Proverbs 24

Do not envy wicked people, and do not wish to be in their company.

1Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.

2Their hearts plan violence, and their lips talk about causing trouble.

2For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief.

NoteIn Hebrew, the heart is where a person thinks, decides and plans, not merely where he feels. "Their hearts plan violence" means violence is what their minds are set on working out.

3A house is built by wisdom, and it is made solid by understanding.

3Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:

NoteThe Hebrew word for "house" covers the building, the household living in it, and the family line that carries on. All three senses are in play here and again in verse 27.

4By knowledge its rooms are filled with every kind of rich and lovely treasure.

4And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

5A wise man is strong, and a man who has knowledge grows stronger still.

5A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

6Wage your war only with wise guidance, and safety comes from having many advisers.

6For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.

7Wisdom is too high for a fool to reach. He has nothing to say when the people meet at the town gate.

7Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.

NoteThe open space just inside a town's gate was where public business was done: legal cases were heard, agreements were witnessed, and the elders gave rulings. A man with nothing to say there had no voice in the running of the town.

8Whoever makes plans to do evil will be known as a schemer.

8He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person.

9A foolish plan is sin, and people find a mocker disgusting.

9The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.

NoteA mocker (the King James word is "scorner") is a recurring figure in Proverbs: not a joker, but someone who treats correction and instruction with contempt.

10If you give up on the day trouble comes, your strength is small.

10If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

11Suppose you hold back from rescuing people who are being led away to death, and from saving those who are staggering toward the slaughter.

11If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;

NoteThe picture is of prisoners being marched off to execution. The saying assumes the hearer is in a position to intervene, to speak up or testify for them, rather than merely watching, and that some of those condemned do not deserve it.

12And suppose you say, "Look, we did not know about this." Does not the one who weighs hearts notice? Does not the one who guards your life know? Will he not pay back each person for what he has done?

12If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

Note"Weighs hearts" is the image of a balance scale: a person's inner thoughts and motives are set on the scales and measured against what he claims. The same picture appears elsewhere in Proverbs.

13My son, eat honey, because it is good. Honey straight from the comb is sweet to your taste.

13My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:

14Know that wisdom is just like that for you. If you find it, there is a future for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

14So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

Note"Future" translates a Hebrew word meaning "latter end", what comes afterwards, including one's descendants and how one's life finally turns out. The same word lies behind "no future" in verse 20.

15You wicked man, do not lie in wait near the home of a person who does right. Do not raid the place where he rests.

15Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place:

16A man who does right may fall seven times, and he gets up again. But the wicked are brought down by trouble.

16For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

NoteSeven here stands for a full or repeated number of times rather than an exact count: however often he goes down, he gets back up.

17Do not be glad when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart celebrate when he trips.

17Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:

18If you do, the LORD may see it and be displeased, and he may turn his anger away from your enemy.

18Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

NoteThe Hebrew says only that the LORD may turn his anger away "from him": that is, from the enemy. Whether that anger then falls on the person who gloated is left unsaid, and readers have argued over it for centuries.

19Do not get upset over evil people, and do not envy the wicked.

19Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;

20The evil man has no future ahead of him. The lamp of the wicked will be put out.

20For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.

NoteA lamp kept burning in the house stood for the household's life and its continuing line. To have your lamp put out was for the family itself to come to an end.

21My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not join up with people who are bent on rebellion.

21My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:

NoteThe Hebrew phrase behind "people bent on rebellion" (King James: "them that are given to change") is uncertain. It is usually taken to mean those out to overthrow the established order, but it has also been read as those who keep switching sides.

22Disaster will hit those rebels suddenly. Who knows the ruin that can come from the two of them?

22For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

Note"The two of them" most naturally means the LORD and the king named in verse 21, the two powers able to bring a rebel down. Some read it instead as ruin coming from either one of them.

23These sayings also come from the wise. It is not good to take sides when you judge a case.

23These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

NoteThis line is a heading, not a saying: it marks the start of a short further collection of sayings from the wise, added on to the longer collection that began at 22:17. "Taking sides" is literally, in Hebrew, "recognising faces", deciding a case by who is standing in front of you rather than by the facts.

24Whoever says to a guilty person, "You are innocent," will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.

24He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him:

NoteThe setting is a court. Declaring a guilty person innocent means a verdict handed down by a judge or backed by a witness, not a private opinion about someone's character.

25But it will go well for those who correct the guilty person, and a rich blessing will come on them.

25But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.

Note"Correct" here has its legal sense: to convict, to give a ruling against the guilty party, the opposite of the false verdict in verse 24.

26An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

26Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.

NoteA kiss on the lips was a greeting between friends and equals and a mark of honor and loyalty, not a romantic gesture. The point is that a straight answer is received the way such a kiss is.

27Get your outdoor work done and your field ready first. After that, build your house.

27Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.

NoteIn a farming village, "building your house" meant setting up a household, marrying and starting a family, as much as putting up a building. The advice is to get the land producing first, since the land is what the household will live on.

28Do not testify against your neighbor without a good reason, and do not deceive people with your lips.

28Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.

NoteBoth halves of this saying are about giving evidence in court. "Without a good reason" means with no real grounds for the charge.

29Do not say, "I will do to him what he did to me. I will pay the man back for what he did."

29Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.

30I walked past the field of a lazy man, and past the vineyard of a man with no sense.

30I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;

NoteVines take several years to come into bearing and need pruning every season, so a ruined vineyard showed years of neglect at a single glance.

31Thorns had grown up all over it, weeds covered the ground, and its stone wall was broken down.

31And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.

NoteField and vineyard walls were built from stones cleared off the ground and stacked without mortar. They marked the boundary and kept animals out; keeping them in repair was routine work, and a breached wall left the crop open to anything that wandered in.

32Then I looked at it and thought it over carefully. I looked, and I learned something.

32Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.

33A little sleep, a little dozing, a little folding of the hands to rest,

33Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

34and poverty will come on you like a prowler, and the things you lack will hit you like an armed robber.

34So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.

NoteThe King James "one that travelleth" renders a Hebrew word generally understood as a vagrant or a highway robber, and "armed man" is literally "a man of the shield." Both images are of poverty arriving suddenly and by force rather than creeping up.