Proverbs 17: Peace is better than plenty | Bible study
These short sayings are about living well with other people. A calm home is better than a rich one, a fool hurts everyone near him, and good friends love, forgive and know when to keep quiet.
Proverbs 17:1
A dry crust of bread in a peaceful house is better than a big feast in a house full of fighting.
Better a dry crust of bread with quiet around it
The poorest possible meal, a piece of bread with nothing to dip it in, is the better choice if the house is calm.
than a house full of feast meat with quarrelling.
The comparison sets the worst food against the best. A house full of meat is a rich house, but if the people at the table are fighting, the food is not worth having. Peace in a home matters more than what is on the table.
פת חרבה · pat charevah · dry piece of bread
Pat is a broken-off piece of bread. Charevah means dry: with no oil, sauce or wine to dip it in.
שלוה · shalvah · ease, calm
Ease and freedom from trouble. In Proverbs 1:32 the same word is the false ease of fools; here it is the real calm of a peaceful home.
זבח · zevach · sacrifice, sacrificial meal
Literally 'sacrifices'. The meat of a fellowship offering was eaten by the family as a feast.
ריב · riv · quarrel, dispute
A quarrel, also the word for a lawsuit. The Hebrew phrase is 'sacrifices of strife'. The word returns in verse 14.
Ordinary people seldom ate meat. Much of the meat they did eat came from fellowship offerings, where part of the animal was given to God and the rest was eaten by the worshipper's household (Leviticus 7:11-18). A house full of such meat was a house enjoying a rare feast, and one meant to celebrate peace with God.
Proverbs 17:2
A wise servant will end up in charge of a son who shames his family. He will even get a share of the family's things, like one of the brothers.
A capable servant will rule over a son who brings disgrace,
Birth does not guarantee position. A servant who handles things well will end up in charge of a son of the house who shames the family.
and will get a share of the inheritance along with the brothers.
This goes a step further than the first line. The servant does not only manage the disgraceful son; he is treated as one of the heirs. Competence and character can count for more than blood.
עבד · eved · servant, slave
A household servant or slave, who normally had no claim on the estate.
שכל · sakal · act with insight
To act with insight and so succeed. The same verb is translated 'prospers' in verse 8.
משל · mashal · rule, govern
To have authority over.
בוש · bosh · cause shame
The form means one who brings shame on others, here on his parents. Proverbs 10:5 uses the same word for the son who sleeps through harvest.
נחלה · nachalah · inherited property
The family estate, above all land, handed down from father to sons.
חלק · chalaq · divide, share
To divide into portions. The servant takes his portion as the brothers do.
Inheritance normally passed only to sons. But a trusted servant could rise very high in a household, and a master without a worthy heir could make a servant his heir, as Abraham expected to do with Eliezer (Genesis 15:2-3).
Proverbs 17:3
Fire shows what silver and gold are really made of. In the same way, God tests what is really in our hearts.
The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold,
This is the comparison. Each precious metal has its own vessel in which heat shows what is really in it and separates the metal from the dross.
but the one who tests hearts is the LORD.
No human instrument can assay a person's inner self. Only God can do that. The comparison also suggests how he does it: by heat, that is, by trials that show what a person is and purify it.
מצרף · matsreph · crucible
From tsaraph, to smelt or refine. The vessel in which silver is melted.
כור · kur · smelting furnace
A smelting furnace. Egypt is called an 'iron furnace' with this word (Deuteronomy 4:20).
בחן · bachan · test, assay
To examine and prove genuine, the way metal is assayed.
לב · lev · mind, inner self
The inner person: thoughts, motives and will. Compare Proverbs 16:2, where the LORD weighs the spirits.
Silver and gold ore was heated in a clay crucible or furnace until it melted. The impurities rose or burned off and were removed, leaving pure metal. The first line of this verse is repeated in Proverbs 27:21.
Proverbs 17:4
People who do bad things love to listen to mean talk. Liars pay close attention to words that hurt.
A wrongdoer listens closely to lips that speak harm;
What a person likes to listen to shows what he is. Someone who does wrong is drawn to malicious talk and gives it his full attention.
a liar lends his ear to a tongue that ruins.
The second line says the same of the liar. He has an appetite for destructive talk. Together the lines say that the eager listener to evil speech belongs in the same class as the speaker.
מרע · mera · one who does harm
A form of the verb ra'a, to do evil or harm. From the same root as ra, evil.
קשב · qashav · pay close attention
To listen alertly. In Proverbs 1:24 it is what people refused to give Wisdom.
און · aven · trouble, wickedness
Wrong that brings trouble and misery. The Hebrew is 'a lip of aven'.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
Singular in Hebrew: a lip, standing for someone's talk.
שקר · sheqer · falsehood
The Hebrew has the abstract noun 'falsehood' standing for the person, as if he were a lie in human form.
הוה · havvah · ruin, destruction
Ruin, or the desire to cause it. A 'tongue of havvah' is speech that aims at someone's downfall.
Proverbs 17:5
If you make fun of poor people, you insult God who made them. Anyone who is glad when others get hurt will be punished.
Whoever jeers at a poor man insults the God who made him;
Contempt for the poor is contempt for God. The poor man is God's workmanship, so sneering at him for being poor is an insult aimed at his Maker.
whoever is glad at a calamity will not be let off.
The second line widens the first. It covers anyone who takes pleasure in another person's ruin, and it adds the consequence: God will hold him guilty.
לעג · la'ag · deride, jeer at
To ridicule. The same verb as in Proverbs 1:26.
רש · rash · poor person
Someone in want, the destitute. The usual word in Proverbs for the poor man.
חרף · charaph · reproach, insult
To heap scorn on. The word for Goliath's defiance of Israel's armies (1 Samuel 17:10).
עשה · asah · make
From asah, to make: 'the one who made him'. Proverbs 14:31 says the same of the one who oppresses the poor.
שמח · sameach · glad, rejoicing
Glad. The same word describes the 'joyful' heart of verse 22.
איד · eyd · calamity
Ruin that overtakes someone.
נקה · naqah · be clear, acquitted
To be held innocent. The same phrase as Proverbs 16:5.
Proverbs 17:6
Grandchildren are like a crown for grandparents. And children are proud of their mums and dads.
Children's children are the crown of old people,
For the old, the great honor is to see the family continue into a third generation. Grandchildren are worn like a crown.
and what sons take pride in is their fathers.
The honor also runs the other way. Children take their standing from their parents. Each generation is the glory of the other, which describes a family as it ought to be.
בני בנים · benei banim · sons of sons
Literally 'sons of sons'.
עטרה · atarah · crown, wreath
A crown or garland of honor. In Proverbs 16:31 grey hair is called the same.
זקן · zaqen · old, elder
An old person, and also the word for an elder of the community.
תפארת · tiph'eret · beauty, splendor
Splendor, the thing a person is proud of.
אב · av · father
Father, and by extension forefathers.
Proverbs 17:7
Fine, fancy words don't fit a fool. Lies fit a leader even less.
Fine speech does not suit a fool;
Some things do not fit the person. Lofty or eloquent talk is out of place in the mouth of a coarse, godless man, because nothing in his life backs it up.
how much less do lying lips suit a noble.
The argument moves from the lesser to the greater. If fine words are wrong on a fool, lies are far worse on someone in a position of honor. People rely on a leader's word, so his dishonesty does more damage.
שפת יתר · sephat yeter · lip of excess
Literally 'a lip of abundance' or 'of excess'. Yeter is what goes beyond the ordinary.
נאוה · naveh · fitting, becoming
Suitable, becoming. Proverbs lists several things that do not suit a fool (19:10, 26:1).
נבל · naval · coarse, godless fool
The harshest word for a fool: a person without moral or religious sense. It was the name of Abigail's husband (1 Samuel 25:25).
שקר · sheqer · falsehood
Deception. The Hebrew is 'a lip of falsehood', matching 'a lip of excess' in the first line.
נדיב · nadiv · noble, generous person
From a root meaning willing or generous. A person of rank who is expected to be noble in character. Returns in verse 26.
The word behind 'excellent' means abundance or excess. Some take it as eloquent or lofty speech, others as arrogant, overblown speech. Either way it is talk too big for the one speaking.
Proverbs 17:8
Someone who gives secret gifts to get his own way thinks they work like magic. Wherever he turns, he expects things to go well for him.
A bribe is a lucky stone in the eyes of the one who has it;
This reports how the briber sees his bribe. To him it works like a charm that makes things go his way.
wherever he turns, he succeeds.
The line continues his point of view, and admits that bribes often do work. The saying is an observation of how things are, not approval. Verse 23 gives the verdict: taking a bribe is what a wicked person does.
שחד · shochad · bribe, gift
A gift given to win a favorable decision. The law forbids it because it blinds those who see clearly (Exodus 23:8).
אבן חן · even chen · stone of favor
Literally 'a stone of grace' or 'of favor': a stone that wins favor, like a charm, or a precious gem.
בעל · ba'al · owner, master
The one who possesses the bribe, most naturally the one who gives it.
פנה · panah · turn, face
To turn toward. From the same root as panim, face.
שכל · sakal · succeed, act with insight
The verb used of the capable servant in verse 2. Here it has its sense of succeeding.
The Hebrew does not say who 'he' is in the second line. It may be the briber, who succeeds wherever he turns, or the bribe itself, which works wherever it is directed.
Proverbs 17:9
If you forgive a wrong and keep quiet about it, love grows. If you keep bringing it up, you can lose even a close friend.
Whoever covers over an offence is seeking love,
When someone wrongs you or a friend, you can choose not to broadcast it. Keeping it covered, which means forgiving it and not bringing it up, is how love is pursued and kept.
but whoever keeps bringing a matter up drives close friends apart.
This is the opposite choice. Repeating the offence, whether by telling others or by raising it again and again, breaks even a close friendship. The contrast is between covering and repeating.
כסה · kasah · cover
To cover. Proverbs 10:12 uses the same verb: love covers all offences.
פשע · pesha · offence, breach
A wrong that breaks a relationship. Returns in verse 19.
בקש · baqash · seek
To go after something. The first of three uses in the chapter (verses 11 and 19).
אהבה · ahavah · love
The noun from ahav, to love.
שנה · shanah · do again, repeat
To do a second time. Related to the Hebrew word for two.
אלוף · alluph · intimate friend
A trusted companion. The same phrase ends Proverbs 16:28, where a whisperer does the separating.
Proverbs 17:10
One telling-off sinks deep into a person with understanding. A hundred smacks teach a fool nothing.
A single rebuke sinks deeper into a discerning person
A person with understanding needs only to be told. One word of correction gets all the way in and changes him.
than a hundred lashes into a fool.
The comparison is deliberately extreme: one word against a hundred blows. What separates the two people is not how hard they are corrected but whether they can receive it. The fool feels the pain and learns nothing.
גערה · ge'arah · a sharp rebuke
A spoken reprimand. A different word from tokachat but the same idea: words that correct.
נחת · nachat · go down, sink in
To descend. The rebuke goes down into the person.
מבין · mevin · one who discerns
The participle of bin, to discern. Returns in verse 24.
מאה · me'ah · a hundred
A round number for a huge amount. The law limited a legal beating to forty strokes (Deuteronomy 25:3), so a hundred is deliberate exaggeration.
נכה · nakah · strike
The ordinary verb to strike or beat. Returns in verse 26.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The thick, self-satisfied fool. The most frequent word for a fool in this chapter.
Proverbs 17:11
A person who refuses to obey is only looking for trouble. So someone harsh will be sent to deal with him.
A rebel is only looking for trouble,
The person set on defiance is not after anything good. Rebellion is all he wants, and evil is all it leads to.
so a merciless messenger will be sent against him.
This is the consequence. Whoever goes looking for evil will have something harsh sent to find him. The messenger may be an officer of the king sent to put the rebellion down, or the punishment itself.
מרי · meri · rebellion
From marah, to be defiant. The Hebrew has the abstract noun 'rebellion'.
בקש · baqash · seek
The verb of verse 9. There a person sought love; here the search is of the opposite kind.
רע · ra · bad, harmful
The broad word for what is bad or does harm.
מלאך אכזרי · mal'ak akzari · merciless messenger
Mal'ak is one who is sent; akzari means cruel, without pity. Compare the king's messengers of death in Proverbs 16:14.
The first line can be read two ways: 'a rebel seeks only evil' or 'an evil man seeks only rebellion'. Hebrew word order allows both, and the sense is nearly the same.
Proverbs 17:12
It is safer to meet a mother bear whose cubs were stolen than a fool busy being foolish.
Let a man run into a bear robbed of her cubs
The most dangerous animal a traveller in Israel could meet was a bear whose cubs had been taken. She attacks anything in her path in blind rage.
rather than a fool in the middle of his folly.
The comparison is meant to startle. A fool in full flight is more dangerous than the bear, because he cannot be reasoned with and he pulls others into the damage.
פגש · pagash · meet, encounter
To come upon someone face to face.
דב · dov · bear
The Syrian brown bear lived in the hills of ancient Israel. David fought one while keeping sheep (1 Samuel 17:34).
שכול · shakkul · bereaved of young
Bereaved of offspring. The same picture of fury is used in 2 Samuel 17:8 and Hosea 13:8.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The self-confident fool of verse 10, whom a hundred blows could not teach.
אולת · ivvelet · folly
Folly in action. 'In his folly' means while he is caught up in it.
Proverbs 17:13
If you pay back good with bad, trouble will never leave your house.
If someone pays back harm for good,
This sets out the offence. It is not ordinary revenge but something worse: answering kindness with injury.
harm will never leave his house.
The penalty matches the crime and exceeds it. He handed out harm once, and harm moves in to stay with him and with his family after him.
שוב · shuv · turn, give back
The common verb to turn or return, here in the form that means to give back, repay.
רעה · ra'ah · harm, trouble
The word is used twice in the verse. What he pays out is what comes to live with him.
טובה · tovah · good, kindness
A good turn, a benefit received.
מוש · mush · move away, leave
To withdraw or be removed. With 'not', it stays for good.
בית · bayit · house, household
Both the building and the family that lives in it, including descendants.
Proverbs 17:14
Starting a fight is like making a small hole in a dam. So walk away before the whole thing bursts.
Starting a quarrel is like letting water break through;
The picture is a small breach in a dam or channel. At first it is a trickle, but the water widens the gap by itself and soon cannot be stopped. A quarrel grows the same way from its first words.
so drop the dispute before it bursts out.
This is the practical conclusion. The only moment you can control a quarrel is before it starts, so the time to walk away is at the first leak.
ראשית · reshit · beginning, first part
The starting point, the word of Proverbs 1:7. The first moment of a quarrel is the one that matters.
מדון · madon · contention
Contention, from din, to judge or contend.
פטר · patar · release, let loose
To set free or let go. Here it means opening a way for water.
נטש · natash · leave, let go
To leave alone or forsake. The verb used in Proverbs 1:8 for abandoning a mother's teaching, here used for a good kind of leaving.
ריב · riv · quarrel, dispute
The word of verse 1. It also means a lawsuit, which is where an unchecked quarrel often ended.
גלע · gala · burst out
A rare verb found only in Proverbs (also 18:1 and 20:3), each time in connection with quarrelling.
Water in Israel was stored behind earth banks and led to fields through small channels. Anyone who had opened a channel or seen a bank give way knew that a small hole quickly becomes a flood.
Proverbs 17:15
God hates it when a guilty person is let off. He hates it just as much when someone who did right gets the blame.
The one who clears the guilty and the one who condemns the innocent,
Two opposite verdicts are named, and both are wrong. One lets the guilty person go free. The other declares the person in the right to be guilty.
both of them alike are detestable to the LORD.
God does not rank one above the other. Leniency toward the guilty is as hateful to him as harshness toward the innocent, because both are a false verdict.
צדק · tsadaq · declare in the right
A court term: to pronounce someone to be in the right, to acquit. From the same root as tsaddiq, the righteous.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
In court, the party who is in the wrong.
רשע · rasha · declare guilty
The verb from the same root as 'wicked'. The Hebrew line is a mirror: one who 'righteouses' the wicked and 'wickeds' the righteous.
צדיק · tsaddiq · innocent, in the right
In court, the party who is in the right.
תועבה · to'evah · something detestable
The strongest word of disgust in the Old Testament.
English needs four different words (justifies, wicked, condemns, righteous) where Hebrew uses only two roots, each once as a verb and once as a noun. The wordplay shows the verdicts as exact reversals of the truth.
Proverbs 17:16
What good is money in a fool's hand? He can't buy wisdom, because his heart is not ready to learn.
Why should there be payment in a fool's hand to buy wisdom,
The picture is a fool arriving with money to pay for wisdom, as if it could be picked up like goods in a market. The question is scornful: what is the use?
when he has no mind for it?
This is the reason the money is wasted. Wisdom has to be received by a heart that wants it. The fool has the fee but not the capacity or the will, so he cannot take delivery of what he is paying for.
מחיר · mechir · price, payment
The price paid for something.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The dull fool again.
קנה · qanah · get, buy
To acquire. Proverbs urges everyone to 'get' wisdom (4:7, 16:16), but it cannot be had for money alone.
חכמה · chokmah · skill at living
Skill at living well before God.
לב · lev · heart, mind
Literally 'and there is no heart'. He has no mind or inclination for it. The phrase 'lacking heart' returns in verse 18.
Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves you all the time. A brother is there to help when hard times come.
A friend loves at every time,
The mark of a real friend is constancy. His love does not depend on the season, on your success, or on what he gets from you.
and a brother is born for the day of trouble.
This sharpens the first line. Hard times are exactly what a brother exists for. Read together, the lines say that the true friend proves to be like family when trouble comes.
רע · rea · friend, neighbor
A companion or neighbor. The same word is 'neighbor' in verse 18.
אהב · ahav · love
To love. Verse 19 uses the same verb for a very different kind of love.
עת · et · time, season
A point or season of time. 'At every time' covers good days and bad.
אח · ach · brother
A brother, or more widely a kinsman.
ילד · yalad · bear, be born
To give birth, here 'is born'. The verb returns in verses 21 and 25.
צרה · tsarah · a tight place
Distress, from a root meaning narrow.
The two lines may say the same thing in two ways, with the true friend acting as a brother does. Or they may contrast: a friend is always loving, but in real trouble it is the brother you can count on. Most readers take the first view.
Proverbs 17:18
Only someone with no sense shakes hands and promises to pay back money that a neighbor borrowed.
A man with no sense strikes hands on a deal
The handshake seals a legal promise. The person who does it lightly is called senseless because he is binding himself without weighing the cost.
and makes himself surety in front of his neighbor.
This says what the promise is: he guarantees someone else's debt. If the borrower fails to pay, he must pay. Placed after verse 17, the saying marks a limit: love your friend at all times, but do not sign away your own livelihood for him.
חסר לב · chasar lev · lacking heart
Literally 'lacking heart', a common phrase in Proverbs for a person without judgment.
תקע כף · taqa kaph · strike the palm
Taqa is to strike or clap; kaph is the palm. Striking hands sealed an agreement.
ערב · arav · stand surety
To pledge oneself for another's debt. Proverbs warns against it repeatedly (6:1-5, 11:15, 22:26).
רע · rea · friend, neighbor
The same word as 'friend' in verse 17.
A guarantor promised to pay if a borrower defaulted, and the pledge was sealed by striking hands before witnesses. If the debt went bad, the guarantor could lose his goods, his land or even his freedom.
Proverbs 17:19
Whoever loves doing wrong loves fighting. Whoever builds a tall, fancy doorway to show off is asking for a crash.
Whoever loves an offence loves a fight;
The two go together. A person who is fond of doing wrong, of crossing lines, is by that fact fond of the conflict that follows it.
whoever builds his doorway high is asking for a crash.
The picture is of someone who raises his entrance to make a show. It stands for pride and display. As with the first line, the person is inviting his own downfall, since a high doorway attracts envy and attack.
פשע · pesha · offence, breach
The word of verse 9. There love covered an offence; here a person loves the offence itself.
מצה · matsah · strife, contention
A third word for quarrelling in this chapter, from a root meaning to struggle.
גבה · gavah · be high, make high
To be high. The root regularly describes pride, as in Proverbs 16:5 and 16:18.
פתח · petach · opening, entrance
The entrance of a house.
בקש · baqash · seek
The third use (see verses 9 and 11). He does not mean to seek ruin, but that is what his conduct is looking for.
שבר · shever · a breaking
A shattering. The same word follows pride in Proverbs 16:18.
The high doorway is usually taken as a picture of pride and showy building. Some understand 'doorway' as the mouth, so that the line is about boastful talk. The plain sense of the word is a house entrance.
Proverbs 17:20
A person with a crooked mind finds nothing good. A person who twists words to trick others falls into trouble.
A person with a twisted heart will not find good,
A mind that is bent out of true cannot arrive at anything good, however clever its schemes. Crookedness inside closes off the good outcome.
and one whose tongue twists and turns will fall into trouble.
The second line moves from the heart to the tongue and from missing good to meeting harm. The one who turns his words around to deceive ends up caught by the trouble he made.
עקש · iqqesh · twisted
Twisted, the opposite of yashar, straight.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The heart as the seat of thought and intention.
טוב · tov · good, benefit
A good outcome. Proverbs 16:20 used the same phrase for what the attentive person does find.
הפך · haphak · turn, overturn
To turn over or turn around. The root of tahpukot, the perverse things of Proverbs 16:28 and 16:30.
לשון · lashon · tongue
Literally 'tongue': one who is turned about in his tongue.
נפל · naphal · fall
To fall, as into a pit.
רעה · ra'ah · harm, trouble
Here calamity: the trouble that lands on him.
Proverbs 17:21
It is sad to be the parent of a fool. That dad has no joy.
Whoever fathers a fool gets grief for it,
A child who grows up a fool is a lasting sorrow to the parent. The saying speaks from the father's side to show how much a child's character matters to the whole family.
and the father of a godless fool has no joy.
The second line repeats the point as a negative and uses a harsher word for the fool. Whatever else that father has, his gladness is gone.
ילד · yalad · beget, bear
To beget or give birth. The verb of verse 17 and again of verse 25.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The first line has kesil, the dull and self-confident fool.
תוגה · tugah · grief
Grief, heaviness of heart. Proverbs 10:1 uses it of a mother's grief over a foolish son.
נבל · naval · coarse, godless fool
The second line uses a different and stronger word, the naval of verse 7.
שמח · samach · be glad
The verb to rejoice. The next verse picks it up with the 'joyful' heart.
English has 'fool' in both lines, but the Hebrew words differ: kesil in the first and naval in the second.
Proverbs 17:22
A happy heart works like good medicine. But a crushed, sad heart drains all your strength away.
A glad heart does the body good like a cure,
The inner state affects the body. Gladness of heart promotes health and recovery.
but a crushed spirit dries out the bones.
This is the contrast. Inner defeat drains the body's strength. Healthy bones were thought of as moist and full of marrow, so dry bones mean a person wasting away. The verse comes right after the father who has no joy.
שמח · sameach · glad
Glad. The same root as the 'joy' missing in verse 21.
לב · lev · mind, inner self
The inner person as the seat of mood as well as thought.
גהה · gehah · healing, cure
A word found only here in the Old Testament. It is understood as healing, from a related verb in Hosea 5:13. The Hebrew says a glad heart 'makes good' a healing.
נכא · nake · stricken, crushed
Beaten down. A 'stricken spirit' appears again in Proverbs 18:14: who can bear it?
רוח · ruach · breath, spirit
The inner vitality of a person. Returns in verse 27.
יבש · yavesh · dry up, wither
To become dry, as grass or a stream does.
גרם · gerem · bone
A less common word for bone, standing for the body's frame and strength.
Because the word for 'medicine' occurs only here, its meaning is not certain. Most take it as healing. Some ancient versions understood it as 'body', giving the sense that a glad heart makes the body well.
Proverbs 17:23
A bad person secretly takes money slipped out of a pocket. Then he makes an unfair decision for whoever paid him.
A wicked man takes a bribe out of the fold of a robe
The scene is a secret handover. The money comes out from where it was hidden in someone's clothing. The secrecy shows that both sides know it is wrong.
to bend the paths of justice.
This states the purpose. The bribe is paid to push a verdict off its proper course. Verse 8 described the bribe from the giver's side; here the taker is named plainly as wicked.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
The one who takes it, probably a judge or witness, is called wicked for doing so.
לקח · laqach · take
The ordinary verb to take.
שחד · shochad · bribe, gift
The word of verse 8.
חיק · cheq · lap, fold of the robe
The fold of the garment at the chest, used as a pocket. The same word is the 'lap' the lot is cast into in Proverbs 16:33.
נטה · natah · bend, turn aside
To stretch or bend. The law uses this verb for perverting justice (Exodus 23:6).
משפט · mishpat · right verdicts
A just decision in court. Its 'paths' are the proper course a case should take.
Ancient robes had no sewn pockets. Valuables were carried in the fold of the garment above the belt, where they were out of sight. Cases were heard in public at the city gate, so a bribe had to be passed discreetly.
Proverbs 17:24
A person with understanding keeps wisdom right in front of them. But a fool's eyes wander off to the far ends of the earth.
Wisdom is right in front of a discerning person,
The person of understanding keeps wisdom before his face. It is his fixed point of focus and it is close at hand, so he knows what to do in the situation in front of him.
but a fool's eyes are off at the ends of the earth.
This is the contrast. The fool's attention wanders everywhere. He is always looking at distant things, grand schemes or other people's affairs, and so he misses the wisdom that is within reach.
חכמה · chokmah · skill at living
The skill the fool tried to buy in verse 16.
פנים · panim · face
Literally 'with the face of' the discerning: before his face.
מבין · mevin · one who discerns
The same word as in verse 10, where one rebuke was enough for him.
עין · ayin · eye
The eyes show where attention and desire are fixed.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The dull fool, who cannot keep his mind on what matters.
קצה ארץ · qetseh erets · edge of the land
Qetseh is an edge or extremity; erets is land or earth. The farthest place imaginable.
Proverbs 17:25
A foolish child upsets his dad and brings bitter sadness to the mum who gave birth to him.
A foolish son is a vexation to his father
The father's feeling here is not only sadness but angry frustration, the pain of being provoked by one's own child.
and bitterness to the woman who bore him.
The mother is named separately and described by the fact that she gave him birth. Her pain is bitterness over the child she carried. Verse 21 spoke of the father only; this verse includes both parents.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
Literally 'a fool son'. The same word as in verse 21.
כעס · ka'as · vexation, provocation
The hurt of being provoked, mixed sorrow and anger. A different word from the 'sorrow' of verse 21.
ממר · memer · bitterness
From marar, to be bitter. The noun occurs only here.
ילד · yalad · bear, be born
The verb of verses 17 and 21. The mother is called 'she who bore him'.
Proverbs 17:26
It is wrong to make good people pay a fine. It is wrong to beat fine people for being honest.
To punish an innocent person is also not good,
'Not good' is an understatement for a serious wrong. Imposing a penalty on someone who is in the right is a failure of justice.
nor to flog honorable men for being upright.
The second line raises the injury from a fine to a beating and the victim from an ordinary innocent to a person of noble character. Punishing people because of their integrity turns justice upside down.
ענש · anash · fine, penalize
To impose a penalty, usually a payment of money (Exodus 21:22).
צדיק · tsaddiq · innocent, in the right
The one in the right, as in verse 15.
נכה · nakah · strike
To beat. The verb of the hundred blows in verse 10. There the fool was beaten and deserved it; here the noble are beaten and do not.
נדיב · nadiv · noble, generous person
The word translated 'prince' in verse 7.
ישר · yosher · straightness, integrity
The noun from yashar, straight.
The last phrase can mean 'because of their uprightness' or 'contrary to what is right'. On the first reading the nobles are beaten for their integrity. On the second, beating them is itself against justice.
Proverbs 17:27
A person who knows a lot is careful not to say too much. A person with understanding stays cool and calm.
Whoever holds back his words is someone who knows,
Knowledge shows itself in restraint. The person who really knows does not need to say everything he could say.
and a man of understanding keeps a cool spirit.
The second line moves from the tongue to the temper. Being slow to heat up is a mark of understanding. The two belong together because the hot-tempered person is the one who cannot stop talking.
חשך · chasak · hold back, spare
To keep back or restrain. Proverbs 10:19 uses it of restraining the lips.
אמר · emer · saying, word
A saying, something spoken, from amar, to say.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
The Hebrew is literally 'one who knows knowledge'.
קר רוח · qar ruach · cool of spirit
Qar means cool or cold, as of cold water in Proverbs 25:25. Ruach is spirit or temper.
תבונה · tevunah · understanding
From bin, to discern. The Hebrew is 'a man of tevunah'.
The Hebrew text has two traditional readings here. As written it says 'cool of spirit', that is, calm. As traditionally read aloud it says 'precious of spirit', that is, of a rare or excellent spirit. Most modern versions follow 'cool'.
Proverbs 17:28
Even a fool seems wise if he keeps quiet. With his mouth shut, people think he is clever.
Even a stubborn fool who keeps quiet is counted wise;
Verse 27 is pushed to its limit with some humour. Silence is so much a mark of wisdom that even a fool can pass for wise as long as he says nothing.
the one who shuts his lips is taken for a discerning man.
The second line repeats the point. It is both a compliment to silence and a dig at the fool: his best move is to keep his mouth closed, because speaking is what gives him away.
אויל · evil · stubborn fool
A third word for a fool in this chapter: the stubborn one who rejects correction (Proverbs 1:7).
חרש · charash · be silent
To be silent or hold one's peace.
חשב · chashav · reckon, count as
To reckon or regard. Others count him wise; the verse does not say he is.
חכם · chakam · wise, skilled
The opposite of the fool, and what he is mistaken for.
אטם · atam · stop up, shut
To stop up or shut tight.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
The chapter's last word on speech: closed lips.
נבון · navon · discerning
From bin, to discern. The same family of words as mevin in verses 10 and 24.