Proverbschapter 3
35 verses · Solomon and others · 10th to 5th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
Introduction
Solomon and others, Wisdom and poetry, Proverbs Overview.
This chapter belongs to the father's lessons that open Proverbs, and the book's heading gives it to Solomon. Its hearers were sons of farming households who would soon manage a harvest and bring its first portion to the sanctuary. The chapter holds some of the best known lines in the book, and later writers of the New Testament return to them. Listen for the promises joined to each command, and for the way hardship is explained in family terms. Notice where the chapter turns from a son's walk with God to his dealings with his neighbour. Read it as teaching about trust.
Context
- Who
- Sons of landowning families who would soon manage a harvest and its offerings
- What
- A father's lesson on trusting the LORD, honouring Him with the harvest, receiving His discipline, prizing wisdom and dealing fairly with a neighbour.
- Where
- A farming household in the hill country of Israel, among the threshing floors, the storehouses and the wine presses.
- When
- The reign of Solomon, about 970 to 931 BC, by the heading at Proverbs 1:1; the book reached its final form later, since Proverbs 25:1 names the men of Hezekiah as copyists.
- Why
- To teach a son to rest his whole life on the LORD and to show that such trust shapes how he treats others.
Historical context
"Honour the LORD with thy firstfruits" describes a specific act. When the barley came in, the first sheaf went to the sanctuary before the household ate any of it, and the same rule ran through grain, wine, oil, and the firstborn of the flock. Giving first, before you knew how the rest of the harvest would turn out, was an act of nerve as much as of piety.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The "barns filled with plenty" and "presses bursting out with new wine" are the two halves of the year's payoff. Grain was stored in plastered pits and jars; grapes were trodden in a rock-cut basin that drained through a channel into a lower vat, where the juice fermented. Rock-cut presses like these still sit in the hills of Judah by the hundreds.
"Bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart" borrows from two real habits. People wore small pouches and amulets on a cord at the throat, and scribes wrote on wax-coated or plastered writing boards. The father is saying: wear this the way you wear jewellery, and write it where it cannot be wiped off.
The warnings against striking hands in a pledge belong to Israel's credit system. There were no banks. A loan was guaranteed by a third man clapping hands on the deal, and if the borrower defaulted, the guarantor could lose his cloak, his field, and finally his freedom to debt slavery.
Significance
A farmer's whole life ran on trusting a harvest he could not control. "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding" landed on people who watched the sky in October and knew what a failed rain meant.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The chapter also reframes hardship. Being corrected by God is put in the same category as a father correcting a son he loves, which, to hearers who assumed suffering meant divine anger, was a genuinely new thought.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No part of this chapter is read in the synagogue year. The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0 for Proverbs, and no festival reading.
The corpus joins the chapter to two weekly portions through Bereshit Rabbati. It carries Parashat Bereshit 11 under the twentieth verse, where the world is founded by wisdom, and Parashat Vayeshev 28 under the thirty-third. Both portions stand in the site's table.
How it is read
Rashi is the commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. His note on trusting the Lord is practical. Trust means to spend your money to find a teacher, and not to rely on your own understanding (Rashi on Proverbs 3:5:1). Being wise in your own eyes is to despise the word of the one who reproves you (Rashi on Proverbs 3:7:1).
His note on the fourteenth verse is about learning shared between two people. In trade each side gives up what the other takes. If one says to his friend that each will teach the other his chapter, then "both chapters are found in the hand of each of them" (Rashi on Proverbs 3:14:1).
The right hand and the left of wisdom he reads as two ways of study. Those who engage in the Torah for its own sake gain length of days, and riches and honour as well. Those who engage in it for another reason still gain riches and honour (Rashi on Proverbs 3:16:1). The Lord founding the earth with wisdom he reads as founding it by the Torah (Rashi on Proverbs 3:19:1). The tree of life of the eighteenth verse he glosses through the grasp of Moses on the staff in Exodus 4:4 (Rashi on Proverbs 3:18:1). The life for the soul in the twenty-second verse he calls a tree of life (Rashi on Proverbs 3:22:1).
Two notes read the chapter against suffering and giving. The discipline of the Lord means that pains, when they come, should be dear to a person. The father who strikes his son then placates him, and the benefit is pleasant after the smiting (Rashi on Proverbs 3:11:1 and 3:12:1). Honouring the Lord from your substance he extends to whatever God gave you, even a pleasant voice. He records a play on the Hebrew that reads the word for substance as the word for throat (Rashi on Proverbs 3:9:1).
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. Five stand cited and unquoted at Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 3:1:1, 3:3:1, 3:6:1, 3:10:1 and 3:17:1, and one at Metzudat David on Proverbs 3:4:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited here rather than quoted. On the second verse it holds Ein Yaakov at Yoma 7:5 and the Glick Edition at Yoma 7:4. On the third it holds Kohelet Rabbah 1:16:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 6:6:1. On the fifth it holds Ein Yaakov and the Glick Edition, both at Shabbat 22:3. On the seventh and eighth it holds Bereshit Rabbah 44:2 and 57:1, with Devarim Rabbah 8:4.
The giving and the discipline draw the Talmud. On the ninth verse the corpus holds Bava Metzia 32a:16 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Kiddushin 1:13. On the tenth it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael at Tractate Bachodesh 8:5 and Tractate Vayassa 1:26. On the eleventh it holds Devarim Rabbah 4:1 and Jerusalem Talmud Megillah 3:7:2, and on the twelfth Berakhot 5a:10 and 5a:16.
The long life and the tree carry the rest. On the thirteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth verses the corpus holds Bamidbar Rabbah 11:1, 22:9 and 11:7. On the eighteenth it holds Arakhin 15b:16, and on the nineteenth Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 43:13. On the twenty-seventh it holds Bava Kamma 81b:20, on the thirty-fourth Avodah Zarah 55a:10, and on the thirty-fifth Bava Batra 10a:1. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Proverbs 3:2:1 to 3:24:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Proverbs 3:1:1, 3:3:1, 3:6:1, 3:10:1 and 3:17:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Proverbs 3:4:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/proverbs/3.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, with Bereshit and Vayeshev in its PARASHOT table.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Trust in Jehovah With All Thy Heart
Proverbs 3:1-4
My son, do not forget my teaching: “My son, do not forget my teaching” opens the section's standing address. “Never let loving devotion or faithfulness leave you” pairs two words joined across the Old Testament, worn like jewelry at the neck. The command to “write them on the tablet of your heart” moves from ornament to inscription.
Proverbs 3:1
“My law - The law of God, which might be called his law, as the gospel is called Paul's gospel, 2Tim ii, 8, because delivered by him.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
years and peace to your life: Adam Clarke counts three blessings in the verse: length of days, years of life and shalom, which he reads as health, long life and abundance. The fifth commandment at Exodus 20:12 attaches the same long days to honoring parents. The son's obedience is that honor.
Proverbs 3:2
“For length of days, and long life,.... Or, "years of life", or "lives" (f); a long life of usefulness and comfort here, and eternal life hereafter: the law of Moses promised a long life to the observers of it; but the Gospel of Christ brings an immortal life to light and promises to all believers in him that they shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 3:2
“For length of days - Three eminent blessings are promised here: 1. ארך ימים orech yamim, long days; 2. שנות חיים shenoth chaiyim, years of lives; 3. שלום shalom, prosperity; i.e. health, long life, and abundance.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
write them on the tablet of your heart: Loving devotion is hesed, the loyal love of the covenant, and faithfulness is emet, truth that holds. Albert Barnes reads the pair as a whole character, love that shuts out selfishness and faithfulness that shuts out falsehood. Jeremiah 31:33 writes the law of God on the heart.
Proverbs 3:3
“The two elements of a morally perfect character: (1) “Mercy,” shutting out all forms of selfishness and hate. (2) “Truth,” shutting out all deliberate falsehood, all hypocrisy, conscious or unconscious. The words that follow possibly refer to the Eastern custom of writing sacred names on pieces of papyrus or parchment, and wearing them around the neck, as charms and talismans against evil. Compare, however, 1Pe 3:3-4.”
favor and high regard: Favor in the sight of God and man is what Luke 2:52 says of the boy Jesus. John Gill adds Joseph, who found favor with Potiphar at Genesis 39:4. High regard translates a phrase for good sense, the name of one who acts wisely.
Proverbs 3:4
“So shall thou find favour,.... Or "grace" (i); the grace of God, and larger measures of it; as Noah did, Gen 6:8; which are communicated to men when in the way of their duty: or good will, esteem, and respect, among men; as Joseph had with Potiphar, and the keeper of the prison, Gen 39:4; and good understanding in the sight of God and man; as Christ, as man, had in the sight of both, Luk 2:52; that is, to be taken notice of, regarded, and approved by both.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart” is one of the book's most quoted and plainest lines, hard only in the doing. The words “lean not on your own understanding” name the opposite of trust, self-reliance. The danger is leaning, resting a decision's whole weight on one's own judgment.
Proverbs 3:5
In preaching “trust in God” the moralist anticipates the teaching that man is justified by faith. To confide in God’s will, the secret of all true greatness, is to rise out of all our anxieties and plans and fears when we think of ourselves as the arbiters of our own fortunes, and so “lean to our own understanding.”
in all your ways acknowledge Him: Acknowledge translates the common verb to know, as one person knows another, and it reaches into all your ways. Such trust lifts a man out of the anxious plans of one who leans on his own understanding. The LORD makes the path straight, as at Isaiah 40:3.
Proverbs 3:6
Marcus Brown
Many of us walk toward our goals in life, assuming God's will over our lives. We pleasure ourselves when we see fit to do so and take up the challenges and burdens that we determine will glorify ourselves if carried properly. Journeying with Christ offers us a far greater reward, to be in step with the Author of Life, the one who writes the greatest stories. When we walk, let us do so with certainty of His intended direction and let us go at his pace. We walk toward the city of God and are blessed to be able to enter its glorious gates, walking instep with the King Himself. How can two travel together if they are not in agreement? Walk in His ways and you will share in the desires of His heart.
Proverbs 3:6
“Not in acts of solemn worship or great crises only, but “in all thy ways;” and then God will make the “path” straight and even.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 3:6
“In all thy ways acknowledge him - Begin, continue, and end every work, purpose, and device, with God. Earnestly pray for his direction at the commencement; look for his continual support in the progress; and so begin and continue that all may terminate in his glory: and then it will certainly be to thy good; for we never honor God, without serving ourselves. This passage is well rendered in my old MS.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 3:7-8
Be not wise in your own eyes: “Be not wise in your own eyes” restates the warning of verse 5 as self-estimation. Its pair, “fear the LORD and turn away from evil,” joins the book's motto to its practice. In this book the fear of the LORD shows itself in conduct.
Proverbs 3:7
Ignorance is constantly, so to speak, accompanied by rashness and leads people on to attach great importance to their wretched fancies. Thus those who are the victims of this malady entertain a great idea of themselves and imagine themselves possessed of such knowledge as no one can gainsay. For they forget, it seems, Solomon, who says, "Be not wise in your own eyes," that is, according to your own single judgment; and again, that "wisdom not put to the proof goes astray."
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 136patristic
refreshment to your bones: The Hebrew reads navel, and John Gill notes that the Septuagint put body in its place, as the Berean does. Refreshment is literally drink to dry bones. To fear the LORD and turn away from evil brings healing to the whole body.
Proverbs 3:8
“It shall be health to thy navel,.... That part of the body which is the knot of the intestines; and may be put for the bowels and inward parts, which being sound, the body is in health; and these may be put for the whole body: and so the Septuagint version renders it, "to thy body"; and this may be put for the whole person.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 3:8
“It shall be health to thy navel - We need not puzzle ourselves to find out what we may suppose to be a more delicate meaning for the original word שר shor than navel; for I am satisfied a more proper cannot be found. It is well known that it is by the umbilical cord that the fetus receives its nourishment all the time it is in the womb of the mother.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 3:9-10
Honor the LORD with your wealth: “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest” names giving as an act of honor. Firstfruits ties it to the law's pattern, the first and best offered before the rest is used. The promise speaks the plain farming terms of Solomon's audience.
Proverbs 3:9
“Substance” points to capital, “increase” to revenue. The Septuagint as if to guard against ill-gotten gains being offered as an atonement for the ill-getting, inserts the quaifying words, “honor the Lord from thy righteous labors.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 3:9
“That we should not, then, try to get anything with sin under pretence of almsgiving we are plainly warned by Holy Scripture, which says, "The sacrifices of the impious are abominable which are offered of wickedness." For whatever in God's sacrifice is offered of wickedness appeases not, but provokes, the anger of Almighty God. Hence again it is written, "Honour the Lord from thy just labours." Whoso, then, takes evilly that he may, as he supposes, give well, it is evident without doubt that he honours not the Lord.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Register of Epistles, Book 9, Epistle CVIpatristic
your vats will overflow with new wine: Barns and vats are the farmer's two stores, grain and wine, the harvest of verse 9 returned in full. Albert Barnes notes that the next verse speaks of the LORD's discipline, so the promise of plenty stands beside correction. Malachi 3:10 makes the same promise to the tithe.
Proverbs 3:10
“Compare the marginal reference. This fullness of outward blessings does not exclude the thought of the “chastening” Pro 3:11, without which the discipline of life would be incomplete. “Presses” are the vats of a Roman vineyard, into which the wine flowed through pipe from the wine-press.”
Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD: “My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD” is quoted in Hebrews 12:5-6, where the correction is read as proof of sonship. The line “the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights” grounds discipline in love.
Proverbs 3:11
And He uses the bitter and biting language of reproof in His consolations by Solomon, tacitly alluding to the love for children that characterizes His instruction: "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;" "For a man who is a sinner escapes reproof." Consequently, therefore, the Scripture says, "Let the righteous reprove and correct me; but let not the oil of the sinner anoint my head."
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Instructor Book 1patristic
Cross references
Proverbs 3:11
- Quoted inHebrews 12:5“And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.”
'My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord' (the exhortation that speaks to sons)
the LORD disciplines the one He loves: Adam Clarke reads correction as proof of the LORD's love, the treatment a father gives the son he holds dearest. Deuteronomy 8:5 uses the same picture of Israel's years in the wilderness. Jesus says the same to Laodicea at Revelation 3:19.
Proverbs 3:12
“Whom the Lord loveth - To encourage thee to bear correction, know that it is a proof of God’s love to thee; and thereby he shows that he treats thee as a father does his son, even that one to whom he bears the fondest affection. The last clause the Septuagint translate μαστιγοι δε παντα υἱον ὁν παραδεχεται, “and chasteneth every son whom he receiveth;” and the apostle, Heb 12:6, quotes this literatim. Both clauses certainly amount to the same sense. Every son whom he receiveth, and the son in whom he delighteth, have very little difference of meaning.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Wisdom Is a Tree of Life to Them That Lay Hold on Her
Proverbs 3:13-15
Blessed is the man who finds wisdom: “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who acquires understanding” opens a hymn to wisdom, the praise chapter 8 gives at greater length. The words “she is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than fine gold” price wisdom against the most stable forms of wealth.
Proverbs 3:13
“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,.... Some connect these words with the preceding; as if the sense was, a good man, though he is chastened by the Lord, yet is a happy man; not only because his chastenings are in love and for good, but because he improves in spiritual knowledge and understanding by them; see Psa 94:12. Aben Ezra connects them with the former, but in a different manner, thus; "happy is the man that findeth wisdom", for by it he keeps from sinning, that chastisements may not come upon him.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 3:13
“The first beatitude of the Proverbs introduces a new lesson. “Getteth understanding,” literally as in the margin, probably in the sense of “drawing forth from God’s store, from the experience of life” (as in Pro 8:35; Pro 18:22). The preciousness of wisdom is dwelt on here, not the use to be made of it.”
she is more profitable than silver: Profitable translates the language of trade, the merchant's traffic carried across countries on camels, as Adam Clarke explains it. Gain is the yield left after every cost is paid. Wisdom returns more than silver or gold.
Proverbs 3:14
“For the merchandise - סחר sachar, the traffic, the trade that is carried on by going through countries and provinces with such articles as they could carry on the backs of camels, etc.; from סחר sachar, to go about, traverse. Chaffarynge; Old MS. Bible. And the gain thereof - תבואתה tebuathah, its produce; what is gained by the articles after all expenses are paid.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
She is more precious than rubies: The word for rubies is peninim, which Albert Barnes notes was red in color at Lamentations 4:7 and which many take as pearls. Solomon at 1 Kings 3:11-13 asked for wisdom and was given riches and honor besides. Nothing you desire compares with her.
Proverbs 3:15
“She is more precious than rubies,.... Or "pearls" (u), as some; which were formerly esteemed above all precious stones; the eastern were the more valuable (w), which Solomon had most knowledge of; Christ is the pearl of great price, of more value than any pearl, or all put together, Mat 13:46; See Gill on Job 28:18; or "carbuncles" (x), as others.”
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 3:15
“Rubies - The פנינים pânı̂ynı̂ym were among the costly articles of traffic, and red or rose-colored Lam 4:7. The last fact has led some to identify them with coral, or (as in the King James Version) with “rubies.” Most commentators, however, have identified them with pearls, which may connect this passage with Mat 7:6; Mat 13:45. The words of the promise here are almost the echo of 1Ki 3:11-13.”
Proverbs 3:16-18
Long life is in her right hand: “Long life is in her right hand” and riches and honor in the left picture wisdom as a giver. “All her ways are pleasant” names the road itself pleasant. “She is a tree of life” reaches back to Eden, the one place in Proverbs where wisdom is that tree.
Proverbs 3:16
Someone may object: If the just man has no left hand, how is Wisdom written to have both a right hand and a left? A diligent reader will very easily judge how great is the difference between the right hand of Wisdom and the left, when he has noticed what things are said to be in her right and what in her left. For it is said: "Length of eternity and years of life are in her right hand, but in her left hand riches and glory."
Jerome · written before 420 · Homilies on the Psalms, Alternate Series 61 (Psalm 15)patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 3:16
“Length of days is in her right hand - A wicked man shortens his days by excesses; a righteous man prolongs his by temperance. In her left hand riches and honor - That is, her hands are full of the choicest benefits. There is nothing to be understood here by the right hand in preference to the left.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
all her paths are peaceful: Albert Barnes reads ways and paths as the two kinds of road, the highway and the byway. All her ways and all her paths are safe. Peaceful carries the peace promised in verse 2.
Proverbs 3:17
“Ways” and “paths” describe the two kinds of roads, the “highway” and the “byway.” In both these he who was guided by Wisdom would walk securely.
She is a tree of life: The tree of life returns in Proverbs at 11:30, 13:12 and 15:4, and last at Revelation 22:2, beside the river of the city of God. John Wesley reads it as a pledge of everlasting life, restoring what sin lost. To embrace her is to hold on.
Proverbs 3:18
I turn to the most wise Solomon as a witness when he said about wisdom, "The tree of life is for all who embrace it." Therefore, if "wisdom is the tree of life," without a doubt, there is another tree of prudence, another of knowledge and another of justice. For logically it is not said that only wisdom, of all the virtues, was worthy to be called "the tree of life" but that the other virtues by no means received names of a similar sort. Therefore, "the trees of the field will give their fruit."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on Leviticus 16:4.3patristic
3 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 3:18
“Wisdom allegorized as a tree of life-- (Ge 2:9; 3:22) whose fruit preserves life, gives all that makes living a blessing. The place of wisdom in the economy of creation and providence commends it to men, who, in proportion to their finite powers, may possess this invaluable attribute, and are thus encouraged by the divine example of its use to seek its possession.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Proverbs 3:18
“A tree - A pledge of everlasting life. He alludes to the tree of life, and intimates, that this is the only restorer of that life which we have lost by sin.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Proverbs 3:18
“She is a tree of life - עץ חיים ets chaiyim, “the tree of lives,” alluding most manifestly to the tree so called which God in the beginning planted in the garden of Paradise, by eating the fruit of which all the wastes of nature might have been continually repaired, so as to prevent death for ever. This is an opinion which appears probable enough. The blessings which wisdom - true religion - gives to men, preserve them in life, comfort them through life, cause them to triumph in death, and ensure them a glorious immortality.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
ConnectionsGenesis 2:9
Proverbs 3:19-20
The LORD founded the earth by wisdom: “The LORD founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding” moves wisdom from a quality to the instrument of creation. “By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew” keeps the depths and clouds of chapter 8.
Proverbs 3:19
Solomon says, "The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens." And this wisdom is the Word, and by him, as John says, "all things were made" [and without him not one thing was made]. This Word is Christ, "for there is one God the Father, from whom are all things. We are for him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we are through him." If all things are through him, he himself should not be reckoned with the "all things."
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · Discourses Against the Arians 1.6.19patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 3:19
“Christ is that Wisdom, by whom the worlds were made and still consist; happy therefore are those to whom he is made of God wisdom, for he has wherewithal to make good all the foregoing promises of long life, riches, and honour; for all the wealth of heaven, earth, and seas, is his.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Proverbs 3:19
“Hereto Wisdom has been thought of in relation to men. Now the question comes, What is she in relation to God? and the answer is, that the creative act implies a Divine Wisdom, through which the Divine will acts. This thought, developed in Prov. 8, is the first link in the chain which connects this “Wisdom” with the Divine Word, the Logos of John’s Gospel. Compare Psa 33:6; Joh 1:3. The words of the writer of the Proverbs take their place among the proofs of the dogmatic statements of the Nicene Creed.”
the watery depths were broken open: Broken open is the verb of Genesis 7:11, where the fountains of the great deep burst open at the flood. Adam Clarke reads the verse of the springs and the flood alike, and of the vapor that the clouds return as rain and dew. The watery depths answer His knowledge.
Proverbs 3:20
“By his knowledge the depths are broken up - He determined in his wisdom how to break up the fountains of the great deep, so as to bring a flood of waters upon the earth; and by his knowledge those fissures in the earth through which springs of water arise have been appointed and determined; and it is by his skill and influence that vapours are exhaled, suspended in the atmosphere, and afterwards precipitated on the earth in rain, dews, etc.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Withhold Not Good; Envy Not the Man of Violence
Proverbs 3:21-26
My son, do not lose sight of this: “Then you will go on your way in safety” promises security in daily movement. “When you lie down, you will not be afraid” carries it into sleep. The ground of that security is the LORD's keeping: “the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from the snare”.
Proverbs 3:21
“My son, do not let these depart from your eyes. Beware lest, wearied by temporal discipline, you lose the grace of wisdom, which is so great.”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Proverbspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 3:21
“Let not them depart from thine eyes - Never forget that God, who is the author of nature, directs and governs it in all things; for it is no self-determining agent. Keep sound wisdom and discretion - תושיה ומזמה tushiyah umezimmah. We have met with both these words before. Tushiyah is the essence or substance of a thing; mezimmah is the resolution or purpose formed in reference to something good or excellent.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 3:21
“Let not them depart - i. e., The wisdom and discretion of the following clause. Keep thine eye on them, as one who watches over priceless treasures.”
adornment to your neck: The word for neck can also mean throat, and Matthew Henry takes it of the words that come from the mouth. Sound judgment then graces speech as a gold chain graces the neck. Life to the soul comes first.
Proverbs 3:22
“In respect of honour and reputation: It shall be grace to thy neck, as a chain of gold, or a jewel. Grace to thy jaws (so the word is), grateful to thy taste and relish (so some); it shall infuse grace into all thou sayest (so others), shall furnish thee with acceptable words, which shall gain thee credit.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
your foot will not stumble: Sound judgment keeps the path clear, and the walker goes on his way in safety. Clement of Alexandria quotes the line to teach that every good thing, whether learned from Greeks or from Scripture, comes from God. Psalm 91:12 promises the same sure foot.
Proverbs 3:23
“Before the Lord's coming, philosophy was an essential guide to righteousness for the Greeks. At the present time, it is a useful guide toward reverence for God. It is a kind of preliminary education for those who are trying to gather faith through demonstration. "Your foot will not stumble," says Scripture, if you attribute good things, whether Greek or Christian, to Providence. God is responsible for all good things: of some directly, like the blessings of the Old and New Covenants, of others indirectly, like the riches of philosophy.”
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 1patristic
your sleep will be sweet: Adam Clarke reads the sweet sleep as the rest of a clear conscience, of one pardoned and at peace with God. David says the same at Psalm 4:8, lying down in peace under the LORD's keeping. Fear keeps the guilty awake.
the ruin that overtakes the wicked: is the storm of 1:27, the same Hebrew word. Albert Barnes reads the command as a promise, the one who walks with wisdom so safe that fear itself would be a sin. Sudden danger belongs to the wicked.
Proverbs 3:25
“Under the form of this strong prohibition there is an equally strong promise. So safe will all thy ways be that to fear will be a sin.”
keep your foot from the snare: Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read the Hebrew as the LORD standing in your confidence, the very source of your strength. The snare recalls the net of 1:17 that the greedy walked into. Here the LORD keeps the foot free.
Proverbs 3:26
“The reason; such as are objects of God's favor. be thy confidence--literally, "in thy confidence," in the source of thy strength (compare Na 3:9, for the same construction, Hebrew). Promptly fulfil all obligations both of justice and charity (compare Jas 2:15, 16).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Proverbs 3:27-30
Do not withhold good from the deserving: “Do not withhold good from the deserving when it is within your power to act” turns from inward trust to a neighbor's claim. The excuse “Come back tomorrow and I will provide” is forbidden, delay posing as future kindness when the means are at hand.
Proverbs 3:27
“A marked change in style. The continuous exhortation is replaced by a series of maxims. From them to whom it is due - literally, as in the margin. The precept expresses the great Scriptural thought that the so-called possession of wealth is but a stewardship; that the true owners of what we call our own are those to whom, with it, we may do good. Not to relieve them is a breach of trust. Pro 3:28 Procrastination is especially fatal to the giving impulse.”
Adam Clarke warns that death may take either the one who could provide or the neighbor who asks before tomorrow comes. Deuteronomy 24:15 sets the same rule for wages, paid before the sun goes down. Help held back can come too late.
Proverbs 3:28
“Say not unto thy neighbor - Do not refuse a kindness when it is in thy power to perform it. If thou have the means by thee, and thy neighbor’s necessities be pressing, do not put him off till the morrow. Death may take either him or thee before that time.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Do not devise evil against your neighbor: Devise translates a verb for plowing, and John Gill pictures the heart turned over like soil to plant harm against a neighbor. Hosea 10:13 uses the same figure of plowing wickedness and reaping injustice. The neighbor lives beside you in trust.
Do not accuse a man without cause: Verses 27 to 31 turn from long appeal to a run of short commands, each one opening on do not. Accuse translates riv, the word for a quarrel or a case brought before the elders at the gate. A charge without cause harms the innocent.
Proverbs 3:30
“Strive not with a man without cause, Either by words, in a wrangling, quarrelsome, and contentious way, for mere trifles; when there is no foundation for it, no just reason given to form a complaint, or pick a quarrel upon; or by deeds, by lawsuits, when there is nothing to proceed upon; or it is so trifling, that it is not worth while to litigate it or contend about: such, who strive either way, are far from following the example of Wisdom or Christ, and from taking his advice, Mat 12:19; if he have done thee no harm; no real…”
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 3:30
“Strive not with a man - Do not be of a litigious, quarrelsome spirit. Be not under the influence of too nice a sense of honor. If thou must appeal to judicial authority to bring him that wrongs thee to reason, avoid all enmity, and do nothing in a spirit of revenge. But, if he have done thee no harm, why contend with him? May not others in the same way contend with and injure thee!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 3:30
“Never trouble thy neighbour with frivolous complaints and accusations, or vexatious law-suits, when either there is no harm done thee or none worth speaking of, or thou mightest right thyself in a friendly way." Law must be the last refuge; for it is not only our duty, but our interest, as much as in us lies, to live peaceably with all men.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Proverbs 3:31-32
Do not envy a violent man: “Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways” warns against the oldest temptation, that the violent man appears to prosper. The verse closes on the opposite fellowship, “He is a friend to the upright,” the chapter's answer to envy before it forms.
Proverbs 3:31
“Envy thou not the oppressor - O how bewitching is power! Every man desires it; and yet all hate tyrants. But query, if all had power, would not the major part be tyrants?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
He is a friend to the upright: The verse gives the reason to refuse the envy of verse 31. Power draws every eye, and the violent man seems to hold it. Detests translates to'evah, the word Deuteronomy uses for idolatry, and friend translates sod, the close counsel the LORD shares at Psalm 25:14.
Proverbs 3:32
“The froward sinners, who are continually going from-ward him, whose lives are a perverse contradiction to his will, are abomination to the Lord. He that hates nothing that he has made yet abhors those who have thus marred themselves; they are not only abominable in his sight, but an abomination.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Proverbs 3:32
“But his secret - סודו sodo, his secret assembly; godly people meet there, and God dwells there.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Proverbs 3:32
“Abomination - Therefore sooner or later he must be miserable. The righteous - They are God's friends, to whom he imparts the favours and comforts to which other men are strangers.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Proverbs 3:33-35
The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked: The words “gives grace to the humble” are quoted at James 4:6 and again at 1 Peter 5:5, both beside “God opposes the proud”. “The wise will inherit honor, but fools are held up to shame” closes on the either-or kept in view.
Proverbs 3:33
“The curse of the Lord - No godly people meet in such a house; nor is God ever an inmate there. But he blesseth the habitation of the just - He considers it as his own temple. There he is worshipped in spirit and in truth; and hence God makes it his dwelling-place.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
He mocks the mockers: The LORD answers mockers in the terms they chose. Matthew Henry sets the verse beside Psalm 18:26, and reads the grace to the humble as the favor that lifts them to honor. Verse 35 names that honor.
Proverbs 3:34
“He retaliates upon them ( Ps. xviii. 26 ); he resists the proud. (2.) Those who humble themselves shall be exalted, for he gives grace to the lowly; he works that in them which puts honour upon them and for which they are accepted of God and approved of men.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 3:34
“Surely he scorneth the scorners; but he giveth grace unto the lowly - The Septuagint has Κυριος ὑπερηφανοις αντιτασσεται, ταπεινοις δε διδωσι χαριν. The Lord resisteth the proud; but giveth grace to the humble. These words are quoted by St. Peter, 1Pe 5:5, and by St. James, Jas 4:6, just as they stand in the Septuagint, with the change of ὁ Θεος, God, for Κυριος, the Lord.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Cross references
Proverbs 3:34
- Quoted in1 Peter 5:5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
'God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble'
- Quoted inJames 4:6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
'God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble' ('the scripture saith')
The wise will inherit honor: Hippolytus of Rome marks the verb: the wise inherit honor as a son inherits. The wicked are raised up only to make their shame seen by more. He names Pharaoh, raised high so that the world would accuse him.
Proverbs 3:35
“The wise - The person who follows the dictates of wisdom, as mentioned above, shall inherit glory; because, being one of the heavenly family, a child of God, he has thereby heaven for his inheritance; but fools, such as those mentioned chapters 1 and 2, shall have ignominy for their exaltation. Many such fools as Solomon speaks of are exalted to the gibbet and gallows. The way to prevent this and the like evils, is to attend to the voice of wisdom.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Proverbs 3:35
“They will not simply obtain, but inherit. The wicked, again, even though they are exalted, are exalted only so as to have greater dishonour. For as one does not honour an ugly and mis-shapen fellow, if he exalts him, but only dishonours him the more, by making his shame manifest to a larger number; so also God exalts the wicked, in order that He may make their disgrace patent. For Pharaoh was exalted, but only to have the world as his accuser.”
Hippolytus of Rome · written before 235 · Hippolytus Exegetical Fragmentspatristic
Keep studying
Studies6
Words12
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament 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); Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs; Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 1; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; Hippolytus of Rome, Hippolytus Exegetical Fragments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The writing
Marcus Brown wrote what stands in his name on this page.