Proverbs 22
22
1A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,
And loving favor rather than silver and gold.
2The rich and the poor meet together:
Jehovah is the maker of them all.
3A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself;
But the simple pass on, and suffer for it.
4The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah
Is riches, and honor, and life.
5Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse:
He that keepeth his soul shall be far from them.
6Train up a child in the way he should go,
And even when he is old he will not depart from it.
7The rich ruleth over the poor;
And the borrower is servant to the lender.
8He that soweth iniquity shall reap calamity;
And the rod of his wrath shall fail.
9He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed;
For he giveth of his bread to the poor.
10Cast out the scoffer, and contention will go out;
Yea, strife and ignominy will cease.
11He that loveth pureness of heart,
For the grace of his lips the king will be his friend.
12The eyes of Jehovah preserve him that hath knowledge;
But he overthroweth the words of the treacherous man.
13The sluggard saith, There is a lion without;
I shall be slain in the streets.
14The mouth of strange women is a deep pit;
He that is abhorred of Jehovah shall fall therein.
15Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
16He that oppresseth the poor to increase his gain,
And he that giveth to the rich, shall come only to want.
17Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise,
And apply thy heart unto my knowledge.
18For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee,
If they be established together upon thy lips.
19That thy trust may be in Jehovah,
I have made them known to thee this day, even to thee.
20Have not I written unto thee excellent things
Of counsels and knowledge,
21To make thee know the certainty of the words of truth,
That thou mayest carry back words of truth to them that send thee?
22Rob not the poor, because he is poor;
Neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
23For Jehovah will plead their cause,
And despoil of life those that despoil them.
24Make no friendship with a man that is given to anger;
And with a wrathful man thou shalt not go:
25Lest thou learn his ways,
And get a snare to thy soul.
26Be thou not one of them that strike hands,
Or of them that are sureties for debts.
27If thou hast not wherewith to pay,
Why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
28Remove not the ancient landmark,
Which thy fathers have set.
29Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings;
He shall not stand before mean men.
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Proverbs 22: ASV
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Proverbs 22
22
1A good name is more desirable than great riches,
and high esteem, than gold and silver.#“Good name” (Heb. shem) and “high esteem” (Heb. chen) are declared to be of more value than great riches. Human beings belong to a community and without the acceptance of that community, which is built on esteem and trust, human life is grievously damaged. Riches are less essential to the human spirit. #Eccl 7:1.
2Rich and poor have a common bond:
the Lord is the maker of them all.#Prv 29:13.
3The astute see an evil and hide,
while the naive continue on and pay the penalty.#The wise see dangers before they are engulfed by them whereas fools, through dullness or boldness, march right on. #Prv 27:12.
4The result of humility and fear of the Lord
is riches, honor and life.#Humiliation can be an occasion for knowing one’s place in God’s world. Such knowledge is part of fear (or revering) of the Lord. Revering the Lord brings the blessings of wealth, honor, and long life. The saying is perhaps meant to counter the view that humiliation is an unmixed evil; something good can come of it.
5Thorns and snares are on the path of the crooked;
those who would safeguard their lives will avoid them.
6Train the young in the way they should go;
even when old, they will not swerve from it.#One of the few exhortations in the collection (cf. 14:7; 16:3; 19:18, 20). “Way” in the first colon has been taken in two different senses: (1) the morally right way, “according to the way one ought to go”; (2) personal aptitude, i.e., the manner of life for which one is destined, as “the way of Egypt” (Is 10:24). Neither interpretation, however, accounts for the pronoun in the Hebrew phrase, lit., “his own way.” The most natural solution is to take the whole as ironic advice (like 19:27): yes, go ahead and let the young do exactly what they want; they will become self-willed adults.
7The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.#An observation on money and power. One who borrows becomes poor in the sense of indebted, a slave to the lender.
8Those who sow iniquity reap calamity,#Jb 4:8; Sir 7:3; Hos 8:7.
and the rod used in anger will fail.#Agricultural metaphors express the failure of malicious actions. In the first line, bad actions are seeds yielding trouble. In the second line, “the rod” is a flail used to beat grains as in Is 28:27.
9The generous will be blessed,
for they share their food with the poor.
10Expel the arrogant and discord goes too;
strife and insult cease.
11The Lord loves the pure of heart;#Mt 5:8.
the person of winning speech has a king for a friend.
12The eyes of the Lord watch over the knowledgeable,
but he defeats the projects of the faithless.
13The sluggard says, “A lion is outside;#Prv 26:13.
I might be slain in the street.”#To avoid the effort required for action, the sluggard exaggerates the difficulties that must be overcome.
14The mouth of the foreign woman is a deep pit;#Prv 23:27.
whoever incurs the Lord’s anger will fall into it.
15Folly is bound to the heart of a youth,
but the rod of discipline will drive it out.#Folly is attached to children as the husk is attached to the grain. “Rod” here, as in v. 8, seems to be the flail. Discipline is the process of winnowing away the folly.
16Oppressing the poor for enrichment,
giving to the rich: both are sheer loss.#A difficult saying. One possibility is to take it as a seemingly neutral observation on the plight of the poor: taking money from the poor is relatively easy for the powerful but it is dangerous as the poor have the Lord as their defender (24:22–23), who will punish their oppressors. Giving to the rich, perhaps to win their favor by presents and bribes, is equally a waste of money, for the rich will always do what they please in any case.
IV. SAYINGS OF THE WISE#22:17–24:22] This collection consists of an introduction (22:17–21) urging openness and stating the purpose of the Words and diverse admonitions, aphorisms, and counsels. It is written with faith in the Lord, shrewdness, and a satirical eye. The first part seems aimed at young people intent on a career (22:22–23:11); the second is taken up with the concerns of youth (23:12–35); the third part is interested in the ultimate fate of the good and the wicked (24:1–22). The whole can be described as a guidebook of professional ethics. The aim is to inculcate trust in the Lord and to help readers avoid trouble and advance their careers by living according to wisdom. Its outlook is very practical: avoid bad companions because in time you will take on some of their qualities; do not post bond for others because you yourself will be encumbered; do not promote yourself too aggressively because such promotion is self-defeating; do not abuse sex or alcohol because they will harm you; do not emulate your peers if they are wicked (23:14; 24:1, 19) because such people have no future. Rather, trust the vocation of a sage (22:29–23:9).The Egyptian Instructions of Amenemope (written ca. 1100 B.C.) was discovered in 1923. Scholars immediately recognized it as a source of Prv 22:17–23:11. The Egyptian work has thirty chapters (cf. Prv 22:20); its preface resembled Prv 22:17–21; its first two admonitions matched the first two in Proverbs (Prv 22:22–25). There are many other resemblances as well, some of which are pointed out in the notes. The instruction of a father to his son (or an administrator to his successor) was a well-known genre in Egypt; seventeen works are extant, spanning the period from 2500 B.C. to the first century A.D. The instructions aimed to help a young person live a happy and prosperous life and avoid mistakes that cause difficulties. They make concrete and pragmatic suggestions rather than hold up abstract ideals. Pragmatic though they were, the instructions were religious; they assumed that the gods implanted an order in the world (Egyptian maat), which is found both in nature and in the human world. Amenemope represents a stage in the development of the Egyptian genre, displaying a new inwardness and quest for serenity while still assuming that the practice of virtue brings worldly success. Proverbs borrows from the Egyptian work with great freedom: it does not, for example, import as such the Egyptian concept of order; it engages the reader with its characteristic wit, irony, and paradox (e.g., 22:26–27; 23:1–3).
17The Words of the Wise:#22:17–23:35] The maxims warn against: robbing the poor and defenseless (22:22–23), anger (22:24–25), giving surety for debts (22:26–27), advancing oneself by socializing with rulers (23:1–2), anxiety for riches (23:4–5), forcing oneself on a grudging host (23:6–8), intemperance in food and drink (23:19–21, 29–35), and adultery (23:26–28). They exhort to: careful workmanship (22:29), respect for the rights of orphans (23:10–11), correction of the young (23:13–14), filial piety (23:15–16, 22–25), and fear of the Lord (23:17–18).
Incline your ear, and hear my words,#Prv 5:1.
and let your mind attend to my teaching;
18For it will be well if you hold them within you,
if they all are ready on your lips.
19That your trust may be in the Lord,
I make them known to you today—yes, to you.
20Have I not written for you thirty sayings,
containing counsels and knowledge,
21To teach you truly
how to give a dependable report to one who sends you?
22Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
nor crush the needy at the gate;#At the gate: of the city, where justice was administered and public affairs discussed; cf. Ru 4:1. Cf. also Ps 69:13; 127:5; Prv 24:7; 31:23, 31. The Lord will personally avenge those who have no one to defend them.
23For the Lord will defend their cause,#Prv 23:11.
and will plunder those who plunder them.
24Do not be friendly with hotheads,
nor associate with the wrathful,
25Lest you learn their ways,
and become ensnared.
26Do not be one of those who give their hand in pledge,
those who become surety for debts;#Prv 6:1–2; 11:15; 17:18.
27For if you are unable to pay,
your bed will be taken from under you.#Providing surety for a debtor puts one in danger of having the very basics of one’s life suddenly seized.
28Do not remove the ancient landmark#Landmark: marks the boundary of property. To remove it is the equivalent of stealing land. A similar warning is contained in 23:10.
that your ancestors set up.#Prv 23:10; Dt 19:14; 27:17.
29Do you see those skilled at their work?
They will stand in the presence of kings,
but not in the presence of the obscure.
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