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Proverbs 21: What the Passage Says

60 claims across 31 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What Proverbs 21 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter is a collection of separate proverbs, most of them one verse long, set as contrasts between the righteous and the wicked. It covers how the LORD weighs hearts and directs even a king's decisions, the results of diligence and haste, honest and dishonest wealth, speech and witness, sacrifice offered without justice, and the cost of pride, laziness, and ignoring the poor. Two sayings compare living alone in a rough place with sharing a house with a quarrelsome wife. It closes by saying no wisdom or plan can stand against the LORD, and that victory comes from him.

Claim by Claim

  1. 21:1
    • The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD.
    • The king's heart in the LORD's hand is like channels of water.
    • The LORD turns the king's heart wherever he pleases.
  2. 21:2
    • Every way of a man is right in his own eyes.
    • The LORD weighs hearts.
  3. 21:3
    • Doing righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
  4. 21:4
    • Haughty eyes are sin.
    • A proud heart is sin.
    • That which belongs to the wicked here: the Hebrew word means either a lamp or freshly plowed ground, is sin.
  5. 21:5
    • The plans of the diligent lead only to abundance.
    • Everyone who is hasty comes only to want.
  6. 21:6
    • Gaining treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor.
    • Those who gain treasures by a lying tongue are seekers of death.
  7. 21:7
    • The violence of the wicked will drag them away.
    • The wicked refuse to do justice.
  8. 21:8
    • The way of a man who is guilty, or strange (the Hebrew is ambiguous) is crooked.
    • The conduct of the pure man is upright.
  9. 21:9
    • It is better to live on a corner of a roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
  10. 21:10
    • The soul of the wicked man craves evil.
    • His neighbor finds no favor in his eyes.
  11. 21:11
    • When a scorner is punished, the simple man becomes wise.
    • When a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.
  12. 21:12
    • The righteous one (whether a righteous man or God is ambiguous) gives attention to the house of the wicked.
    • The wicked are overthrown to ruin.
  13. 21:13
    • Whoever shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself cry out.
    • Whoever shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will not be answered.
  14. 21:14
    • A gift given in secret subdues anger.
    • A bribe in the bosom subdues strong wrath.
  15. 21:15
    • Doing justice is a joy to the righteous.
    • Doing justice is ruin to the workers of iniquity.
  16. 21:16
    • A man who wanders from the way of understanding will come to rest in the assembly of the dead.
  17. 21:17
    • He who loves pleasure will be a man in want.
    • He who loves wine and oil will not become rich.
  18. 21:18
    • The wicked man is a ransom for the righteous.
    • The treacherous man takes the place of the upright.
  19. 21:19
    • It is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.
  20. 21:20
    • Desirable treasure and oil are in the dwelling of the wise.
    • A foolish man swallows up what he has.
  21. 21:21
    • He who pursues righteousness and covenant loyalty finds life, righteousness, and honor.
  22. 21:22
    • A wise man scales the city of the mighty.
    • A wise man brings down the stronghold in which that city trusts.
  23. 21:23
    • He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.
  24. 21:24
    • The proud and haughty man is named scorner.
    • He acts with overflowing arrogance.
  25. 21:25
    • The craving of the sluggard kills him.
    • The sluggard's hands refuse to work.
  26. 21:26
    • All day long he craves more.
    • The righteous man gives.
    • The righteous man does not hold back.
  27. 21:27
    • The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination.
    • It is even more an abomination when he brings it with wicked intent.
  28. 21:28
    • A lying witness will perish.
    • The man who listens will speak enduringly, whether that means he speaks forever or his testimony stands is ambiguous.
  29. 21:29
    • A wicked man makes his face bold.
    • The upright man makes his way sure.
  30. 21:30
    • There is no wisdom against the LORD.
    • There is no understanding against the LORD.
    • There is no counsel against the LORD.
  31. 21:31
    • The horse is prepared for the day of battle.
    • Deliverance belongs to the LORD.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

21:1
The King James "rivers of water" and the rendering's "stream" translate a Hebrew phrase for irrigation channels, the ditches a farmer cuts through a field and blocks or opens with his foot to send the water wherever he wants it.
21:2
"Heart" in Hebrew means the inner person as a whole (mind, will, and motive), not feeling as opposed to thought. "Weighs" is the image of putting something on a balance scale to test what it is actually worth.
21:3
Sacrifice here means the animal and grain offerings brought to God's sanctuary, the standard, expensive, publicly visible act of worship in Israel.
21:4
The King James "the plowing of the wicked" reflects a genuinely uncertain Hebrew word, which can mean either "lamp" (the wicked person's lamp, i.e. his life or prosperity) or "newly broken ground" (his enterprise or output). Translations differ because the word itself is ambiguous.
21:5
In 1611 English, "want" meant lack. The verse is about ending up with nothing, not about desire.
21:6
The King James "a vanity tossed to and fro" uses a Hebrew word for breath or vapor, something real but with no substance, gone as you look at it. The last phrase is also read two ways in the manuscripts: "those who seek it seek death," or "a snare of death."
21:8
KJV "froward" means crooked or twisted, bent away from what is straight.
21:9
Houses had flat roofs used for sleeping, drying food, and storage, reached by an outside stair; a corner of one was exposed to sun, wind, and rain. The "wide house" is the large main house shared with the whole extended family.
21:11
"Mocker" (King James "scorner") and "simple" are stock characters throughout Proverbs. The mocker is someone who refuses correction and ridicules those who offer it. The simple person is not stupid but untaught and easily talked into anything.
21:12
The Hebrew is ambiguous. It can mean a righteous person observes the house of the wicked and sees where it ends, or that the Righteous One, God, takes note of that house and pulls it down. Ancient and modern translators split on it.
21:14
The King James "a reward in the bosom" refers to the fold of the outer garment above the belt, which people used as a pocket. A payment handed over there passed unseen. Both lines describe what we would call a bribe.
21:16
The King James "the congregation of the dead" uses a Hebrew term for the shades, the weakened, ghost-like inhabitants of Sheol, the place where all the dead were thought to gather.
21:17
The oil is perfumed olive oil, rubbed on skin and hair at feasts and celebrations. Together with wine it stands for expensive living, not for cooking supplies.
21:18
A ransom was the price paid to buy back a captive, or the sum accepted instead of the punishment someone else was owed. The proverb uses that legal image without explaining how the exchange works.
21:19
The wilderness is dry, uninhabited scrubland, no house, no neighbors, no supplies. It is named as the worst place a person could live.
21:20
Olive oil kept in storage jars was ordinary household wealth: food, lamp fuel, medicine, and trade goods all at once. A stocked house meant a household that planned ahead.
21:21
"Faithful love" (King James "mercy") translates the Hebrew word hesed: steady, committed loyalty to someone you are bound to, expressed in action rather than feeling.
21:22
Cities of any size were ringed by high walls, and a walled stronghold inside was the last defense. Taking one normally required a besieging army, hence the surprise of one wise man doing it.
21:24
"Is his name" is a Hebrew way of saying this is what the person actually is, not merely what people call him.
21:25
KJV "slothful" simply means lazy.
21:26
KJV "coveteth" means badly wanting something that belongs to someone else.
21:27
"Abomination" translates a Hebrew word for something repulsive and unfit to be brought near God. The "wicked mind" of the second line is a word for a deliberate scheme, the worshiper is bringing the offering while planning the crime.
21:28
The last word of the Hebrew means "forever," "enduringly," or "successfully," and translators differ over whether the point is that such a witness keeps speaking, or that his testimony stands.
21:29
"Hardens his face" is a Hebrew idiom for brazenness, putting on an expression that shows no shame and gives nothing away. In the second line the manuscripts differ: some read that the upright man makes his way secure, others that he gives thought to his way.
21:31
Horses meant chariot forces, imported, expensive, and the most powerful military equipment an ancient state could field. Preparing the horse stands for taking every practical precaution available.

Read Proverbs 21