the plot.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
"Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house." This is the order a young man setting up on his own had to follow: get the ground cleared and planted first, because a house cannot be eaten. A vineyard takes four or five years to bear, so the planting decides when a marriage is possible.
"If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death… doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it?" Executions and debt seizures happened in public, and a bystander who knew the truth could stop one by speaking at the gate. The excuse quoted, "behold, we knew it not", is the exact thing a man would say afterwards.
"Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth" cuts against the ordinary honour code of the region, where public gloating over a fallen rival was the expected finish to a feud.
Significance
"A just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again" was heard by people who assumed that a righteous man's life would be a smooth line. The proverb defines the righteous man by the getting up, not by the not falling.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The chapter's picture of the ruined vineyard ends with poverty arriving "as one that travelleth", the same unhurried figure from chapter 6. The first hearers had walked past fields like that and knew whose they were.
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 Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition) and Ein Yaakov.
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 instruction for the student and the judge. To the fool wisdom seems as costly as pearls, and he asks how he will ever learn Torah, "But the wise man studies a little today and a little tomorrow" (Rashi on Proverbs 24:7:1). The honey of the thirteenth verse is the pattern for study: "just as you run to eat honey, so should you run to know wisdom" (Rashi on Proverbs 24:13:1). At the tenth verse the faint heart in the day of trouble is "If you have become lax in the Torah" (Rashi on Proverbs 24:10:1).
The fear of the LORD and the king of the twenty-first verse is ranked. The mortal king is feared too, "but only if he does not turn you away from the fear of the Lord, for the fear of the Lord is always first" (Rashi on Proverbs 24:21:1). At the twenty-third verse, where the book turns to a further set of sayings of the wise, Rashi says the whole section is "addressed to the wise who sit in judgment" (Rashi on Proverbs 24:23:1).
Metzudat David is quoted on this chapter once, at the sixteenth verse, from the Sefaria Community Translation, which Sefaria reports as CC0. "For even if the righteous have fallen seven times, they will return and rise" (Metzudat David on Proverbs 24:16:1).
The corpus carries eleven further notes on this chapter without an English text. Ten are marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref, and they are cited by ref alone. They are Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 24:1:1, 24:3:1, 24:4:1, 24:15:1, 24:17:1, 24:18:1 and 24:20:1. They also include Metzudat David on Proverbs 24:2:1, 24:6:1 and 24:24:1. One is marked linked because the text fetch returned nothing, and it is cited by ref alone. It is Rashi on Proverbs 24:14:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-five filed as Midrash and five as Talmud, and the text of none, so each is cited here by its ref and never quoted or paraphrased. At verse 3 it holds Otzar Midrashim, Tractate of Emanations 1:6. At verses 3 to 4 it holds Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayakhel 6:1, with Midrash Tanchuma, Vayakhel 5:2. At verse 4 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:14, with Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 11:12 and with Otzar Midrashim, Chuppah of Eliyahu, Chuppat Eliyahu Rabbah 66. At verse 5 it holds Ruth Rabbah (Lerner) 6:8:1 and Ruth Rabbah 6:4. At verse 6 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 5:2, with Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 5:3. At verse 7 it holds Devarim Rabbah 8:3 and Midrash Shmuel 5:3. At verse 10 it holds Berakhot 63a:22, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Berakhot 9:16. At verse 11 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Bava Metzia 5:8:2 and Midrash Tehillim 15:4. At verse 16 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 78:8, with Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 4. At verse 17 it holds Berakhot 55b:13, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Nedarim 4:8. At verse 20 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 11:26:2, with Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Kedoshim 15:1. At verse 21 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 15:14 and Devarim Rabbah 2:33. At verse 23 it holds Midrash Mishlei 24:2 and Shemot Rabbah 30:24. At verse 24 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 7:35, with Ein Yaakov, Sotah 7:40. At verse 25 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 12, with Devarim Rabbah 1:9. At verse 26 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 12:2, with Ein Yaakov, Gittin 1:7. At verse 27 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 13:10, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 8:7. At verse 28 it holds Devarim Rabbah 3:11 and Vayikra Rabbah 6:1. At verse 29 it holds Esther Rabbah 5:1. At verse 30 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 24:6 and Bereshit Rabbah 21:2. At verse 31 it holds Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 873:1. 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 24:5:1 to 24:23:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Proverbs 24:16:1, Sefaria Community Translation, reported CC0; Rashi, Rashi on Proverbs 24:14:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 24:1:1, 24:3:1, 24:4:1, 24:15:1, 24:17:1, 24:18:1 and 24:20:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Proverbs 24:2:1, 24:6:1 and 24:24:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/24.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 book dossier, src/components/book/dossier-content/proverbs.ts, for the headings and the shape of the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Through Wisdom a House Is Builded; Rescue Them Drawn Unto Death
Proverbs 24:1-2
Do not envy wicked men: n or desire their company" repeats a warning the collection returns to more than once. This pairing gives the reason: "their hearts devise violence, and their lips declare trouble." It shows what occupies the heart the reader might otherwise envy.
Proverbs 24:1
“A lesson given before, now combined with another. True followers after wisdom will admit neither envy of evil on the one hand, nor admiration or fellowship with it on the other.”
for their hearts devise violence: Verse 2 gives the reason to shun wicked men. Their hearts devise violence against the good, as Haman plotted the ruin of the Jews in John Gill's example. Gill adds that they scheme to draw others into the same ways, so their company is to be avoided.
Proverbs 24:2
“For their heart studieth destruction,.... To others; to good men, that separate from them, and reprove them, or are in their way; or any ways hinder them in the prosecution of their wicked designs; as Haman's heart studied the destruction of the Jews: or their hearts study to draw men into their destructive methods of living, and therefore should be shunned and avoided.”
Proverbs 24:3-4
By wisdom a house is built: t and by understanding it is established" turns from moral counsel to a builder's proverb. The rooms "filled with every precious and beautiful treasure" read on two levels at once, the household well stocked and the wise life furnished within.
Proverbs 24:3
“Men may by unrighteous practices build their houses, but they cannot establish them, for the foundation is rotten ( Hab. ii. 9, 10 ); whereas what is honestly got will wear like steel and be an inheritance to children's children.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
its rooms are filled: Knowledge fills the house that wisdom built. John Gill reads it of a household stocked with every precious and useful good through skill in trade or farming. Bede reads the rooms as the hearts of the righteous, filled with virtues by the teaching of wisdom.
Proverbs 24:4
“And by knowledge shalt the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. That are both of worth, value, and usefulness, and for ornament and delight; the more private and retired parts of a man's dwelling house, as well as his shops, warehouses, barns, and granaries, shall be filled with all kind of valuable substance, through his knowledge in improving trade or husbandry, in which he is concerned.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 24:4
“In doctrine, the storehouses will be filled, etc. The storehouses are the hearts of the righteous, which will be filled with the gifts of virtues only by the doctrine of wisdom.”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
Proverbs 24:5-6
A wise man is strong: g" sets knowledge beside physical power and ranks it equal or higher. The next line applies the claim to warfare: "Only with sound guidance should you wage war, and victory lies in a multitude of counselors." A plan improves under more than one mind.
Proverbs 24:5
A wise man is strong - His wisdom enables him to construct a great variety of machines, by which, under his own influence, he can do the labor of a hundred or even a thousand men. But in all cases wisdom gives power and influence; and he who is wise to salvation can overcome even Satan himself. The Septuagint has: “The wise is better than the strong; and the man who has prudence, than a stout husbandman.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
victory lies in a multitude of counselors: War needs counsel as much as strength. John Gill says kings should weigh the justice of their cause and whether they have men and money, and above all ask counsel of God. Sound guidance and many counselors are part of the wise man's strength in verse 5.
Proverbs 24:7-9
Wisdom is too high for a fool: l," so "he does not open his mouth in the meeting place," the city gate. Wisdom's reach is beyond him. The unit then calls the plan itself sin, since "A foolish scheme is sin," and "a mocker is detestable to men."
Proverbs 24:7
“Wisdom is too high for a fool,.... It is out of his reach, he cannot attain it; natural wisdom, or the knowledge of many things in nature; at least it seems so to himself, and therefore will not take any pains, or make use of any means, to obtain it; as the knowledge of human laws; of medicine, of philosophy, of languages, or of any of the liberal arts and sciences; or he has not really a capacity for it.”
will be called a schemer: The schemer earns his name by planning evil. John Gill separates the evil all men fall into from the evil a man sits down to contrive, such as new ways of deceiving others. The name marks the man who studies how to sin.
Proverbs 24:8
“He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person To do evil is natural to men, all are prone to it; being conceived and born in sin, and, from the womb, more or less commit it: but for a man to sit down and contrive evil, as some men are inventors of evil things; contrive new sins, or at least new methods of sinning, such as new oaths, new games, new ways of tricking and deceiving men; and are always studying and devising ways and means of committing sin, and doing that which is evil in the…”
A foolish scheme is sin: even before it is carried out, as John Gill reads the line, and he cites the command against coveting. Adam Clarke gives other renderings, among them the device of the foolish is sin. The mocker is detestable to men as well.
Proverbs 24:9
“The thought of foolishness is sin - זמת אולת חטאת zimmath ivveleth chattath. “The device of folly is transgression;” or, “an evil purpose is sinful;” or, perhaps more literally, “the device of the foolish is sin.” It has been variously understood by the versions. “The cunning: of the fool is sin.” - Targum. “The imprudent man (or fool, αφρων) shall die in sins.” - Septuagint. So the Arabic. The thinkynge of the fool is synne - Old MS. Bible.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
If you faint in the day of distress: s, how small is your strength" stands as its own terse proverb. Distress is the test that reveals a strength never proven until then. The fainting exposes a weakness that easy days had never called upon.
Proverbs 24:10
“If thou faint - If thou give way to discouragement and despair in the day of adversity - time of trial or temptation. Thy strength is small - צר כחכה tsar cochachah, thy strength is contracted. So the old MS. Bible excellently: Gif sliden thou dispeire, in the dai of anguyfs, schal be made litil thy strengthe. In times of trial we should endeavor to be doubly courageous; when a man loses his courage, his strength avails him nothing.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 24:10
“Literally, "If thou fail in the day of straits (adversity), strait (or, small) is thy strength," which is then truly tested. Neglect of known duty is sin (Jas 4:17). ready--literally, "bowing down" to be slain--that is, unjustly.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Proverbs 24:11-12
Rescue those being led away to death: h" reads most plainly as saving the condemned from unjust execution, a call to step in for a neighbor. Clarke notes that the verse has also been read of anyone perishing, in body or soul, whom a bystander could help and does not.
Proverbs 24:11
And so learn from your own experience to sympathize with those in trouble, and never to terrify with destructive despair those who are in danger, nor harden them with severe speeches, but rather restore them with gentle and kindly consolations, and as the wise Solomon says, "Spare not to deliver those who are led forth to death, and to redeem those who are to be slain," and after the example of our Saviour, break not the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, and ask of the Lord that grace, by means of which you yourself may faithfully learn both…
John Cassian · written before 435 · CONFERENCE 2:13patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 24:11
“Literally: “Deliver those that are drawn unto death, And those who totter to the slaughter - if Thou withdraw ...” i. e., “O withdraw them,” save them from their doom; in contrast to Pro 24:10. The structure and meaning are both somewhat obscure; but the sentence is complete in itself, and is not a mere hypothesis concluded in the following verses.”
He who weighs hearts consider it?: Albert Barnes reads verse 12 against the false plea that we did not know about this. He who weighs hearts knows what the bystander knew. Barnes takes verses 10 to 12 as one whole, closed by the question of repaying a man according to his deeds.
Proverbs 24:12
“As Pro 24:11 warned men against acquiescing in an unrighteous tyranny, so this denounces the tendency to hush up a wrong with the false plea of ignorance. Compare Ecc 5:8. Pro 24:10-12 thus forms a complete and connected whole.”
Proverbs 24:13-14
Eat honey, my son: n, for it is good" returns to the father's direct address and uses the collection's favorite image for the sweetness of wisdom. "Know therefore that wisdom is sweet to your soul" makes the comparison plain. The promise that "your hope will never be cut off" repeats 23:18.
Proverbs 24:13
“Honey entered largely into the diet of Hebrew children Isa 7:15, so that it was as natural an emblem for the purest and simplest wisdom, as the “sincere milk of the word” was to the New Testament writers. The learner hears what seems to be a rule of diet - then Pro 24:14 the parable is explained.”
wisdom is sweet to your soul: Albert Barnes calls honey a natural emblem of the simplest wisdom. Adam Clarke reads the sweetness as true godliness, which is to the soul what the honeycomb is to the mouth. The hope never cut off repeats 23:18, as Clarke notes.
Proverbs 24:14
“So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul - True religion, experimental godliness, shall be to thy soul as the honey-comb is to thy mouth. Then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off - This is precisely the same with that in Pro 23:18 (note), where see the note.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 24:15-16
Do not lie in wait, O wicked man: n, near the dwelling of the righteous" addresses the aggressor directly. The reason looks past any ambush: "though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times."
Proverbs 24:15
“The teaching of the proverb warns men not to attack or plot against the righteous. They will lose their labor, “Though the just man fall (not into sin, but into calamities), yet he riseth up.” The point of the teaching is not the liability of good men to err, but God’s providential care over them (compare the margin reference). “Seven times” is a certain for an uncertain number (compare Job 5:19). In contrast with this is the fate of the evildoers, who fall utterly even in a single distress.”
a righteous man may fall seven times: Readers divide over the seven falls. Matthew Henry and John Cassian take them as sins of weakness from which the righteous man gets up by repentance. Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes read them as calamities, and Barnes takes seven as a round number set against the wicked man's fatal stumble.
Proverbs 24:16
“For a just man - צדיק tsaddik, the righteous, the same person mentioned above. Falleth seven times - Gets very often into distresses through his resting place being spoiled by the wicked man, the robber, the spoiler of the desert, lying in wait for this purpose, Pro 24:15. And riseth up again - Though God permit the hand of violence sometimes to spoil his tent, temptations to assail his mind, and afflictions to press down his body, he constantly emerges; and every time he passes through the furnace, he comes out brighter and more refined.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 24:16
“The just man falls, sometimes falls seven times perhaps, into sin, sins of infirmity, through the surprise of temptation; but he rises again by repentance, finds mercy with God, and regains his peace. (2.) The wicked man, who expected to see his ruin and to help it forward, is undone. He falls into mischief; his sins and his troubles are his utter destruction.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Proverbs 24:16
“But for those small offences in which, as it is written, "the righteous falls seven times and will rise again" penitence will never cease.”
John Cassian · written before 435 · CONFERENCE 20:12patristic
Proverbs 24:17-18
Do not gloat when your enemy falls: s" corrects an instinct the previous verses might almost invite. The reason surprises: "the LORD will see and disapprove, and turn His wrath away from him." Gloating can move God to relent toward the very man being gloated over.
Proverbs 24:17
“Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, (into this mischief), and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth - When he meets with any thing that injures him; for God will not have thee to avenge thyself, or feel any disposition contrary to love; for if thou do, the Lord will be angry, and may turn away his wrath from him, and pour it out on thee. This I believe to be the true sense of these verses: but we must return to the sixteenth, as that has been most sinfully misrepresented.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
turn His wrath away from him: Adam Clarke reads the wrath as punishment. He paraphrases the warning as the LORD turning the punishment from the fallen enemy onto the one who gloats. Clarke also allows a second reading, that the heart which rejoices at another's ruin deserves a like punishment of its own.
Proverbs 24:18
“And he turn away his wrath from him - Wrath is here taken for the effect of wrath, punishment; and the meaning must be as paraphrased above - lest he take the punishment from him, and inflict it upon thee. And in this way Coverdale understood it: “Lest the Lorde be angry, and turn his wrath from him unto thee.” Or we may understand it thus: Lest the Lord inflict on thee a similar punishment; for if thou get into his spirit, rejoicing in the calamities of another, thou deservest punishment.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 24:19-20
Do not fret over evildoers: s, and do not be envious of the wicked" restates the chapter's warning in nearly the words that open Psalm 37. The reason is settled: "the evil man has no future." Delitzsch notes that the warning is repeated across the chapter.
the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished: Adam Clarke reads the missing future as the loss of blessedness after death, and he takes the lamp's going out as the end of prosperity. Some have read it as annihilation. Clarke answers that the verse speaks of the condition of the wicked, who will exist without being happy.
Proverbs 24:20
“For there shall be no reboard to the evil man - אחרית acharith. There shall not be the future state of blessedness to the wicked. See the note on Pro 24:14 (note). His candle shall be put out; his prosperity shall finally cease, or he shall have no posterity. Some have thought that this text intimates the annihilation of sinners; but it refers not to being, but to the state or condition of that being. The wicked shall be; but they shall not be Happy.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 24:21-22
My son, fear the LORD and the king: g" sets the two fears side by side, reverence for God and due respect for civil authority. The command "do not associate with the rebellious" warns off agitators and conspirators. The reason follows: "they will bring sudden destruction."
Proverbs 24:21
“Them that are given to change - Those that seek to set aside the worship of the true God, or the authority of the true king, who represents Him.”
they will bring sudden destruction: Albert Barnes reads the rebellious of verse 21 as those who would set aside the worship of God or the authority of the king. Their ruin comes suddenly. John Gill reads the caution as wisdom about joining those who stir against settled authority.
Proverbs 24:22
“The ruin of them both? - Of them who do not fear the Lord; and of them that do not reverence the King.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 24:22
“Both - Those who fear not God, and those who fear not the king.”
More Sayings of the Wise: I Went by the Field of the Sluggard
These also are sayings of the wise: e" is the book's fourth header, marking a short new collection credited simply to the wise. The new section opens on the note the earlier collection struck, "To show partiality in judgment is not good," with impartial justice named first.
Proverbs 24:23
“Belong to the wise - Either “are fitting for the wise, addressed to them,” or (as in the superscriptions of many of the Psalms) “are written by the wise.” Most recent commentators take it in the latter sense, and look on it as indicating the beginning of a fresh section, containing proverbs not ascribed to Solomon’s authorship. Compare the introduction to Proverbs.”
Proverbs 24:24-26
Whoever tells the guilty: Whoever calls the guilty innocent is the judge or witness who calls evil good, and "peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him." Then "An honest answer given is like a kiss on the lips," and Bridges notes the kiss as the ancient token of respect.
those who convict the guilty: Verse 25 sets the reward of honest judges against the curse of verse 24. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read the pair as the first example of partiality, calling the guilty innocent, with rebuke of the guilty as its opposite. Those who convict the guilty receive rich blessing.
Proverbs 24:25
“There is no surer path to popularity than a righteous severity in punishing guilt.”
An honest answer given is like a kiss: Albert Barnes reads the verse as an honest answer winning men's hearts, and he compares 2 Samuel 15:1 to 6. John Gill hears the honest answer of a judge giving righteous judgment, which wins both love and obedience. Gill cites Psalm 2:12 for such a kiss.
Proverbs 24:26
“Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer. Either as a witness to a question put to him in court, to which he answers aptly and uprightly; or rather as a judge, who, having heard a cause, answers and gives his opinion of it faithfully, and pronounces a righteous sentence; everyone will love and respect him, and hearken to him and obey him; both affection and obedience are signified by a kiss; see Psa 2:12.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 24:26
“Better, He shall kiss lips that giveth a right answer, i. e., he shall gain the hearts of men as much as by all outward signs of sympathy and favor. Compare 2Sa 15:1-6.”
Complete your outdoor work: k and prepare your field; after that, you may build your house" sets a plain order for a farming household. Henry sets it beside the wise builder of verse 3. The two verses frame this collection's practical counsel around one image of a household rightly raised.
Proverbs 24:27
“The sacred Scripture has somewhere said, "Prepare your works for your departure, and make yourself ready for the field." Now by our departure I imagine is meant our going from this world and removal from it. And this time must of course overtake every one; for, as the psalmist says, "What man is there that shall live and not see death, and that can save his soul from the hand of hell?" For the nature of man was condemned in Adam and fell away unto corruption, because he foolishly transgressed the commandment given him.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 118patristic
Proverbs 24:28-29
Do not testify against your neighbor: r without cause" forbids false or needless testimony. The next verse forbids the private urge to repay injury with injury. Forbidding the words "I will repay the man according to his work" leaves repayment to a judge or to God.
Proverbs 24:28
“Be not a witness - Do not be forward to offer thyself to bear testimony against a neighbor, in a matter which may prejudice him, where the essential claims of justice do not require such interference; and especially do not do this in a spirit of revenge, because he has injured thee before.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John Gill pictures a man whose neighbor testified against him, planning to repay the man in kind. Gill counts private revenge a sin in itself. He leaves repayment to the LORD, and verse 12 has already named Him as the One who will repay a man according to his deeds.
Proverbs 24:29
“Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me,.... He has falsely accused and reproached me, and bore a false testimony, or suborned false witnesses against me, and I will do the same to him, now an opportunity serves; but as private revenge itself is sinful, so especially when it is pursued in a wicked way; I will render to the man according to his work; this should be left to the Lord, whose prerogative it is; see Pro 24:19.”
Proverbs 24:30-32
I went past the field of a slacker: The chapter closes on an eyewitness report of a slacker's field, where "Thorns had grown up everywhere." The line "I observed and took it to heart; I looked and received instruction" states the method. The observer learns wisdom by watching a real ruin more than by being told a rule.
Proverbs 24:30
“I went by the field of the slothful - This is a most instructive parable; is exemplified every day in a variety of forms; and is powerfully descriptive of the state of many a blackslider and trifler in religion. Calmet has an excellent note on this passage. I shall give the substance of it. Solomon often recommends diligence and economy to his disciples. In those primitive times when agriculture was honorable, no man was respected who neglected to cultivate his grounds, who sunk into poverty, contracted debt, or engaged in ruinous securities.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 24:30
“NO DOUBT Solomon was sometimes glad to lay aside the robes of State, escape from the forms of court and go through the country unknown. On one occasion, when he was doing so, he looked over the broken wall of a little estate which belonged to a farmer of his country. This estate consisted of a piece of plowed land and a vineyard. One glance showed him that it was owned by a sluggard who neglected it, for the weeds had grown right plentifully and covered all the face of the ground. From this Solomon gathered instruction.”
the stone wall was broken down: The field shows its owner's neglect at a glance. Thorns, thistles and a broken stone wall come from doing nothing at all. Charles Spurgeon draws out the point in his sermon on the broken fence, where the lazy man lets the thistles take his ground.
I observed and took it to heart: John Gill gives the Hebrew as setting the heart to it. He pictures the passer weighing who owned the field and what a foolish man had let the field and vineyard become. The ruin itself is the instruction.
Proverbs 24:32
“Then I saw, and considered it well,.... Or, "when I saw, I considered it well"; or "set my heart it" (z); when he saw as he passed along the field and the vineyard, he, considered who was the owner and proprietor of them; what a sluggish and foolish man he was, and what a ruinous condition his field and vineyard were in.”
Proverbs 24:33-34
A little sleep, a little slumber: r, a little folding of the hands to rest" and the poverty that comes "like a robber" repeat 6:10-11. The book's own refrain closes the chapter as it closed the earlier warning. The lesson is drawn twice because the danger it names keeps returning.
poverty will come upon you like a robber: Poverty will come like a robber, and need like a bandit that cannot be resisted, as John Gill reads the pair. The lines repeat 6:10 to 11, where a little sleep and a little slumber also end in want. A part of the book ends here, in Gill's count.
Proverbs 24:34
“So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth,.... Swiftly and suddenly, both in a temporal and spiritual sense; See Gill on Pro 6:11; and thy want as an armed man; irresistibly. Here ends according to some the "second", according to others the "third" part of this book of Proverbs, another beginning with the following chapter.”
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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); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3381: “The Broken Fence” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 20:12; John Gill and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.