Short sayings from King Solomon. Almost every one puts two people side by side, one who does right and one who does wrong, and shows how things turn out for each. Many are about the words we say.
Proverbs 10:1
These are the wise sayings of Solomon. A wise child makes Dad happy. A foolish child makes Mum sad.
Solomon's proverbs.
A new title. Chapters 1 to 9 were long speeches; from here to 22:16 the book is a collection of single two-line sayings, each complete in itself.
A wise son brings joy to his father,
A child's choices are never private. A son who lives skilfully makes his father glad, because the parent's happiness is tied to how the child turns out.
but a dull, foolish son is his mother's sorrow.
The contrast. Father and mother are split across the two lines for poetry's sake; both parents feel both the joy and the grief. The first saying of the collection makes wisdom a family matter.
משל · mashal · a comparison
From a root meaning to be like. The same title word as 1:1, marking the start of a second collection.
חכם · chakam · skilled at living
The adjective from chokmah. Someone who has the skill of living well, not merely a clever person.
שמח · samach · rejoice
To be glad. The form here is causative: the son makes his father glad.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The thick, self-satisfied fool of 1:22. His problem is not low intelligence but that he does not care to learn.
תוגה · tugah · sorrow
Heaviness of heart. A rare word; the same sorrow is in Psalm 119:28, where the soul weeps from it.
Proverbs 10:2
Things you get by cheating will not help you in the end. Doing what is right can save your life.
Treasures gained by wickedness are no use,
Money got by wrong can fill a storeroom and still fail you. The line does not say such wealth is small; it says it does not help when help is needed.
but doing right delivers from death.
The contrast. What actually protects a life is right conduct, not a stockpile. Crooked wealth cannot buy off death; a righteous life is kept from the early and violent end that wickedness brings.
אוצרות רשע · otsrot resha · treasures of wickedness
Literally storehouses of wickedness. Otsar is a treasury or store; resha is the wrong done to fill it.
יעל · ya'al · profit, be of use
To be of use. The prophets use this verb of idols that cannot help their worshippers (Jeremiah 2:8).
צדקה · tsedaqah · right conduct
Doing what is right toward God and people. The noun behind tsaddiq, the righteous person.
נצל · natsal · snatch away, deliver
To pull out of danger, as prey is snatched from an animal's mouth.
מות · mavet · death
The opposite of the life this chapter keeps promising. The second line is repeated word for word in 11:4.
Proverbs 10:3
God will not let people who do right go hungry. But He stops bad people from getting what they grab for.
The LORD does not let a righteous person go hungry,
God himself sees to the needs of those who live rightly. The Hebrew says he will not let the righteous person's appetite starve: their real needs are met.
but he shoves away what the wicked crave.
The contrast is in what God does with each person's wants. He feeds the one and pushes back the greed of the other, so the wicked never get to enjoy what they grab for.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
The personal name of Israel's God. The saying is not about how the world tends to work by itself; a person stands behind the outcome.
רעב · ra'ev · be hungry
To be hungry or famished. The form is causative: he will not cause to hunger.
צדיק · tsaddiq · one in the right
A person who does right by God and neighbor. The Hebrew here has the nephesh of the righteous, his throat or appetite.
הדף · hadaph · push away
To thrust or shove away. A physical word: the reaching hand is knocked back.
הוה · havvah · greedy desire
Desire of a grasping kind. The same word also means ruin or calamity, so the craving carries its own disaster.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
The opposite of tsaddiq: the one in the wrong, who would be found guilty in court.
Proverbs 10:4
Lazy hands make you poor. Hard-working hands make you rich.
A slack palm makes a person poor,
Half-hearted work produces poverty. The picture is a loose, limp hand that does not grip the tool.
but the hand of the hard workers brings wealth.
The contrast: the same body part, used with energy, makes a person rich. Wealth is traced here to effort, not luck.
רש · rash · poor, in want
From rush, to be in want. This is poverty as lack, the plain fact of having nothing.
רמיה · remiyyah · slackness
Looseness, slackness. The same word also means deceit, as in a bow that goes slack and misses (Psalm 78:57). Lazy work is a kind of cheating.
חרוץ · charuts · sharp, hard-working
From a root meaning to cut or to decide. The diligent person is sharp and decisive, the opposite of slack.
עשר · ashar · make rich
To be or make rich. The same verb returns in verse 22 with a different subject.
Proverbs 10:5
A wise child brings in the food when it is ready to pick. A child who sleeps through that busy time lets the whole family down.
The son who gathers in the summer acts with sense,
Summer is when the crops are ready. The sensible son sees that the moment is short and gets the food in while he can.
but the son who sleeps soundly through harvest brings disgrace.
The contrast. Harvest is the one time of year a farmer cannot afford to rest, and this son is fast asleep. The loss falls on the whole household, which is why his laziness is a public shame and not a private fault.
אגר · agar · gather in, store
To collect and store food. Used of the ant in 6:8, which does exactly this in summer.
קיץ · qayits · summer, fruit harvest
The hot season and also the summer fruit gathered in it.
משכיל · maskil · acting with insight
From sakal, to have insight that leads to success. The same root as wise behavior in 1:3.
רדם · radam · be in deep sleep
Not a nap but heavy sleep. From the same root as the deep sleep God put on Adam (Genesis 2:21).
קציר · qatsir · grain harvest
The reaping season, a few weeks on which the whole year's food depends.
בוש · bosh · cause shame
The form is causative: he brings shame, on himself and on his family.
In Israel the grain harvest ran from about April to June and the fruit harvest through the summer. There was no second chance: grain left standing was lost to heat, animals or thieves, and the family lived on what was gathered until the next year.
Proverbs 10:6
Good things rest on the head of someone who does right. But a bad person's words hide the hurt he is planning.
Blessings rest on the head of the righteous,
The picture is of a hand laid on the head in blessing, or a crown. Good things from God and good words from people settle on the person who does right.
but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
The contrast is head against mouth. The wicked person's talk is a cover: it sounds harmless and hides the harm he intends. The Hebrew can also be read the other way round, that violence covers his mouth, meaning it is all that comes out of it.
ברכה · berakah · blessing
A spoken good that brings real good with it: God's favor, and other people's good wishes.
צדיק · tsaddiq · one in the right
The person who does right by God and neighbor.
פה · peh · mouth
The mouth as the organ of speech. The first of many speech words in this chapter.
כסה · kasah · cover
To cover over. Watch this verb: it returns in verses 11, 12 and 18, covering a different thing each time.
חמס · chamas · violent wrong
Cruelty and injustice done to others. The word for what filled the earth before the flood (Genesis 6:11).
The second line has no marker to show which noun is the subject. It is either 'the mouth of the wicked covers violence' (hides it) or 'violence covers the mouth of the wicked' (fills it). Versions divide between the two. The identical line closes verse 11.
Proverbs 10:7
When a good person is gone, people smile to remember them. A bad person's name goes rotten, like old fruit.
The memory of a righteous person is a blessing,
After a good person dies, people still speak of him with gratitude, and even use his name when they bless others.
but the name of the wicked rots.
The contrast is what happens to a reputation after death. The wicked person's name decays like a corpse. It is forgotten, or remembered only with disgust.
זכר · zeker · memory, remembrance
From zakar, to remember. It is what is recalled and spoken about a person once they are gone.
ברכה · berakah · blessing
The word of verse 6. There blessing rested on the righteous while alive; here it clings to their memory.
שם · shem · name, reputation
A name in Hebrew is a person's reputation and standing, what is left of them among the living.
רקב · raqav · decay
To rot, as wood eaten by worms. The related noun describes rottenness in the bones in 12:4 and 14:30.
This verse is the source of the Jewish custom of adding 'may his memory be a blessing' after the name of someone who has died.
Proverbs 10:8
A wise person listens and does what they are told. A fool just keeps on chattering, and ends up in a mess.
A person with a wise heart takes commands,
Wisdom shows in being willing to be told what to do. The wise person does not argue with good instruction; he accepts it and acts on it.
but a fool who keeps talking will be thrown down.
The contrast is between receiving and talking. The fool's lips are always moving, so nothing goes in, and with no instruction to guide him he trips and falls.
חכם לב · chakam lev · wise in mind
Lev, the heart, is where a Hebrew thinks and decides. Wisdom here is settled in the will, not just known.
לקח · laqach · take, accept
To take hold of. The same verb as receiving instruction in 1:3.
מצוה · mitsvah · command
An order from someone with authority: God, a parent or a teacher.
אויל שפתים · evil sephatayim · fool of lips
Literally a fool of two lips. Evil is the stubborn fool of 1:7; his folly comes out through his mouth.
לבט · lavat · be thrown down
A rare verb, to be cast down or to stumble headlong. It occurs only here, in verse 10, and in Hosea 4:14.
Proverbs 10:9
If you are honest, you can walk around without being afraid. If you are sneaky, you will get found out.
Whoever walks in wholeness walks safely,
A person who is the same in private and in public has nothing to hide and nothing to fear. He can go about his life without looking over his shoulder.
but whoever makes his paths crooked will be known.
The contrast. The one who twists his dealings lives with the risk of exposure, and the line says exposure will come. Honesty is safe; crookedness is found out.
תם · tom · wholeness
Completeness, being all of one piece. The related adjective describes Job (Job 1:1).
בטח · betach · in safety, with confidence
Confidence that rests on something solid. The word that closes chapter 1 (1:33).
עקש · aqash · twist
To make crooked. The picture is a road bent out of line.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
A road, and so the course of a person's conduct.
ידע · yada · be known
The ordinary verb to know, in the passive: he will become known for what he is.
Proverbs 10:10
Someone who winks to send sneaky signals causes trouble for others. And a fool who just keeps chattering ends up in a mess.
Whoever winks the eye causes pain,
The wink is a secret signal between people plotting against a third. Sly, silent malice hurts those it targets.
and a fool who keeps talking will be thrown down.
This verse does not contrast; it sets two troublemakers side by side. One does harm quietly with his eye and hurts others; the other does it noisily with his lips and hurts himself. The line repeats verse 8.
קרץ · qarats · pinch, narrow
To pinch or squeeze together. Used with the eye it is the wink of a schemer, as in 6:13.
עצבת · atsevet · pain, grief
Hurt, sorrow. From the root for pain used in Genesis 3:16.
אויל שפתים · evil sephatayim · fool of lips
The same phrase as verse 8: the stubborn fool whose lips never rest.
The ancient Greek translation has a different second line here, to the effect that the one who rebukes openly makes peace, which gives a contrast with the wink. A few modern versions follow it. The Hebrew text repeats the second line of verse 8.
Proverbs 10:11
The words of a person who does right are like a spring of fresh water that keeps people alive. A bad person's words hide the hurt he is planning.
The mouth of a righteous person is a spring of life,
In a dry land a spring keeps everything around it alive. A righteous person's words do that for the people who hear them: they refresh, guide and sustain.
but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
The contrast is two mouths. One pours out what gives life; the other is a lid over harm. The line is the same as the second half of verse 6, now set against the spring.
פה · peh · mouth
The mouth as the source of speech. Both lines begin from it.
מקור · maqor · spring, source
A spring of flowing water, from a root meaning to dig. Proverbs calls four things a spring of life: this mouth, wise teaching (13:14), the fear of the LORD (14:27) and good sense (16:22).
חיים · chayyim · life
A plural form in Hebrew, used for life in its fullness.
כסה · kasah · cover
The verb of verse 6 again. A spring is open and flowing; this mouth is a cover.
חמס · chamas · violent wrong
Cruel wrong done to others, as in verse 6.
Israel has little rain for half the year, so a spring that flowed all year was the difference between a living village and an empty one. Calling someone's mouth a spring is high praise.
Proverbs 10:12
Hate starts fights. Love forgives the wrong things people do, and does not keep bringing them up.
Hatred stirs up quarrels,
A person who hates goes looking for a fight. He wakes up conflicts that were asleep, bringing up old wrongs and taking offense at small things.
but love covers over every offense.
The contrast. Love does the opposite of stirring: it draws a cover over wrongs done to it and refuses to keep them on display. This is not hiding crime; it is choosing to forgive instead of to broadcast.
שנאה · sin'ah · hatred
The noun from sane, to hate. It appears again in verse 18.
עור · ur · rouse, wake
To wake from sleep. Hatred wakes quarrels that would have stayed asleep.
מדון · madon · quarrel, dispute
Contention, from a root meaning to judge or contend. The form here is plural: quarrels.
אהבה · ahavah · love
The noun from ahav. Love here is shown by what it does with an injury.
כסה · kasah · cover
The same verb that was sinister in verses 6 and 11. Covering violence is wicked; covering an offense against you is love.
פשע · pesha · rebellion, wrong
A breach of relationship, a wrong done against someone. A strong word for sin.
The second line is used in the New Testament in 1 Peter 4:8 and echoed in James 5:20.
Proverbs 10:13
You will hear wise words from someone who understands. But someone with no sense will not learn from words, so he gets punished.
Wisdom is found on the lips of a discerning person,
If you want wisdom, listen to someone who has understanding. It is there in what he says, ready to be picked up.
but a rod is for the back of one who lacks sense.
The contrast is lips against back. The discerning person teaches with words; the senseless person will not learn from words, so he ends up being taught by blows.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
The lip, and so what is spoken. The same word means the edge of anything, such as a shore.
נבון · navon · having insight
From bin, to tell things apart. The person who can see the difference between one thing and another.
חכמה · chokmah · skill at living
The book's main word: skill at living well.
שבט · shevet · rod, stick
A stick used for discipline, and also a shepherd's staff and a ruler's sceptre.
חסר לב · chasar lev · lacking heart
Literally lacking heart. Since the heart is the mind, this is the person with no judgment. It returns in verse 21.
Proverbs 10:14
Wise people save up what they learn, like treasure. A fool blurts everything out, and trouble is never far away.
The wise store knowledge away,
Wise people treat what they know like treasure. They keep it, add to it, and do not spill it all out at once; it is there when it is needed.
but the mouth of a fool is ruin close by.
The contrast is storing against blurting. The fool keeps nothing back, and what comes out can bring disaster at any moment, on himself and on those near him.
צפן · tsaphan · hide, treasure up
To hide away as something valuable. In 1:11 the same verb was used of lurking in ambush; here it is the good kind of hiding.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
Knowledge gained by experience, from yada.
פה · peh · mouth
The fool's mouth is the open door where the wise person has a locked store.
אויל · evil · stubborn fool
The fool who has decided not to be taught.
מחתה · mechittah · shattering, ruin
From a root meaning to shatter or to terrify. It comes back in verses 15 and 29.
קרוב · qarov · near
Near, about to arrive. The ruin is always one sentence away.
Proverbs 10:15
A rich person's money keeps him safe, like a strong castle. Poor people have no walls like that, so one bad thing can ruin them.
A rich man's wealth is his fortified city;
This is an observation about how the world works. Money protects. It absorbs the shocks of illness, bad harvests and lawsuits the way walls absorb an attack.
what ruins the poor is their poverty.
The other side of the same fact. The poor have no walls, so one setback can finish them. The saying does not praise wealth; it describes its power, and 18:11 adds that the fortress is partly in the rich man's imagination.
הון · hon · wealth, goods
Property and riches. The word is related to the idea of having enough.
קרית עז · qiryat oz · city of strength
Literally his city of strength: a walled town that can hold out against attack.
מחתה · mechittah · shattering, ruin
The word of verse 14. There the fool's mouth brought ruin; here poverty does.
דל · dal · weak, poor
From a root meaning low or thin. The poor seen as weak and without resources.
ריש · resh · poverty, want
From rush, to be in want, the same root as poor in verse 4.
Proverbs 10:16
What a good person earns helps him live well. What a bad person earns only brings him more trouble.
What the righteous earn goes toward life;
Verse 15 could sound as if money is everything. This verse corrects it: what matters is what your earnings lead to. The righteous person's pay supports and builds a good life.
what the wicked bring in goes toward sin.
The contrast. The wicked person's income only funds more wrong, and with it the penalty wrong brings. Both may be paid; the pay carries them in opposite directions.
פעלה · pe'ullah · work, pay for work
Both the labor and what the labor earns.
חיים · chayyim · life
Full and lasting life, the goal the righteous person's work serves.
תבואה · tevu'ah · yield, produce
What comes in, first of all a field's crop. A harvest word used for revenue.
חטאת · chatta't · sin
The ordinary word for sin, from chata, to miss the mark. It can also stand for the penalty sin brings.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
The one in the wrong, set against the tsaddiq of the first line.
The Hebrew of the second line ends with the word 'sin'. Some versions keep 'sin', meaning the income is spent on more wrongdoing; others render 'punishment', taking sin to stand for its result. Both are possible, and the contrast with 'life' favors the result.
Proverbs 10:17
If you listen when you are told you are wrong, you stay on the road to a good life. If you won't listen, you get lost.
Whoever holds on to discipline is on the road to life,
Life is pictured as a destination with a road to it. The person who keeps the correction he has been given stays on that road.
but whoever abandons correction wanders off.
The contrast. Rejecting a rebuke is how a person leaves the road. The Hebrew verb is causative and may mean he also leads others astray: one person's refusal to be corrected misdirects everyone who follows him.
ארח · orach · path, course
A travelled path, and so the course a life takes.
חיים · chayyim · life
Where the path ends for the one who accepts discipline.
שמר · shamar · keep, guard
To guard and hold on to something. Discipline is kept like a valuable, not just heard once.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
Training that includes being corrected. A key word since 1:2.
עזב · azav · leave, abandon
To forsake, to leave behind.
תוכחת · tokachat · correction
A reproof that shows you where you are wrong.
תעה · ta'ah · wander, lead astray
To wander off the road. The form here is causative, which normally means to cause to wander.
The last verb is causative. It can be taken as 'goes astray' or as 'leads others astray', and versions differ. The first line can also be read as 'the one who keeps discipline is a path to life', that is, for other people.
Proverbs 10:18
Someone who hates you but acts friendly is a liar. And someone who spreads mean stories about people is a fool.
Whoever covers up hatred has lying lips,
This is the person who hates you and acts friendly. His pleasant words are lies, because they hide what he really feels.
and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
Not a contrast but a pair. There are two wrong things to do with ill will: hide it behind false friendliness, or let it out as slander. The first is a liar, the second a fool, and neither is the way of verse 12.
כסה · kasah · cover
The fourth use of this verb. In verse 12 love covered offenses; here a liar covers hatred. The act is the same and the worth is opposite.
שנאה · sin'ah · hatred
The word of verse 12, where it stirred up quarrels. Hidden, it is no better.
שקר · sheqer · falsehood
A lie, something with nothing behind it. The word used in the ninth commandment for false witness.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
The lips as speech. Lips of falsehood are speech that does not match the heart.
דבה · dibbah · bad report
A damaging report passed around. The word for the bad report the spies gave about the land (Numbers 13:32).
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The thick fool, who does not see what his talk will cost him.
Proverbs 10:19
If you talk too much, you are sure to say something wrong. A wise person knows when to be quiet.
Where words are many, offense does not stop,
The more a person talks, the more certain it is that something wrong will be said: an exaggeration, a broken confidence, an insult. Volume alone guarantees it.
but whoever holds back his lips acts wisely.
The contrast. The sensible person puts a brake on his own mouth. Wisdom here is not having clever things to say; it is knowing when to say nothing.
רב דברים · rov devarim · abundance of words
Rov is a great quantity; davar is a word or a matter. A flood of talk.
פשע · pesha · rebellion, wrong
The strong word for offense used in verse 12. Much talk produces the very thing love has to cover.
חדל · chadal · cease, be absent
To stop or to be lacking. The Hebrew says offense does not cease, which English turns into one word.
חשך · chasak · hold back
To keep back, to spare. The same verb as sparing the rod in 13:24.
משכיל · maskil · acting with insight
The word used of the son who gathers in verse 5. Good sense shows in the harvest field and in the mouth.
Proverbs 10:20
The words of someone who does right are worth as much as the best silver. A bad person's thoughts are worth almost nothing.
The tongue of a righteous person is choice silver;
What a righteous person says is valuable, like silver that has been refined and selected. His words are worth keeping.
the heart of the wicked is worth next to nothing.
The contrast is sharper than tongue against tongue. Even the outward speech of the righteous is precious, while the inmost thinking of the wicked, the best they have, is nearly worthless. So nothing they say can be worth much either.
לשון · lashon · tongue
The tongue as the instrument of speech; the same word means a language.
כסף נבחר · keseph nivchar · selected silver
Keseph is silver, the usual money of the time. Nivchar is chosen, from bachar: silver picked out as the best.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The seat of thought and will, the place speech comes from.
כמעט · kim'at · like a little
Literally like a small amount. A trifle, hardly worth counting.
Proverbs 10:21
The words of someone who does right are like food for lots of people. Fools die because they have no sense.
The lips of a righteous person shepherd many,
The verb is the one for a shepherd tending a flock. A righteous person's words feed and guide a whole crowd of people, not just himself.
but fools die for lack of sense.
The contrast is feeding many against starving alone. The fool cannot nourish anyone; he cannot even keep himself alive, because he has no sense to take in what is offered.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
The lips as speech, here pictured as a shepherd.
רעה · ra'ah · shepherd, pasture
To tend a flock: lead it to pasture, feed it, guard it. The verb of Psalm 23:1.
אויל · evil · stubborn fool
The stubborn fool, here in the plural.
חסר לב · chasar lev · lack of heart
The phrase of verse 13. There it earned a beating; here it is fatal.
מות · mut · die
The plain verb to die, the opposite of the life the righteous mouth gives in verse 11.
Proverbs 10:22
It is God's kindness that makes a person rich, and His gift does not come with sadness.
It is the LORD's blessing that makes a person rich,
The Hebrew stresses the word it: this, and not something else, is what enriches. Verse 4 said the diligent hand makes rich; this verse names what stands behind the hand.
and he adds no pain along with it.
Wealth that comes as God's gift does not come with the grief that grabbed wealth brings: the guilt, fear and conflict of verse 2. The line can also be read as saying that anxious toil adds nothing to the blessing.
ברכה · berakah · blessing
The word of verses 6 and 7. God's favor is the active cause of prosperity.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
God's personal name. The source of wealth is a person who gives, not a technique.
עשר · ashar · make rich
The exact verb form of verse 4. Read together: the diligent hand makes rich, and the LORD's blessing makes rich.
יסף · yasaph · add
To add or increase. The root of the name Joseph.
עצב · etsev · pain, toil
Pain, and also painful labor. From the root used for the toil laid on Adam (Genesis 3:17).
The second line is ambiguous in Hebrew. Either 'he adds no sorrow with it' (God is the subject) or 'toil adds nothing to it' (hard labor is the subject, and cannot improve on God's blessing). Most versions take the first; some note the second.
Proverbs 10:23
A fool thinks doing wrong is a fun game. A person with good sense has fun being wise.
Carrying out a vile scheme is like a joke to a fool,
The fool does wrong for fun. Planning and doing something shameful amuses him the way a game does.
and wisdom is the same to a person of understanding.
A comparison, not only a contrast. Both people have something they enjoy. What gives the fool his laugh is wickedness; what gives the understanding person his pleasure is wisdom. You can tell who someone is by what he finds fun.
זמה · zimmah · vile scheme
A plan, nearly always a wicked one, and often used of sexual wrong. Stronger than a general word for evil.
שחוק · sechoq · laughter, play
Laughter or amusement, from the verb to laugh used in 1:26.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The dull fool, who feels no weight in what he does.
תבונה · tevunah · understanding
From bin, to tell apart. The Hebrew calls him a man of understanding.
Proverbs 10:24
The thing a bad person is scared of will happen to him. People who do right will be given what they hope for.
What a wicked person dreads is what will come on him,
The wicked live with a fear at the back of the mind, of being caught, of losing everything. The saying is that this fear is accurate. The thing dreaded arrives.
but what the righteous long for will be given.
The contrast is dread against desire. Each person gets what is in the heart: the wicked get what they fear, and the righteous get what they want. The giver is not named, but it is plainly God.
מגורה · megorah · the thing dreaded
A noun: the object of dread. From gur, to be afraid.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
The one in the wrong.
תאוה · ta'avah · longing
Strong desire. The word is neutral; whether it is good depends on who wants and what is wanted.
צדיק · tsaddiq · one in the right
Plural here: the righteous as a group.
נתן · natan · give
The ordinary verb to give. The Hebrew says simply he will give, leaving the giver unnamed.
Proverbs 10:25
When the storm has blown past, the bad person is gone. The person who does right is still standing, like a house built on rock.
The storm sweeps through and the wicked person is gone,
Trouble comes to everyone like a gale. When it has passed, the wicked person is simply not there; nothing held him in place.
but the righteous person is a foundation that lasts.
The contrast. The same storm hits the righteous and he remains, like the stone base of a house that is still there after the wind. Jesus builds the same picture into his story of two builders (Matthew 7:24-27).
סופה · suphah · storm wind
A sweeping gale. The same word as the whirlwind of disaster in 1:27.
עבר · avar · pass over, pass by
To cross or go past. The storm does not stay, but what it removes stays gone.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
The Hebrew is abrupt: and there is no wicked person.
עולם · olam · long duration, always
Time stretching out of sight, past or future. It returns in verse 30.
יסוד · yesod · foundation
The base a building stands on, from yasad, to lay a foundation.
Proverbs 10:26
Sour vinegar hurts your teeth, and smoke stings your eyes. A lazy person is just as annoying to anyone who sends him to do a job.
Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
Two small, sharp irritations. Sour wine sets the teeth on edge and smoke makes the eyes sting and water. Neither kills you; both are hard to bear.
so is the sluggard to those who send him.
The comparison is completed. A lazy person sent on an errand is that kind of irritation to whoever is relying on him: the message is late, the job half done. The saying looks at laziness from the side of those who have to depend on it.
חמץ · chomets · sour wine
Wine gone sour. From the root for what is leavened or soured.
עשן · ashan · smoke
Smoke from a fire. Houses had no chimneys, so everyone knew the feeling.
עצל · atsel · sluggard
The sluggard, a stock figure in Proverbs (6:6-11; 26:13-16). He is not unable to work; he will not.
שלח · shalach · send
To send on an errand. The sluggard here is a messenger or agent someone is counting on.
Before post or telephones, business and news travelled by messenger. An employer's affairs depended completely on the person sent, which is why Proverbs comes back several times to the reliable and the unreliable messenger (13:17; 25:13).
Proverbs 10:27
If you respect God and listen to Him, you will live longer. Bad people's lives are cut short.
The fear of the LORD adds days,
Taking God seriously lengthens a life. The person who fears him avoids the things that cut lives short: violence, recklessness, the enemies that wrongdoing makes.
but the years of the wicked are cut short.
The contrast is days added against years shortened. This is the general rule Proverbs teaches. It is not a guarantee for every case, as the book of Job and Psalm 73 make clear.
יראה · yir'ah · reverent awe
Awe before God that shapes how a person lives. The foundation stated in 1:7.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
God's personal name.
יסף · yasaph · add
The verb add from verse 22. There the LORD added no sorrow; here the fear of him adds days.
שנה · shanah · year
Days in the first line, years in the second: the whole span of a life.
קצר · qatsar · be short
To be short or cut short.
Proverbs 10:28
People who do right look forward to good things, and they end up glad. What bad people hope for never comes.
What the righteous wait for ends in joy,
The righteous person's waiting is rewarded. What he has been looking forward to arrives, and the result is gladness.
but what the wicked expect comes to nothing.
The contrast. Both groups hope. The difference is only in whether the hope is ever fulfilled. The wicked person's plans for the future die before they are reached.
תוחלת · tochelet · waiting, hope
From yachal, to wait. Hope as patient waiting for something.
שמחה · simchah · joy
Joy, from the verb that described the glad father in verse 1.
תקוה · tiqvah · hope, expectation
The usual word for hope. It also means a cord (Joshua 2:18): hope as a line stretched toward the future.
אבד · abad · perish, be lost
To be lost or destroyed. The hope itself dies.
Proverbs 10:29
God's way is a safe, strong place for honest people. But it ruins people who do wrong.
The LORD's way is a stronghold for the person of integrity,
The way of the LORD is how God runs the world, his rule and his dealings. For someone living with integrity that is a place of safety: God's order is on his side.
but it is ruin for those who do wrong.
The contrast is that the very same thing is two different things to two people. God's way does not change. Whether it shelters you or shatters you depends on which side of it you stand.
דרך · derek · road, way of acting
Here not a human path but the LORD's own way of acting.
מעוז · ma'oz · place of refuge
A fortified place of safety, from the root for strength. Compare the rich man's fortress in verse 15.
תם · tom · wholeness, integrity
The word translated integrity in verse 9. The Hebrew says a stronghold for integrity.
מחתה · mechittah · shattering, ruin
The third and last use in the chapter, after verses 14 and 15.
און · aven · wrong, trouble
Wickedness that brings trouble and comes to nothing. Workers of aven is a set phrase for evildoers in the Psalms.
The first line can also be divided differently: 'The LORD is a stronghold for the one whose way is blameless.' The consonants allow both, and some versions choose this second reading.
Proverbs 10:30
Nothing will ever knock down people who do right. But bad people will not get to stay in the land.
The righteous person will never be made to totter,
The righteous stand firm for good. This matches the lasting foundation of verse 25.
but the wicked will not stay settled in the land.
The contrast is staying against being removed. The land is the land God gave Israel, and living in it was the sign of his blessing. The wicked have no permanent place there.
צדיק · tsaddiq · one in the right
The one in the right, standing firm.
עולם · olam · long duration, always
The word of verse 25. With the negative it gives never: not for all time.
מוט · mot · totter, slip
To sway, slip or be dislodged. Used of a foot slipping and of mountains shaking.
שכן · shakan · settle, dwell
To settle down and stay. The verb that closes chapter 1.
ארץ · erets · land, earth
The land of promise. The same thought is in 2:21-22 and in Psalm 37.
Proverbs 10:31
Wise words grow from the mouth of someone who does right, like fruit on a tree. But a tongue that twists the truth will be stopped.
The mouth of a righteous person bears wisdom like fruit,
The verb pictures a tree putting out fruit. Wisdom grows naturally from a righteous person's mouth, and others can pick and eat it.
but the tongue that twists things will be cut off.
The contrast keeps the picture of a tree. The fruitful branch is left; the twisted tongue is cut away like a useless one. The person who turns truth upside down will be silenced.
פה · peh · mouth
The chapter closes as it has run, on the mouth.
נוב · nuv · bear fruit
To sprout or bear fruit. Used of the righteous still bearing fruit in old age (Psalm 92:14).
חכמה · chokmah · skill at living
The fruit this mouth produces.
תהפכות · tahpukot · things turned upside down
From haphak, to overturn. Speech that turns things on their head, calling wrong right.
לשון · lashon · tongue
The tongue, standing for the speaker.
כרת · karat · cut off
To cut off or cut down. The usual verb for a person being cut off from the community.
Proverbs 10:32
People who do right know the kind thing to say. Bad people only know how to say twisted things.
The lips of a righteous person know what pleases,
A righteous person has a trained sense for the fitting word, the thing that will be welcome to God and good for the hearer. His lips know it the way a craftsman's hands know the work.
but the mouth of the wicked knows only what is twisted.
The contrast. The Hebrew has no verb in this line; the mouth of the wicked simply is perversity. Twisted speech is all it is familiar with.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
The lips are said to know, as if they had a mind of their own.
ידע · yada · know by experience
To know by familiarity. The righteous are at home with acceptable speech.
רצון · ratson · favor, what pleases
What is pleasing and gains favor. The word comes again in the first verse of the next chapter, of what delights the LORD.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
The last appearance of the wicked in a chapter that has named them in nearly half its verses.
תהפכות · tahpukot · things turned upside down
The word of verse 31, linking the two closing sayings.