Most of this chapter is about what our mouths do. Words can start fights, trap us, or bring life. It also asks where we are really safe: with God, or behind a pile of money?
Proverbs 18:1
A person who stays away from everyone only wants his own way. He argues against every bit of good advice.
The one who cuts himself off is chasing what he himself wants;
This is a person who withdraws from others, and the verse names his motive: he wants his own way with nobody to answer to. The isolation is not shyness. It is self-will.
he bursts out against every piece of sound judgment.
This is the result of the first line. Because he only consults his own wishes, any sensible advice feels like an attack and he fights it. Cutting yourself off from people ends up cutting you off from wisdom.
פרד · parad · divide, part
To split off, as when Abram and Lot parted (Genesis 13:9). The form here means one who has divided himself from the group. The same verb returns in verse 18.
תאוה · ta'avah · craving, wish
A strong wanting. The Hebrew puts this word first in the verse: for desire is what the separated man seeks.
גלע · gala · break out
A rare verb found only in Proverbs (17:14; 20:3), always of a quarrel bursting out. He does not merely disagree with good sense; he explodes at it.
תושיה · tushiyyah · effective good sense
Wisdom that works, judgment that gets a sound result. In 2:7 God stores it up for the upright.
The first line is terse and its meaning is debated. The ancient Greek version has the man looking for pretexts to break with his friends, which may reflect a slightly different Hebrew word. The Hebrew text as it stands gives the sense used here: he withdraws in order to follow his own desire.
Proverbs 18:2
A fool doesn't enjoy understanding things. He only enjoys telling everyone what he thinks.
A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
The fool is not unable to understand. He simply does not enjoy it. Learning something means listening, and listening bores him.
only in airing what is in his own heart.
This is what he enjoys instead: displaying his own opinions. For him a conversation is a stage, not a place to learn. The contrast is between taking something in and pouring yourself out.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The thick, self-satisfied fool of 1:22. His problem is not a low mind but a closed one.
חפץ · chaphets · take pleasure in
To find something pleasing and be drawn to it. The verse is about what a person enjoys, not what he is capable of.
תבונה · tevunah · insight
From bin, to tell things apart. The ability to see how things really are.
גלה · galah · uncover, expose
To uncover. The form is reflexive: his heart uncovering itself. The only other use of this form is of Noah lying exposed in his tent (Genesis 9:21), so the picture is not flattering.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The heart, which in Hebrew is where a person thinks and decides, not only where he feels. Whatever is in there, the fool wants it on show.
Proverbs 18:3
When a bad person shows up, people start looking down on each other. Doing shameful things brings mocking right behind it.
When a wicked person arrives, contempt arrives too,
Wickedness does not travel alone. Where a wicked person turns up, scorn follows: he despises others, and he comes to be despised.
and with disgrace comes reproach.
The second line takes it a step further. Shameful conduct brings open insult after it. The verse is a chain: wickedness, then contempt, then public shame.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
The standard opposite of the righteous in Proverbs: a person in the wrong before God and others.
בוז · buz · scorn
The noun from the verb despise in 1:7. Looking down on someone as worthless.
קלון · qalon · disgrace
From a root meaning to be light, of no weight. It is the opposite of honor (kavod), which is literally heaviness.
חרפה · cherpah · reproach, insult
Open reproach, the things said aloud about a disgraced person.
Proverbs 18:4
A person's words can be like deep water, hard to see into. But wisdom is like a bubbling stream, fresh and easy to drink from.
The words from a man's mouth are deep water;
Deep water is water you cannot see to the bottom of. A person's words can hold far more than shows on the surface, and what is really in him is hard to reach.
a flowing stream, a spring of wisdom.
The picture changes from still depth to moving water that is fresh and reachable. Read as a contrast, ordinary speech is dark and hard to fathom, but wisdom runs clear where anyone can drink. Read as a continuation, the words of a wise person are both deep and refreshing.
מים עמקים · mayim amuqqim · deep water
The same phrase is used in 20:5 for the plans hidden in a person's heart, which a person of understanding draws out.
פה · peh · mouth
The first of many mentions of the mouth in this chapter.
מקור · maqor · spring, source
A spring dug out so that water rises on its own. Proverbs speaks of a 'spring of life' several times (10:11; 13:14; 14:27; 16:22). Only here is it a spring of wisdom.
חכמה · chokmah · skill at living
The key word of the book: skill at living well before God.
נחל נבע · nachal nove'a · gushing stream
Nachal is a stream bed that runs with water; nove'a is from naba, to gush, the verb Wisdom used in 1:23 for pouring out her spirit.
In a dry land a deep cistern holds water that is hard to get at, while a spring-fed stream gives fresh running water for nothing. The two pictures would have felt very different to the first readers.
Hebrew sets the two lines side by side with no linking word, so the reader must decide whether the second line contrasts with the first or completes it. Versions differ, and both readings are possible.
Proverbs 18:5
It is wrong for a judge to take the side of the guilty one, or to be unfair to the one who did right.
It is not good to favor the guilty,
The setting is a court. To favor the guilty party is to let him off because of who he is, what he can pay or whom he knows. 'Not good' is an understatement for something badly wrong.
or to push the innocent aside in a judgment.
This is the other side of the same act. Every time a judge leans toward the guilty, the person in the right loses what was due to him. The two lines describe one injustice from both ends.
נשא פנים · nasa panim · lift the face
Literally to lift someone's face. A petitioner bowed with his face down, and the one in power showed acceptance by raising it. In court it means favoritism.
רשע · rasha · guilty, wicked
In a legal setting rasha is the party in the wrong, the one who should lose the case.
נטה · natah · turn aside
To bend or turn something away. The law uses this verb for perverting justice (Exodus 23:6; Deuteronomy 16:19).
צדיק · tsaddiq · in the right
In a legal setting, the party who is in the right.
משפט · mishpat · verdict, justice
The decision of a court, and so justice itself.
Proverbs 18:6
A fool's talk walks him straight into fights. His mouth is asking for a beating.
A fool's lips walk into a quarrel,
The Hebrew pictures his lips arriving at a dispute as if on their own feet. He does not get dragged into fights. His talk takes him there.
and his mouth calls out for a beating.
The result of the first line. His words act like an invitation to blows, and the blows come. He is the cause of his own punishment.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
Lip, and so speech and language. The word also means an edge or shore.
ריב · riv · dispute, lawsuit
A quarrel, and also a formal legal case. The same word is the 'case' of verse 17.
פה · peh · mouth
Lips and mouth are paired here and again, in reverse order, in verse 7.
קרא · qara · call, summon
To call out or summon. His mouth sends for the beating the way you would send for a guest.
מהלמות · mahalumot · blows
From a verb meaning to hammer or strike. The word occurs only here and in 19:29, where the blows land on the backs of fools.
Proverbs 18:7
A fool's mouth is what ruins him. His own words are the trap that catches him.
A fool's mouth is his own undoing,
Verse 6 said his talk gets him beaten. This goes further: his mouth is what brings him down altogether. His worst enemy is in his own face.
and his lips are a trap for his life.
A trap catches the animal that steps in it. The fool sets the trap with his own words and is the one caught: by a promise, a lie, an insult or a boast that he cannot take back.
פה · peh · mouth
Verse 6 ran lips then mouth; this verse runs mouth then lips. The two verses are built as a pair.
כסיל · kesil · dull, thick fool
The third time in seven verses, each time with his mouth open.
מחתה · mechittah · ruin, terror
From a root meaning to be shattered. It covers both collapse and the dismay that goes with it. Compare 10:14, where the same word is used of a fool's mouth.
מוקש · moqesh · trap, bait
A fowler's trap or its trigger. Used for anything that lures and then catches.
נפש · nephesh · life, self
The whole living person, not a separate inner part. What is trapped is his life.
Proverbs 18:8
Whispered stories about other people are like tasty snacks. We gobble them up, and they sink deep down inside us.
A whisperer's words are like tasty mouthfuls,
Gossip is compared to food you gulp down eagerly. The verse is honest about why gossip spreads: hearing something bad about someone else is enjoyable.
and they sink down into the innermost rooms of the body.
What is swallowed does not come back out. Once heard, the story lodges deep and stays, shaping how you see the person from then on. The pleasure is at the lips; the damage is far inside.
נרגן · nirgan · whisperer, grumbler
From a verb meaning to murmur or grumble (Deuteronomy 1:27). One who talks against others behind their backs. The word is found four times in Proverbs (16:28; 18:8; 26:20, 22).
דבר · davar · word, matter
A word, and also a thing or matter. In Hebrew a spoken word is a real thing that does something.
מתלהמים · mitlahamim · things gulped down
A rare word, found only here and in the identical verse 26:22. It is usually connected with a root meaning to swallow greedily.
חדרי בטן · chadrei beten · rooms of the belly
Literally the chambers of the belly. Cheder is an inner private room; beten is the belly. The phrase means the deepest part of a person (see 20:27).
Older versions translate 'wounds' instead of 'morsels', taking the rare Hebrew word from a different root. Most modern versions follow the sense of food greedily swallowed, which fits the second line about going down into the belly. This verse is repeated word for word at 26:22.
Proverbs 18:9
Someone who is lazy and careless at work is like a brother to someone who breaks things.
Even the one who goes slack in his work
The subject is someone who lets his hands drop on the job: he does it carelessly, or leaves it half done. 'Even' tells you a surprising comparison is coming.
is brother to the man who wrecks things.
The comparison: the careless worker and the vandal belong to the same family. One destroys by action and the other by neglect, but the outcome is the same. A badly built wall and a wall knocked down both leave you with no wall.
רפה · raphah · sink, go slack
To let drop, to go limp. The form here means one who shows himself slack. The same form is in 24:10, of going limp on the day of trouble.
מלאכה · melakah · work, task
Work in the sense of one's occupation or assigned task. It is the word used for God's work in creation (Genesis 2:2).
אח · ach · brother, kinsman
Here it means someone of the same kind, close kin in character.
בעל משחית · ba'al mashchit · master of destruction
Literally an owner or master of destroying. Ba'al with a noun describes a person marked by that thing. Compare 28:24, where one who robs his parents is companion to 'a man who destroys'.
Proverbs 18:10
God's name is like a strong tower. People who do right run to Him and are safe, high above the danger.
The name of the LORD is a tower of strength;
A tower was the last and strongest place of refuge when a town was attacked. The verse says that what the LORD is, his revealed character, is that kind of place.
the righteous person runs into it and is lifted out of reach.
The tower only protects the one who goes into it. Running pictures urgent trust in real danger, and the result is being set high above the attackers. This verse must be read with verse 11, which gives the rival refuge.
שם · shem · name, character
In Hebrew a name stands for the person: his character and reputation. To trust the name of the LORD is to rely on who he has shown himself to be (Exodus 34:5-7).
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
God's personal name, given to Israel. The refuge is not religion in general but this God.
מגדל עז · migdal oz · tower of strength
Migdal is a tower; oz is strength. The same word oz describes the rich man's city in verse 11 and the city of verse 19.
צדיק · tsaddiq · in the right
The person who is right with God and deals rightly with others.
רוץ · ruts · run
To run. In 1:16 feet ran to evil; here the running is toward God.
שגב · sagav · set on high
Literally to be high, inaccessible. Safety is pictured as height, out of the enemy's reach. The same root describes the rich man's wall in verse 11.
Fortified towns often had a strong tower inside the walls where people fled if the walls were breached. Judges 9:50-53 describes the people of Thebez shutting themselves in such a tower and surviving.
Proverbs 18:11
Rich people think their money is a strong city that keeps them safe. They picture it as a high wall, but that is only in their heads.
A rich man's wealth is his city of strength,
This line taken alone is simply true, and 10:15 says the same thing. Money does shield a person from many troubles. But set straight after verse 10, it names what the rich man runs to instead of the LORD.
and like a high wall, as he pictures it.
The last words undo the confidence. The wall is high in his mind. Verse 10 said the righteous person really is set on high; this wall is only imagined to be. Wealth protects against some things and fails against the things that matter most.
עשיר · ashir · rich person
The rich person as a type. He appears again in verse 23.
הון · hon · wealth, goods
Wealth, possessions. The word in 1:13 for the riches the gang promised.
קרית עז · qiryat oz · city of strength
A fortified city. Oz is the same word as in 'tower of strength' in verse 10, so the two refuges are deliberately put side by side.
שגב · sagav · set on high
The same root as 'safe' in verse 10. There the person is truly lifted high; here the wall is high only in thought.
משכית · maskit · image, picture
Elsewhere a carved figure or image (Leviticus 26:1). Here it is the picture in his own mind. That is where the wall stands.
The first line is the same as 10:15a. Some ancient versions read the last word differently, as something like 'his enclosure', but the Hebrew text has 'in his image', that is, in his imagination.
Proverbs 18:12
Before a crash, a person's heart is proud. But the one who takes the low place ends up being respected.
Before a crash, a man's heart is lifted up,
Pride comes just before the fall. The proud person stops listening, stops checking and stops asking for help, and that is why the collapse follows. A high heart is a warning sign.
but before honor comes humility.
The opposite order. The person who takes the low place is the one who ends up honored. Both lines use the word 'before': each outcome has something that regularly comes ahead of it.
שבר · shever · breaking, crash
From a verb meaning to break. A fracture or collapse. The same word is in 16:18, which says nearly the same thing.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The inner person. Pride is located here before it shows in behavior.
גבה · gavah · be high
To be high or tall. After the 'high' wall of verse 11, this is a different word for height: the heart that raises itself.
ענוה · anavah · lowliness
From a root meaning to be bowed down. A low view of oneself before God.
כבוד · kavod · weight, glory
Literally heaviness. Honor is having weight in the eyes of others. The second line of this verse is identical to 15:33b.
Proverbs 18:13
Answering before you have listened is foolish. It will make you look silly.
Whoever replies before he has listened,
The picture is of someone who answers before the other person has finished, or before he has the facts. He is responding to what he assumes, not to what was said.
that is his folly and his disgrace.
Two verdicts. It is foolish, because his answer is aimed at the wrong thing. And it is shaming, because everyone can see he spoke without knowing. Compare verse 2: the fool wants to talk, not to understand.
שוב · shuv · return a word
The Hebrew is literally 'returns a word'. Shuv means to turn back; in this form it means to send something back. An answer is a word returned.
שמע · shama · hear and heed
To hear with attention, to take in. The key verb of chapter 1. Here it is what must come first.
אולת · ivvelet · folly
The noun that goes with evil, the stubborn fool of 1:7. Folly as a way of acting.
כלמה · kelimmah · humiliation
Public embarrassment, the disgrace of being shown up.
Proverbs 18:14
When you are sick, a brave heart can carry you through. But when your heart itself is crushed, who can bear that?
A man's spirit can carry him through illness,
When the body is sick, the inner person holds it up. Courage and the will to live get people through serious physical suffering.
but a crushed spirit, who can bear that?
The contrast. If the thing that does the carrying is itself broken, nothing is left to carry it. The question expects the answer 'no one'. The verse rates inner collapse as harder to bear than bodily disease.
רוח · ruach · breath, spirit
Breath, wind, spirit. Here it is a person's inner vitality and morale. The word stands first in both lines.
כול · kul · sustain, hold up
In this form, to sustain or supply, as Joseph provided for his family (Genesis 45:11). The spirit keeps the sick person going.
מחלה · machaleh · illness
Bodily illness or disease.
נכא · nake · stricken, crushed
Struck down, beaten. The same phrase 'crushed spirit' is in 17:22, where it dries up the bones, and 15:13.
נשא · nasa · lift, carry
A different verb from the first line, though NASB uses the same English word. Nasa means to lift and carry a load. A crushed spirit is a weight nobody can pick up.
Proverbs 18:15
A person with understanding keeps getting more knowledge. Wise ears are always listening for something new to learn.
A discerning heart gets knowledge,
The person who already has understanding is the one who keeps acquiring more. Discernment is not a finished state. It shows itself as appetite for knowledge.
and the ear of the wise goes looking for knowledge.
The second line adds the ear to the heart. The heart is where knowledge is stored and the ear is how it gets in. The wise are actively hunting for it, which is the opposite of the fool in verse 2 and the hasty talker in verse 13.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The heart again. In verse 2 the fool's heart wanted to display itself; this heart wants to be filled.
נבון · navon · discerning
From bin, to tell things apart. A person who has insight.
קנה · qanah · get, buy
To get or purchase, as in 1:5 and 4:7. Knowledge is acquired at a cost.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
Knowledge gained by experience. The word ends both lines in Hebrew, which is unusual and puts the weight on it.
אזן · ozen · ear
The organ of learning in Proverbs. Teaching was spoken and heard.
בקש · baqash · search for
To look for something until it is found. The same verb as in verse 1, where the loner 'seeks' only his own desire.
Proverbs 18:16
A gift opens doors for the one who gives it. It can get him in to meet important people.
A man's gift opens up space for him
This is an observation of how things work. A present clears the way: doors that were shut open, and people make time for the giver.
and leads him into the presence of the great.
The specific result is access to powerful people. The proverb reports this without praising or condemning it. Elsewhere Proverbs is clear that a gift meant to bend justice is wrong (17:23).
מתן · mattan · gift, present
From natan, to give. A neutral word for a present. It is not the usual word for a bribe (shochad), which is used in 17:23.
רחב · rachav · make wide
To widen, to make broad space. In Hebrew, trouble is a narrow place and relief is a wide one. The gift widens his way.
נחה · nachah · lead, guide
To lead or guide. The gift is pictured as an escort that walks him in.
גדול · gadol · great, important
The great: people of rank and influence.
In the ancient Near East no one approached a superior empty-handed. Jacob sent gifts ahead to Esau (Genesis 32), and his sons took a present to the ruler of Egypt (Genesis 43:11). A gift was expected courtesy, though the line between courtesy and bribery was easily crossed.
Proverbs 18:17
The first person to tell their side sounds right. Then the other person comes along and asks questions.
The first to state his case sounds right,
Whoever tells the story first has the advantage. He chooses the facts and the framing, and with nothing to compare it to his account is convincing.
until his opponent comes and cross-examines him.
The turn. When the other party arrives and questions him, the gaps show. The point for a judge, a parent or anyone hearing a complaint is that one side is not yet the truth. It links to verse 13: do not answer before you have heard.
ראשון · rishon · first
The one who speaks first in the dispute.
ריב · riv · dispute, lawsuit
The 'strife' of verse 6, here in its legal sense: a case brought before judges.
צדיק · tsaddiq · in the right
The Hebrew is blunt: 'righteous is the first in his case'. He is righteous in appearance, until tested.
רע · rea · neighbor, the other party
Literally 'his neighbor'. Here it is the other party in the dispute.
חקר · chaqar · search out, probe
To search something through to the bottom, as one explores a land or sounds a depth. The opponent probes the story until it is tested.
Cases were heard in the open at the city gate before the elders. Each party spoke for himself, and the other side could question him directly.
Proverbs 18:18
Rolling dice can end an argument. It settles things even between strong people who won't give in.
The lot brings quarrels to a stop
When a dispute cannot be settled by argument, casting lots ends it. Both sides accept an outcome that neither of them controlled.
and separates powerful opponents.
It works especially where the two parties are strong, because strong people will not back down and nobody can make them. The lot lets each step away without losing face, and keeps the quarrel from turning into a fight.
גורל · goral · lot
A small stone or marked object thrown to get a decision. The word in 1:14, where the gang said 'throw in your lot with us'.
שבת · shavat · cease, stop
To stop or cease; the root of sabbath. In this form: to make something stop.
מדון · madon · contention
Contention, from a root meaning to judge or dispute. The plural used here returns in verse 19.
פרד · parad · divide, part
Literally 'makes a separation between'. The same root as verse 1. There a man separated himself to get his own way; here separation is what brings peace.
עצום · atsum · mighty, numerous
Strong in power or in numbers. People who have the means to keep a fight going.
Israel used lots to divide the land (Joshua 18:10), assign temple duties (1 Chronicles 24:5) and settle hard questions. The outcome was understood to be in God's hands, as 16:33 says, so both sides could accept it as final.
Proverbs 18:19
A brother you have hurt is harder to win back than a city with strong walls. Arguments lock people out like the bars on a castle gate.
A brother who has been wronged is harder to reach than a fortified city,
A city with strong walls can only be taken by a long siege. The verse says winning back a close relation you have wronged is harder than that. The closer the bond was, the deeper the injury goes and the stronger the defenses that go up.
and quarrels are like the bar across a fortress gate.
The picture is completed. The bar is the heavy beam that locks the gate from the inside. A quarrel between people who were close does the same thing: it shuts the way in, and it cannot be opened from outside.
אח · ach · brother, kinsman
A brother, or any close relation. The closeness is what makes the breach so hard.
פשע · pasha · wronged, sinned against
The verb means to rebel or commit an offense against someone. The form here is passive and occurs nowhere else: a brother who has been offended against.
קרית עז · qiryat oz · city of strength
The exact phrase used for the rich man's wealth in verse 11.
מדון · madon · contention
The same word as in verse 18. The lot can end some quarrels; this kind bars the gate.
בריח · beriach · gate bar
The beam that slid across the inside of a city gate to hold it shut.
ארמון · armon · fortified palace
A fortress or fortified palace, the strongest building in a city.
The Hebrew of the first line is extremely compressed, literally 'a brother offended, than a city of strength'. The words 'harder to be won' are supplied to complete the comparison. The ancient Greek version reads quite differently, speaking of a brother helped by a brother being like a strong city.
Proverbs 18:20
Your words are like fruit that you have to eat yourself. What you say fills up your own life, for good or for bad.
From the fruit of a man's mouth his belly is filled;
Words are pictured as a crop, and the speaker is the one who eats it. What you say produces results, and you are the one who lives on those results.
he is filled by the harvest of his lips.
The same thought, restated with a farming word. The verse does not say whether the filling is pleasant. Good words yield a good living and bad words a bitter one. Either way you eat your own harvest, and verse 21 makes the two outcomes explicit.
פרי · peri · fruit, produce
What a thing naturally yields. In 1:31 people ate the fruit of their way; here it is the fruit of the mouth.
פה · peh · mouth
The mouth normally takes food in. Here it is the field the food comes from.
בטן · beten · belly
The belly of verse 8. There another person's gossip went down into it; here a person's own words fill it.
שבע · saba · be filled
To be full, to have had enough. It can be the fullness of a good meal or of being glutted, as in 1:31. The verb is used in both lines.
תבואה · tevu'ah · harvest, yield
What comes in from the field: the crop, the income.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
Mouth and lips are paired again, as in verses 6 and 7.
Proverbs 18:21
The tongue has the power to bring life or death. People who love to talk will have to live with what their words bring.
Death and life are in the hand of the tongue,
This is the strongest statement about speech in the chapter. The tongue is pictured as having a hand, that is, power. Words can destroy a person, in court, by slander, by a lie, and words can save and restore one.
and those who love it will eat its fruit.
This carries on the food picture of verse 20. Those who love the tongue are those who love using it. Whoever is fond of talking will live with whatever his talking produces, death or life.
מות · mavet · death
Death is put first in the Hebrew, as the more shocking of the two.
חיים · chayyim · life
Life in the full sense Proverbs gives it: not only survival but a good, whole life.
יד · yad · hand
Literally 'hand'. To be in someone's hand is to be in their power. The small tongue is given a hand that holds life and death.
לשון · lashon · tongue
The third speech organ of the chapter, after mouth and lips.
אהב · ahav · love
To love, to be attached to. 'It' refers to the tongue: those who love to use it.
פרי · peri · fruit, produce
The fruit of verse 20. The two verses are joined by this word.
Proverbs 18:22
A man who finds a wife finds something good. She shows that God is being kind to him.
Whoever has found a wife has found something good
The verse states plainly that marriage is a good. The word 'found' is used twice: to find a wife is to find a good thing, as one finds a treasure.
and has drawn favor from the LORD.
The second line gives the source. A wife is not just a lucky find. She is a sign of God's goodwill toward the man. Compare 19:14, which says outright that a wise wife is from the LORD.
מצא · matsa · find
To find, often after seeking. Proverbs uses the same verb for finding wisdom (3:13; 8:35).
אשה · ishah · woman, wife
The ordinary word for a woman and for a wife. The Hebrew has no adjective here; other proverbs make clear that a good wife is meant (12:4; 19:14; 31:10).
טוב · tov · good
The Hebrew is simply 'good'. It may echo Genesis 2:18, where it was 'not good' for the man to be alone.
פוק · puq · draw out, obtain
To bring out or obtain. The same phrase is used by Wisdom in 8:35: whoever finds her finds life and obtains favor from the LORD. Finding a wife is described in the words used for finding wisdom.
רצון · ratson · goodwill, acceptance
Pleasure, goodwill, acceptance. What God is pleased to give.
Proverbs 18:23
Poor people have to ask politely and beg. Rich people answer roughly.
A poor man speaks in pleas for mercy,
The poor person has no leverage, so he can only ask. He has to speak softly and beg.
but a rich man answers harshly.
The contrast. The rich person depends on no one, so he feels free to answer roughly. The proverb describes how things are without approving of it. It shows how money changes the way people talk, and it connects with verse 11: the man who thinks his wealth is a fortress speaks like someone behind a wall.
רש · rash · poor, destitute
From a verb meaning to be in want. The usual word in Proverbs for someone with nothing.
תחנונים · tachanunim · pleas for favor
From chanan, to show favor, the root of chen (grace). Requests for mercy. The Psalms use this word for prayers to God (Psalm 28:2).
עשיר · ashir · rich person
The rich man of verse 11.
ענה · anah · answer
To answer or respond.
עז · az · strong, harsh
Literally 'strong things'. From the same root as the strength (oz) of the tower and the city in verses 10, 11 and 19. He answers out of his strength.
Proverbs 18:24
Having lots of friends who don't really care can still leave you ruined. But a true friend sticks closer than a brother.
A man with many companions can be broken to pieces,
Having a wide circle is no protection. Many casual companions can still leave a person ruined, because none of them is committed to him when trouble comes.
but there is one who loves and holds on tighter than a brother.
The contrast is between number and depth. One friend who truly loves you is worth more than a crowd, and can be more faithful than your own family. The verse leaves you to ask which kind of friend you have, and which kind you are.
רע · rea · companion, neighbor
The general word for a neighbor, companion or associate. It can mean a close friend but need not.
רעע · ra'a · be broken, shattered
From a root meaning to break. It sounds very like the word for companions (re'im), so the line plays on the two: a man of companions, to be broken.
אהב · ahav · one who loves
A different word from 'friends' in the first line. This is literally 'one who loves', from the verb to love. See 17:17: a friend loves at all times.
דבק · daveq · cling, cleave
To cling or hold fast. The word in Genesis 2:24 for a man holding fast to his wife, and in Ruth 1:14 for Ruth clinging to Naomi.
אח · ach · brother, kinsman
The third brother of the chapter. A brother was the person you could most count on, and this friend exceeds him.
The first line is difficult. The verb can be taken from a root meaning 'to be broken' (so NASB and most modern versions) or from one meaning 'to be a companion', which gives the older rendering that a man with friends must show himself friendly. Some also read the first word as 'there are' instead of 'a man', giving: there are companions who only keep company, but there is a friend who holds closer than a brother.