Proverbs 19

It is better to be poor and live an honest life than to be a fool whose words are twisted.

1Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.

Note"Fool" in Proverbs is not a comment on intelligence. It labels a person who has rejected instruction and moral sense; such a fool can be quite clever. "Integrity" translates a word meaning whole or all of one piece, the same person in private as in public.

2Eagerness without knowledge is not good, and the person who rushes ahead misses the right way.

2Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth.

NoteTwo things sit behind the plain wording. "Eagerness" is Hebrew *nephesh*, a person's appetite or drive, raw wanting, here without the knowledge to aim it. And "misses the right way" is the ordinary Hebrew word for sin, whose root sense is to miss a target or take a wrong turn off a road; the proverb uses both senses at once.

3A person's own foolishness ruins his life, and then his heart rages at the LORD.

3The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD.

4Money brings in many friends, but a poor person is left alone by the friend he had.

4Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour.

5A witness who lies will not go unpunished, and the person who tells lies will not get away.

5A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.

NoteIsraelite courts ran on sworn testimony (there were no police, investigators or physical evidence in the modern sense), so a lying witness could get an innocent person executed. The law required that a witness proved false receive the penalty he had tried to bring on the accused (Deuteronomy 19:16–21). That is the punishment the proverb has in view.

6Many people beg a ruler for favors, and everyone is a friend to a person who hands out gifts.

6Many will intreat the favour of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.

NoteThe word for "ruler" means both a noble and a generous man; the two senses run together in Hebrew, which is part of the point of the pairing. "Beg for favors" is literally "stroke the face of", to soften someone by flattering or appealing to him.

7All the brothers of a poor man hate him, so his friends stay even farther off. He runs after them begging, but they are nowhere to be found.

7All the brethren of the poor do hate him: how much more do his friends go far from him? he pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him.

NoteThis is the only proverb in this section with three lines rather than two, and the third line is obscure in the Hebrew, the text may be damaged. Ancient and modern translations differ widely on it; some read it as the poor man chasing after words that come to nothing, others as him pursuing friends who have vanished.

8The person who gains wisdom does himself good, and the one who holds on to understanding will do well.

8He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good.

Note"Does himself good" translates "loves his own *nephesh*", his life, his self, the whole living person. Where older Bibles print "soul" in Proverbs (as in verses 2, 15, 16 and 18), the Hebrew normally means a person's life or appetite, not an immaterial part of them.

9A witness who lies will not go unpunished, and the person who tells lies will be destroyed.

9A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.

NoteThis verse repeats verse 5 with one change: "will not get away" becomes "will be destroyed." Repeating a saying with a sharpened second line is a normal feature of these collections, not a copying error.

10A life of luxury does not fit a fool, and it fits far less for a servant to rule over princes.

10Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.

Note"Servant" here means a slave. In households where a trusted slave could rise to manage an entire estate, the picture of one giving orders to noblemen was a stock image of the social order turned upside down, the point being incongruity, the same incongruity as luxury in the hands of a fool.

11Good sense makes a person slow to get angry, and it is to his credit to let an insult go.

11The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

12A king's anger is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

12The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.

NoteThrough the land's long rainless summer, dew was the only water plants received overnight. "Dew on the grass" meant survival for the crop, not merely a pleasant morning.

13A foolish son ruins his father, and a wife who keeps picking fights is like a roof that never stops dripping.

13A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.

NoteHouses had flat roofs of packed clay laid over wooden beams. When the winter rains came, a roof that had not been rolled and maintained leaked steadily, and there was nowhere indoors to get away from the drip.

14A house and money are what a person inherits from his parents, but a sensible wife comes from the LORD.

14House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD.

NoteProperty passed down the male line by fixed custom, so a man could reasonably expect to receive a house and goods from his family. Marriages were arranged between families. The proverb sets what custom can reliably deliver against what it cannot.

15Laziness drops a person into a deep sleep, and someone who will not work goes hungry.

15Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.

NoteThe word translated "deep sleep" is not ordinary sleep but an unnaturally heavy one, the same word used for the sleep that fell on Adam in Genesis 2:21 and on Abram in Genesis 15:12.

16The person who keeps the command guards his own life, but the one who is careless about how he lives will die.

16He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul; but he that despiseth his ways shall die.

NoteThe second line is compressed in Hebrew and has been read two ways: as despising *his own ways*, that is, being careless about how he lives (so this rendering), or as despising *His word*, meaning the commandment named in the first line. Ancient manuscripts support both readings.

17Whoever is kind to the poor is making a loan to the LORD, and the LORD will pay back what was given.

17He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

NoteThe proverb uses the vocabulary of commercial credit. Under Israelite law a loan to a poor fellow Israelite could carry no interest and was to be canceled in the seventh year, so lending to the poor came close to giving outright. The saying reverses the transaction and casts God as the borrower who settles the account.

18Correct your son while there is still hope, and do not set your heart on his destruction.

18Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

NoteThe second line is genuinely ambiguous in Hebrew. The same consonants can be read as "his crying", do not let his tears stop you, or as "his death", do not go so far as to kill him. Both readings are ancient. This rendering follows the second; the King James takes the first.

19A man with a hot temper has to pay the price. If you rescue him from it, you will only have to do it again.

19A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.

Note"Pay the price" is literally "bears a fine." A man who lashed out was legally liable to compensate the person he injured, in money. The second line pictures a friend or relative paying that fine for him.

20Listen to advice and accept correction, so that you will be wise for the rest of your life.

20Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.

Note"The rest of your life" translates a word meaning what lies ahead of you, a person's future and how it finally turns out.

21People make many plans in their hearts, but it is the LORD's purpose that will stand.

21There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

22What a person wants in someone else is loyal kindness, and it is better to be poor than to be a liar.

22The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar.

NoteThe first line is compressed and disputed. The key word is *chesed*, the committed loyalty owed within a family or between allies rather than general niceness. Readings include "what a person wants from another is loyalty," "a person's desire is measured by his loyalty," and, taking a similar-looking word, "a person's greed is his shame." Translations divide.

23Respect for the LORD leads to life. The person who has it rests content and is not visited by harm.

23The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

Note"Visited by harm" uses an old sense of "visit": for trouble to come and call on you, or for someone to arrive and settle accounts. It does not mean a social call.

24A lazy man buries his hand in the dish, and he will not even lift it back to his mouth.

24A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

NoteEarlier translators guessed "bosom"; the Hebrew word means a serving bowl. People ate from a shared dish, reaching in with the hand. The saying is a joke about a man too lazy to finish a motion he has already started.

25Strike a mocker, and a simple person learns to be careful. Correct someone who has good sense, and he gains knowledge.

25Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.

NoteProverbs works with a fixed cast of characters, and this verse ranks three of them by what it takes to teach each one. The "simple" is untrained and naive but still teachable: he learns by watching someone else get hit. The "mocker" has set himself against correction and only a blow reaches him, and even then it is the onlooker who benefits. The person with good sense needs only a word.

26A son who robs his father and drives out his mother is a son who brings shame and disgrace.

26He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach.

NoteThe verb behind "robs" means to do violence to or ruin. Aged parents had no pension and depended entirely on their sons; driving out the mother most likely means expelling a widow from the family house in order to seize the property.

27My son, stop listening to teaching that leads you away from words of knowledge.

27Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

NoteThe Hebrew can be read two ways and translations split. Read as here, it is a warning to stop listening to teaching that leads you astray. Read the other way, it is ironic or conditional: "Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge."

28A crooked witness makes fun of justice, and the mouth of the wicked swallows down evil.

28An ungodly witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity.

Note"Crooked witness" is literally "a witness of Belial", worthless, good-for-nothing, ruinous. The second line's image is of a mouth taking evil in like food, either gulping it down greedily or living on it as a steady diet.

29Punishments are ready for mockers, and beatings for the backs of fools.

29Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.

Note"Beatings" means strokes with a rod or whip, a standard judicial punishment handed down by a court and capped by law at forty strokes (Deuteronomy 25:1–3), not a private thrashing.