Proverbs1
King James Version · Public Domain
1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
10My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
11If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
12Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
13We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
14Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
15My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
16For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
18And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
20Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:
30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Proverbs 1.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The use of the Proverbs. (1–6). Exhortations to fear God and obey parents. (7–9). To avoid the enticings of sinners. (10–19). The address of Wisdom to sinners. (20–33).
vv1-6
The lessons here given are plain, and likely to benefit those who feel their own ignorance, and their need to be taught. If young people take heed to their ways, according to Solomon's Proverbs, they will gain knowledge and discretion. Solomon speaks of the most important points of truth, and a greater than Solomon is here. Christ speaks by his word and by his Spirit. Christ is the Word and the Wisdom of God, and he is made to us wisdom.
vv7-9
Fools are persons who have no true wisdom, who follow their own devices, without regard to reason, or reverence for God. Children are reasonable creatures, and when we tell them what they must do, we must tell them why. But they are corrupt and wilful, therefore with the instruction there is need of a law. Let Divine truths and commands be to us most honourable; let us value them, and then they shall be so to us.
vv10-19
Wicked people are zealous in seducing others into the paths of the destroyer: sinners love company in sin. But they have so much the more to answer for. How cautious young people should be! “Consent thou not.” Do not say as they say, nor do as they do, or would have thee to do; have no fellowship with them. Who could think that it should be a pleasure to one man to destroy another! See their idea of worldly wealth; but it is neither substance, nor precious. It is the ruinous mistake of thousands, that they overvalue the wealth of this world. Men promise themselves in vain that sin will turn to their advantage. The way of sin is down-hill; men cannot stop themselves. Would young people shun temporal and eternal ruin, let them refuse to take one step in these destructive paths. Men's greediness of gain hurries them upon practices which will not suffer them or others to live out half their days. What is a man profited, though he gain the world, if he lose his life? much less if he lose his soul?
Key Words
מָשָׁל: properly, a pithy maxim, usually of metaphorical nature; hence, a simile (as an adage, poem, discourse)
שְׁלֹמֹה: Shelomah, David's successor
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
דָּוִד: David, the youngest son of Jesse
מֶלֶךְ: a king
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
יָדַע: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.)
חׇכְמָה: wisdom (in a good sense)
מוּסָר: properly, chastisement; figuratively, reproof, warning or instruction; also restraint
בִּין: to separate mentally (or distinguish), i.e.(generally) understand
Cross References
Proverbs 1Parallels the core definition: the fear of the Lord as the absolute foundation/beginning of wisdom.
Supported by JFB
Direct verbal parallel affirming that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Supported by JFB
Reiterates the command to keep the father's instruction and not forsake the mother's law.
Supported by JFB
Extended thematic parallel of Wisdom personified crying out in public streets, gates, and high places.
Supported by JFB
Confirms that instruction given to a wise man results in him becoming yet wiser.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Illustrates the literal cultural custom of wearing chains about the neck as a mark of honor.
Supported by JFB
Parallel warning against walking in the way, path, or counsel of sinners.
Supported by JFB, Matthew Poole
Verbatim parallel of feet running to evil and making haste to shed innocent blood.
Thematic parallel of the wicked being snared in the work of their own hands.
Supported by JFB
Illustrates the destructive end of being greedy of gain, which ruins the soul.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Parallels the divine reaction of laughing and mocking at the rebellion of the wicked.
Prophetic parallel: as He cried and they would not hear, so they cry and He will not answer.
New Testament parallel of reaping what one sows, eating the fruit of one's own way.
New Testament demonstration of the early church walking in the fear of the Lord.
Supported by JFB
Identifies 'the wisdom of God' sending prophets, linking Wisdom's call to Christ.
Supported by JFB