19
📚Better is the poor man who walksin his integrity than he who is
perverse in speech and is a fool.
19:1 Prov 28:6; 16:8; 15:16. Blamelessness will receive an eternal reward. Everything of this world is passing away – 1 John 2:17.⚜
2 📚Also it is not good for the soul
to be without knowledge,
and he who makes haste with his
feet misses the way.
3 📚The foolishness of a man perverts his way,
and his heart frets against the LORD.
19:3 In other words, he blames God for what he has brought on himself by his own folly or wickedness. This is the tendency of human nature since the fall of Adam (Gen 3:12; 4:5; Isa 8:19-21; Rev 16:10-11).⚜
4 📚Wealth makes many friends,
but the poor man is separated from
his neighbour.
5 📚A false witness will not be unpunished,
and he who speaks lies will not escape.
6 📚Many will beg favours from the prince,
and every man is a friend
to the one who gives gifts.
7 📚All the brothers of the poor man hate him;
how much more do his friends keep
their distance from him!
He pursues them with words,
but they are not there for him.
19:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for the last sentence of this verse is uncertain.⚜
8 📚He who gets wisdom loves 📖 his own soul;
he who has regard for understanding
will find good.
9 📚A false witness will not be unpunished,
and he who speaks lies will perish.
10 📚Luxury is not fitting for a fool;
much less for a servant to rule princes.
11 📚A man’s discretion makes him slow
to get angry 📖,
and it is his glory to overlook 📖 a transgression.
12 📚The king’s wrath is like
the roaring of a lion,
but his favour is like dew on the grass.
13 📚A foolish son is the calamity
of his father,
and the quarrels of a wife are
a continual dripping.
14 📚House and riches are the inheritance
of fathers,
and an understanding wife is
from the LORD.
15 📚Laziness casts into a deep sleep,
and an idle soul will suffer hunger.
16 📚He who keeps the commandment
keeps his own soul,
but he who despises his ways will die.
17 📚He who is generous to the poor lends
to the LORD,
and he will repay him what he has given.
19:17 Prov 14:21, 31; Deut 24:19-22; Ps 41:1. We may be sure that God will pay his “debts”, and with good interest! And those who give to the poor will be laying up treasures in heaven (Matt 6:19-20. Note and references on giving at 2 Cor 9:15).⚜
18 📚Discipline your son while there is hope,
and do not let your soul remove
it because of his crying 📖.
19:18 Prov 13:24; 23:13-14. Discipline is one means of keeping children from evil ways which lead to death. So refusing to discipline children is the same as agreeing to their destruction.⚜
19 📚A man of great anger will pay the penalty;
for if you rescue him,
yet you must do it again.
19:19 Inability to control anger will get men into trouble again and again.⚜
20 📚Listen to advice and receive instruction,
so that you may be wise in the end
of your days.
21 📚There are many plans
in a man’s heart;
nevertheless the counsel of the LORD
is what will stand.
22 📚What is desirable in a man is
his kindness 📖,
and a poor man is better than a liar 📖.
23 📚The fear 📖 of the LORD leads to life,
and he who has it will rest satisfied 📖,
untouched by evil.
24 📚A lazy man buries
his hand in the dish 📖,
and will not so much as bring it back
to his mouth.
25 📚Strike a scorner and the simple will beware,
and rebuke one who has understanding,
and he will understand knowledge.
26 📚He who despoils his father and
chases his mother away is a son
who causes shame and brings disgrace.
27 📚My son, stop listening to the instruction
that causes one to stray
from the words of knowledge.
28 📚An ungodly witness scorns justice,
and the mouth of the wicked feeds on evil.
29 📚Judgments are prepared for scorners,
and blows for the back of fools.