Proverbschapter 24
34 verses · KJVProverbs book hub →
A.Through Wisdom a House Is Builded; Rescue Them Drawn Unto Deathvv. 1-22
Proverbs 24:1-2
Be not thou envious against evil men: repeats a warning the collection returns to more than once, and this pairing gives the reason: their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief. Gill reads the envy warned against as wishing for their apparent ease or success rather than approving their acts, a temptation the plain man feels precisely because the wicked often look comfortable. The proverb answers desire with diagnosis, showing what actually occupies the heart the reader might otherwise envy.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:1, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:2, in their own words.
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
Through wisdom is an house builded: turns from moral counsel to a builder's proverb, wisdom, understanding and knowledge named as three distinct workers raising, establishing and filling a household in turn. The chambers filled with all precious and pleasant riches reads on two levels at once, the literal household well stocked and the wise life itself furnished within, and Bridges takes the verse as a small parable for any undertaking that wants a foundation before it wants decoration.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:3, in their own words.
Proverbs 24:3
“Through wisdom is a house builded,.... A family is built up, furnished and supplied with the necessaries and conveniences of life, and brought into flourishing and prosperous circumstances, by wise and prudent management, by diligence and industry, through the blessing of God upon them, without taking such methods as evil men do. The house of God, the church of the living God, is built by Wisdom, that is, by Christ; on a good foundation, a rock, upon himself, against which the gates of hell can never prevail; see Pro 9:”
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
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:4, in their own words.
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· eighth century· Commentary on Proverbspatristic
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.”
Proverbs 24:5-6
A wise man is strong: sets knowledge beside physical power and ranks it equal or higher, a claim the next line applies directly to warfare: by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war, and in multitude of counsellors there is safety. Henry reads the war language as covering any serious undertaking, since the same principle, that a plan improves under more than one mind, governs a household or a kingdom as much as a battle.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:5, in their own words.
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
Proverbs 24:5
“A wise man will compass that by his wisdom which a strong man cannot effect by force of arms. The spirit is strengthened both for the spiritual work and the spiritual warfare by true wisdom. (4.) It will govern a house and a kingdom too, and the affairs of both,”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:6, in their own words.
Proverbs 24:6
“For by wise counsel thou shall make thy war,.... Counsel, as well as strength, is necessary for war: kings and states, before they enter on a war, should not only well consider the justness of their cause, but should consult whether they have a sufficiency of men and money to carry it on; and should concert the wisest methods to attack the enemy, or defend themselves; and, above all, should ask counsel of God; see 2Ki 18:”
Proverbs 24:7-9
Wisdom is too high for a fool: explains why he openeth not his mouth in the gate, the public place where legal and civic business is settled, since wisdom's reach is simply beyond him rather than merely unwelcome to him. The scorner is an abomination to men closes the unit with the thought of foolishness itself called sin, not only the foolish act, and Gill reads the escalation from fool to scorner as the collection's usual pattern, folly hardening into open contempt.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:7, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:8, in their own words.
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 sight of God and men.”
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:9, in their own words.
Proverbs 24:9
“The thoughts of foolishness is sin,.... The thought of sin is sin (e), before it comes into action; the motions of sin in the mind, the workings of corrupt nature in the heart, the sinful desires of the flesh and of the mind: these are forbidden and condemned by the law of God as sin, which says, "Thou shall not covet", Exo 20:17, and stand in need of pardoning grace and mercy; see Rom 7:”
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
Proverbs 24:10
If thou faint in the day of adversity: , thy strength is small stands as its own terse proverb, adversity named as the test that reveals a strength never truly proven until then. Bridges reads the verse as diagnostic rather than accusing, adversity exposing a weakness that comfortable days had simply never called upon, so the fainting is evidence of a condition rather than its cause.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:10, in their own words.
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
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
deliver them that are drawn unto death: , and those that are ready to be slain reads most plainly as rescuing the condemned from unjust execution, and Henry and the older bench take it that way, a call to intervene for a neighbor about to suffer a miscarriage of justice. Clarke notes the verse has also been read more broadly of anyone perishing, physically or spiritually, whom a bystander could help and does not; the excuse offered in verse 12, we knew it not, is answered either way by the same question, doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it, God weighing the plea against what the bystander actually knew.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:11, in their own words.
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 in deed and power to sing: "the Lord hath given me a learned tongue that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary."
John Cassian· fifth century· CONFERENCE 2:13patristic
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:12, in their own words.
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 thou honey, because it is good: My son, eat thou honey, because it is good returns to the father's direct address and uses the collection's favorite image for wisdom's sweetness, the honeycomb pleasant to taste and to the palate proof enough of its worth. So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul makes the comparison explicit, and thy expectation shall not be cut off repeats the promise already given at 23:18, a hope that outlasts present appearances. Gill reads the doubled promise as deliberate reinforcement rather than mere repetition.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:13, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:14, in their own words.
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
Lay not wait, O wicked man: , against the dwelling of the righteous addresses the aggressor directly, and the reason given looks past any single ambush to the whole shape of a righteous life: a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Bridges reads the seven falls as ordinary setbacks rather than moral failures, and the verse's real force in the resilience, a righteous man's troubles are never his last word, while the wicked man's single fall is final.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:15, in their own words.
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.”
Voices on this verse, 3What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:16, in their own words.
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· fifth century· CONFERENCE 20:12patristic
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
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 24:17-18
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth: corrects an instinct the previous verses might almost invite, forbidding satisfaction even at a genuine enemy's downfall. Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him gives the surprising reason, gloating can move God to relent toward the very man being gloated over, and Henry reads the verse as guarding the heart of the righteous from becoming, in its own way, as ungracious as the wicked it opposes.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:17, in their own words.
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
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:18, in their own words.
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
Fret not thyself because of evil men: restates the chapter's opening warning in almost the same words the psalmist uses to begin Psalm 37, fret not thyself because of evildoers, the same pastoral counsel meeting the same temptation in two books. For there shall be no reward to the evil man, the candle of the wicked shall be put out gives the settled reason, a light that goes out is a light with no future, and Delitzsch reads the repeated warning across the chapter as proof of how persistent the temptation to envy actually is.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:20, in their own words.
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
fear thou the Lord and the king: My son, fear thou the Lord and the king places the two fears side by side without confusing them, reverence for God and due respect for civil authority named in one breath. Meddle not with them that are given to change warns off political agitators and conspirators, and their calamity shall rise suddenly gives the reason, sudden ruin awaiting those who stir against settled authority, a caution Gill reads as wisdom rather than mere political conservatism, since the chapter has already warned against fretting at any injustice with rash action.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:21, in their own words.
Proverbs 24:21
“Fear the Lord, my son, and the king. Rightly as he himself said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" (Matt. 22). Neither is there any obstacle in the Lord and king to understand the …”
Bede· eighth century· Commentary on Proverbspatristic
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.”
B.More Sayings of the Wise: I Went by the Field of the Sluggardvv. 23-34
Proverbs 24:23
These things also belong to the wise: is the book's fourth header, marking a short new collection attributed simply to the wise rather than to Solomon by name, matching the pattern already set at 22:17. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment opens the new section on the same note the earlier collection struck, impartial justice named first among the things belonging to the wise.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:23, in their own words.
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 24:23
“These . . . wise--literally, "are of the wise," as authors (compare "Psalms of David," Hebrew). "These" refers to the verses following, Pr 24:24-34. to have respect--literally, "to discern faces," show partiality, 24, 25. of which an example is justifying the wicked, to which is opposed, rebuking him, which has a blessing.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Proverbs 24:24-26
He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous: names the judge or witness who calls evil good, and the people curse him, nations shall abhor him states the social cost of that corruption in the strongest terms the header collection uses. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight sets the opposite reward, and every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer closes the unit with a figure of honor, Bridges reads the kiss as the ancient token of respect given to one whose word could be trusted.
Voices on this verse, 2What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:26, in their own words.
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.”
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.”
Proverbs 24:27
Prepare thy work without: , and make it fit for thyself in the field, and afterwards build thine house sets a plain order for a farming household, income secured before comfort is built, and the older commentators generalize it to any undertaking that puts foundation before ornament. Henry reads it beside verse 3's house built through wisdom, the two verses framing the header collection's practical wisdom around the same image of a household rightly raised.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:27, in their own words.
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· fifth century· COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 118patristic
Proverbs 24:28-29
Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause: forbids false or needless testimony, and deceive not with thy lips widens the ban to any lying speech against him. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me answers a private urge to repay injury with injury, and I will render to the man according to his work leaves that rendering to a judge or to God rather than to personal revenge, a proverb the bench reads alongside Rom 12:17's recompense to no man evil for evil as the same instinct answered twice in Scripture.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:28, in their own words.
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
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:29, in their own words.
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 by the field of the slothful: The chapter closes as an eyewitness report rather than an abstract saying: I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding, and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, the stone wall broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well, I looked upon it, and received instruction states the method as much as the finding, Bridges noting that the observer learns wisdom by watching a real ruin rather than by being told a rule, the same instructive habit the book commends throughout.
Voices on this verse, 3What preachers and commentators have said about Proverbs 24:30, in their own words.
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
Proverbs 24:30-32
“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.”
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2027: “The Sluggard's Farm” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1888)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Proverbs 24:30-32
“THIS lazy man did no hurt to his fellow men—he was not a thief, nor a ruffian, nor a meddler in anybody else's business. He did not trouble himself about other men's concerns, for he did not even attend to his own—it required too much exertion. He was not grossly vicious. He had not energy enough to care for that. He was one who liked to take things easily. He always let well enough alone and, for the that matter, he let ill alone, too, as the nettles and the thistles in his garden plainly proved!”
Charles Spurgeon· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3381: “The Broken Fence” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular (Reformed) Baptist / Five-point Calvinist / 1689 LBCF / 19th-c. evangelical
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:32, in their own words.
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
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber: , a little folding of the hands to sleep, and the poverty that follows as one that travelleth and as an armed man repeat 6:10-11 word for word, the collection's own refrain closing the chapter exactly as it closed the earlier warning to the sluggard. Gill reads the repetition as deliberate rather than careless, the same field observed and the same lesson drawn twice because the danger it names never stops recurring.
Voices on this verse, 1What a preacher or commentator has said about Proverbs 24:34, in their own words.
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.”
Where the chapter sits
Proverbs 24 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 |
|---|---|---|
| רָשָׁעrâshâʻ5 times, as רָ֭שָׁע, וּ֝רְשָׁעִ֗ים, בָּרְשָׁעִֽים׃ | wicked | 15, 16, 19, 20 and 1 more |
| לֵבlêb4 times, as לִבָּ֑ם, לִבֶּֽךָ׃, לֵֽב׃ | heart | 2, 17, 30, 32 |
| אִישׁʼîysh4 times, as וְאִֽישׁ־, לָאִ֣ישׁ, אִישׁ־ | man | 5, 29, 30, 34 |
| יָדַעyâdaʻ4 times, as יָדַ֪עְנ֫וּ, יֵדָ֑ע, דְּעֶ֥ה | to know | 12, 14, 22 |
| שׁוּבshûwb4 times, as וְהֵשִׁ֖יב, מֵ֝שִׁ֗יב, אָשִׁ֖יב | to return | 12, 18, 26, 29 |
| רַעraʻ3 times, as רָעָ֑ה, בְרָעָֽה׃, לָרָ֑ע | bad | 1, 16, 20 |
Cross references
The 8 chapters this one speaks with, most first. Open a row for the verses it shares.
Psalms 373 verses
Proverbs 24:19
Psalms 37:1Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.Proverbs 24:1
Psalms 37:7Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.Proverbs 24:16
Psalms 37:24Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.- Read Psalms 37 →
Proverbs 153 verses
Proverbs 24:4
Proverbs 15:6In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.Proverbs 24:6
Proverbs 15:22Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.Proverbs 24:26
Proverbs 15:23A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!- Read Proverbs 15 →
Proverbs 203 verses
Proverbs 24:4
Proverbs 20:15There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.Proverbs 24:6
Proverbs 20:18Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.Proverbs 24:29
Proverbs 20:22Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee.- Read Proverbs 20 →
Proverbs 63 verses
Proverbs 24:33
Proverbs 6:4Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.Proverbs 24:30
Proverbs 6:6Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:Proverbs 24:8
Proverbs 6:18An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,- Read Proverbs 6 →
The rest of the chapters this one speaks with, 4 of them, for a reader following a thread past the four above
- Proverbs 253 verses
- Psalms 102 verses
- Proverbs 142 verses
- Proverbs 212 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 24The history
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.
"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.
What it meant to them
"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.
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.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Proverbs 24. 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 11 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); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Charles Spurgeon; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 118; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Cassian; John Gill and Matthew Henry.