Being known as a good person is better than being rich. God made rich and poor alike, and He stands up for the poor. So listen to wise words and trust Him.
Proverbs 22:1
Being known as a good person is worth more than lots of money. Being well liked is better than silver and gold.
A name is to be chosen over great riches;
The Hebrew says only 'a name', meaning a reputation, what people know you to be. If you must choose between being well regarded and being rich, take the reputation. Wealth can be regained; a ruined name is very hard to rebuild.
being well thought of is better than silver and gold.
The second line says the same thing with different words. Favor is the goodwill people feel toward you. It cannot be bought with silver, and it opens doors that silver cannot.
שם · shem · name, reputation
In Hebrew a name stands for the person's character and standing. The word 'good' is not in the Hebrew; a name here already means a good one, as in Ecclesiastes 7:1.
בחר · bachar · choose
Literally 'is to be chosen'. The verse pictures a real choice between two things, not just a preference.
עשר · osher · riches
The ordinary word for riches. It returns in verse 4 as something God gives to the humble.
חן · chen · grace, goodwill
Grace or favor: the goodwill others show you. The Hebrew reads 'good favor', putting the word good in the second line, not the first.
The Hebrew has no word for 'good' beside 'name'; English versions add it to make the sense clear. The adjective 'good' actually stands at the end of the second line, with favor.
Proverbs 22:2
Rich people and poor people have this in common: God made them all.
Rich and poor meet each other;
The two classes live side by side and run into each other every day, though they seem to live in different worlds. The Hebrew verb is simply 'they meet'.
the LORD made every one of them.
This is what they have in common. Both are God's handiwork, so neither wealth nor poverty changes what a person is worth. The rich man has no ground for contempt and the poor man has none for shame.
עשיר · ashir · rich person
The person with plenty. The same word opens verse 7, where he rules the poor.
רש · rash · poor, destitute
From a root meaning to be in want. Proverbs uses it for the person who simply has nothing.
פגש · pagash · meet, encounter
To meet or run into someone. The same verb is used in the twin saying at Proverbs 29:13.
עשה · asah · make, do
The common verb to make. Proverbs 14:31 and 17:5 draw the conclusion: to mock the poor is to insult the one who made them.
Proverbs 22:3
A careful person sees danger coming and hides. People who don't think just keep walking and get hurt.
A shrewd person sees trouble coming and takes cover,
The sensible person looks ahead, notices the danger, and gets out of its way. There is nothing cowardly in this. Seeing harm early and avoiding it is what good sense is for.
but the gullible walk straight on and pay for it.
This is the contrast. The naive do not look ahead, so they keep walking into the same trouble and bear the cost. The difference between the two is not luck but attention.
ערום · arum · shrewd
The adjective behind ormah (shrewdness). The same word describes the serpent in Genesis 3:1, but in Proverbs it is the good kind: hard to fool.
רעה · ra'ah · harm, trouble
The feminine form of ra. Here it means harm or disaster coming toward you, not moral evil in someone else.
סתר · satar · hide, conceal
To take cover. The shrewd person acts on what he sees.
פתי · peti · open, gullible
From a root meaning to be open. The peti is open to everything and so sees nothing coming.
ענש · anash · be fined
A legal word for being fined. The naive are made to pay, as if life itself issued the fine. The whole verse is repeated at Proverbs 27:12.
Proverbs 22:4
If you are not proud and you respect God, you will be given riches, a good name and life.
What follows humility, the fear of the LORD,
The verse names a cause. Humility and reverence for God are placed side by side as one attitude: a person who knows his own size before God.
is wealth, honor and life.
This is the result. The three things people chase directly, money, respect and a long full life, come as a consequence to the one who was not chasing them but was humble before God.
עקב · eqev · consequence, result
Related to the word for heel: what comes on the heel of something. It is the result that follows, not a wage that was bargained for.
ענוה · anavah · humility, lowliness
A lowly view of oneself. Proverbs 15:33 and 18:12 say it comes before honor.
יראה · yir'ah · reverent awe
The foundation of the book (1:7). Here it stands right beside humility with no 'and' between them in the Hebrew.
עשר · osher · riches
The same word as wealth in verse 1. There it ranked below a good name; here it arrives as a by-product of humility.
כבוד · kavod · weight, honor
From a root meaning heavy. Honor is the weight a person carries in the eyes of others.
חיים · chayyim · life
Life in the full sense Proverbs gives it: long, secure and good.
The Hebrew has no 'and' between humility and the fear of the LORD. Most versions supply it. It can also be read as 'the result of humility is the fear of the LORD, wealth, honor and life', or with the fear of the LORD explaining what humility is.
Proverbs 22:5
The path of twisted people is full of thorns and traps. If you look after yourself, you will stay far away from them.
Thorns and traps lie on the road of the twisted person;
A crooked life is pictured as a path overgrown with thorns and set with bird traps. The dishonest person keeps getting scratched and caught by the results of his own dealings.
whoever guards his life keeps far from them.
The contrast: the person who cares about his own life stays off that road altogether. You do not avoid the thorns by walking carefully among them but by keeping your distance.
צנים · tsinnim · thorns
Thorny growth that tears at anyone pushing through it. Proverbs 15:19 uses a similar picture for the lazy person's road.
פח · pach · bird trap
A spring trap for birds. It stands for sudden trouble that snaps shut on someone who did not see it.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
A road, and so a manner of life. The same word is the child's road in verse 6.
עקש · iqqesh · twisted, crooked
From a root meaning to twist. The opposite of yashar, straight. This is a person whose dealings are bent.
שמר · shamar · keep, watch over
To keep watch over. The Hebrew says he guards his nephesh, his life or self.
Proverbs 22:6
Teach a child the right way to go. Even when he is old, he will not leave it.
Start a child off on the road he is to take;
A command to parents and teachers. The time to set a person's direction is at the beginning, while he is young and still being formed.
even when he is old he will not turn off it.
This is the result. What is planted early lasts. It is a proverb, a statement of how things generally go, not a guarantee about every child; but it tells parents that early training is the kind that holds.
חנך · chanak · dedicate, start off
Elsewhere this verb is used for dedicating a new house or the temple (Deuteronomy 20:5; 1 Kings 8:63). It means to begin something and set it to its use. The festival name Hanukkah comes from it.
נער · na'ar · young person
A broad word, from a small boy to a young man. It is the audience named in Proverbs 1:4.
דרך · derek · road, way of life
The Hebrew is literally 'according to the mouth of his way', that is, in keeping with his road.
זקן · zaqen · grow old
To become old. The related noun means both an old man and an elder.
סור · sur · turn aside
To turn off a road. The picture of the road continues: he does not leave the track he was started on.
The Hebrew says 'according to his way' and does not say 'should'. Most take it as the right way he ought to go. Others take it as the way that fits the child, his age and bent. A few read it as a warning: start a child on his own way and he will never leave it.
Proverbs 22:7
Rich people rule over poor people. And whoever borrows money becomes like a servant to the one who lent it.
The rich man rules over the poor,
This is an observation, not approval. Money gives power over people who have none. The proverb states the fact so the reader will see it clearly.
and the one who borrows is slave to the one who lends.
The second line makes it specific and personal. Taking a loan hands another person control over you. The practical point is to be very slow to go into debt.
עשיר · ashir · rich person
The same word as verse 2. There the rich and the poor were equals before their Maker; here is how they stand before each other.
משל · mashal · rule, have dominion
To govern or have dominion. This is a different root from the noun mashal, proverb, though it is spelled the same.
רש · rash · poor, destitute
Plural in the Hebrew: the rich one rules over poor people.
לוה · lavah · borrow
The same verb gives both words: in its simple form it means to borrow, and in its causative form to lend, literally to make someone borrow.
עבד · eved · servant, slave
The ordinary word for a slave or servant. It was meant literally as well as figuratively.
In ancient Israel a debtor who could not pay could be taken, or have his children taken, into servitude to work off the debt (2 Kings 4:1; Nehemiah 5:5). The second line described something that actually happened.
Proverbs 22:8
Anyone who plants unfairness will grow a crop of trouble. His power to hurt people in anger will come to an end.
Whoever sows wrongdoing will harvest trouble,
A farming picture. Unjust acts are seeds, and they grow into a crop of the same kind. The person who wrongs others is planting his own misery.
and the rod he swung in his rage will come to an end.
The rod is the power he used to beat others down in anger. It will fail. The tyrant's ability to hurt people does not last.
זרע · zara · sow seed
To scatter seed. Hosea 8:7 and Job 4:8 use the same picture of sowing wrong and reaping it.
עולה · avlah · wrong, injustice
Wrongdoing, especially unfair treatment of others. The opposite of what is right and straight.
און · aven · trouble, emptiness
A word that covers both wickedness and the misery it produces. What he reaps is as empty and painful as what he sowed.
שבט · shevet · rod, staff
A stick or staff, a sign of authority and a tool for striking. In verse 15 the same word is the rod of discipline that does good.
עברה · evrah · overflowing anger
From a root meaning to pass over, like a river over its banks. Anger that has burst its limits.
כלה · kalah · be finished, fail
To come to an end, to be used up.
Proverbs 22:9
A person who loves to share will be given good things, because he gives some of his food to the poor.
The person with a kind eye will be blessed,
The Hebrew for generous is 'good of eye'. It describes someone who looks at a person in need and wants to help. Such a person receives blessing.
because he gives some of his own bread to the poor.
This is the reason, and it shows what the kind eye does. It is not a feeling. He shares his own food, what he would have eaten himself.
טוב עין · tov ayin · good of eye
Literally good of eye. The opposite, ra ayin or evil of eye, means stingy and appears in Proverbs 23:6 and 28:22. The eye shows how a person looks at others and at what he owns.
ברך · barak · bless
To bless. The passive form does not say who blesses him; in Proverbs it is both God and the people he helped (see 11:25-26).
לחם · lechem · bread, food
Bread, and so food in general. The Hebrew says 'from his bread': it comes out of his own supply.
דל · dal · poor, weak
From a root meaning to be low or thin. The dal is the weak, powerless poor. The word returns in verses 16 and 22.
Proverbs 22:10
Send away the person who mocks everyone, and the fighting leaves with him. The arguing and the rude names will stop.
Throw out the mocker and the fighting goes out with him;
Some conflict is not about any issue. It is caused by one person who sneers at everyone. Remove him and the quarrel leaves the room when he does.
the disputes and the insults stop.
The second line adds what stops: the arguments and the shaming talk. The proverb teaches that a group sometimes has to remove a person rather than keep trying to settle each fight he starts.
גרש · garash · expel
A strong verb: to drive out or banish. It is used of Adam being driven from the garden (Genesis 3:24).
לץ · lets · mocker
The lets sneers at correction and cannot be taught (Proverbs 9:7-8). He is the hardest of the fools in Proverbs to help.
מדון · madon · contention
Quarreling. It comes from the same root as din, the word for quarreling in the next line.
דין · din · dispute, lawsuit
Usually a legal case or judgment. Here it is disputes in general, possibly ones that reach court.
קלון · qalon · disgrace, insult
Shame or disgrace, here the insults the mocker heaps on others.
שבת · shavat · stop, rest
To stop. It is the verb behind the word Sabbath.
Proverbs 22:11
Someone who loves a clean heart and speaks kindly will have the king for a friend.
Whoever loves a clean heart,
The first quality is inward: sincere motives, with nothing hidden or double. He does not just have a pure heart; he loves purity and wants it.
and has grace on his lips, has the king for a friend.
The second quality is outward: speech that is kind and well put. The two together, honest motives and gracious words, are what a ruler looks for in someone to keep close. Charm without sincerity is flattery, and sincerity without grace is hard to listen to.
אהב · ahav · love
To love, to be attached to. What a person loves shows what he is.
טהור · tahor · clean, pure
The word for ritual cleanness and for pure gold. Applied to the heart it means unmixed motives. Psalm 51:10 asks God for a heart like this.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The inner person: thought, will and feeling together.
חן · chen · grace, favor
The same word as favor in verse 1. Literally 'grace of his lips'. Speech that wins goodwill.
מלך · melek · king
The king chose his own advisers and companions. See also verse 29.
רע · re'a · companion, neighbor
A companion or associate. 'Friend of the king' was also a title for a royal adviser (1 Kings 4:5).
The Hebrew is very compressed: 'one loving purity of heart, grace of his lips, his friend a king'. Versions differ on how to join the pieces, but the sense is agreed.
Proverbs 22:12
God keeps watch over what is true. But He wrecks the words of people who cheat and lie.
The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge,
God is pictured as a guard. He watches over what is true, and over those who hold to it, so that it is not lost or defeated.
but he overturns the words of the traitor.
The contrast. The person who deals falsely may speak persuasively, but God brings his words to nothing. Truth is protected; lies are tripped up.
עין · ayin · eye
God's eyes stand for his constant attention. Proverbs 15:3 says they are in every place.
נצר · natsar · guard, watch
To stand guard over, like a watchman over a vineyard.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
Knowledge of what is true. Since God guards it, many take it to include the person who has it.
סלף · salaph · twist, overturn
To twist or subvert. God ruins the plans the traitor's words were meant to carry out.
בגד · boged · one who betrays
From a verb meaning to act faithlessly, to break trust with someone who relied on you.
Proverbs 22:13
The lazy person makes up excuses to stay inside. He says, There is a lion out there! I will be killed in the street!
The sluggard says, There is a lion out there!
This is comedy. The lazy man will not go out to work, so he invents a danger. A lion in town was about as likely then as now.
I will be murdered in the middle of the square!
He raises the stakes to justify staying in. The point is that laziness is never short of reasons, and the reasons get more absurd the less the person wants to move.
עצל · atsel · sluggard
The sluggard, a stock character in Proverbs. The same excuse appears again in 26:13.
ארי · ari · lion
Lions did live in the wilds of ancient Israel, which makes the excuse just possible enough to say out loud.
רצח · ratsach · murder, slay
The verb of the sixth commandment, normally used of one person murdering another. He uses the most dramatic word he can find.
רחבות · rechovot · broad places
The open squares of a town, the most public and least dangerous place there is.
Proverbs 22:14
The sweet talk of a woman who wants someone else's husband is like a deep pit. A person God is angry with will fall into it.
The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit;
Her mouth means her talk: the flattery and invitation that Proverbs 5 and 7 describe. It is compared to a pit dug to trap animals, easy to fall into and too deep to climb out of.
the one the LORD is angry with will fall in there.
A sobering step further. Falling for her is not only a sin that brings judgment later; it can itself be the judgment on a person who has already turned from God.
פה · peh · mouth, speech
The mouth as the organ of speech. Her danger begins with what she says (Proverbs 2:16; 5:3).
זרה · zarah · strange, forbidden woman
Literally a strange or outside woman, one who is not yours. The Hebrew is plural here: strange women.
שוחה עמקה · shuchah amuqqah · deep pit
A pit dug as a trap for game. The same two words describe the prostitute in Proverbs 23:27.
זעם · za'am · be indignant
To be indignant, to denounce. The phrase means the one who is under the LORD's indignation.
Proverbs 22:15
Children have silliness tied up in their hearts. Firm punishment will drive it far away.
Folly is tied into the heart of a child;
Children are not born wise. Foolishness is knotted into them from the start, so it will not simply fall away as they grow.
the rod of correction will put it far from him.
The remedy. Correction, including physical discipline in that culture, is what loosens the knot. The line answers the first: what is bound in must be driven out, and that takes deliberate effort from a parent.
אולת · ivvelet · folly
The noun that goes with evil, the stubborn fool. It is moral willfulness, not lack of intelligence or childish play.
קשר · qashar · tie, bind
To tie on with a knot. It is the verb used for binding God's words on the hand in Deuteronomy 6:8.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The inner person. Folly is not on the surface of a child but at the center.
נער · na'ar · young person
The same word as verse 6. That verse says what to start in the child; this one says what must be removed.
שבט · shevet · rod, staff
The same word as the rod of fury in verse 8. There it was violence; here it is tied to musar and serves the child's good.
מוסר · musar · discipline, correction
Correction that trains. It covers spoken instruction and rebuke as well as punishment.
Proverbs 22:16
Some people squeeze the poor to get more for themselves. Some give presents to the rich. Both will end up poor.
Someone squeezes the poor to enlarge what he has,
One way of trying to get ahead: take from those too weak to resist.
someone gives to the rich: both end only in want.
A second way: give gifts to the wealthy to win their favor. The verdict covers both. Neither crushing those below nor courting those above builds anything; the end is poverty.
עשק · ashaq · exploit, extort
To wrong someone by force or by withholding what is owed, such as wages.
דל · dal · poor, weak
The weak poor of verse 9. There he was fed; here he is squeezed.
עשיר · ashir · rich person
The rich person of verses 2 and 7, who needs no gifts.
מחסור · machsor · lack, want
From a root meaning to lack. The Hebrew ends bluntly: 'only to want'.
The Hebrew is very terse: 'oppressing the poor to increase for himself, giving to the rich, only to lack'. It is not clear whether one person does both things or two people are compared, or even whose gain is meant in the first line. Versions differ; the conclusion, loss, is the same.
Proverbs 22:17
Open your ears and listen to what wise people say. Think hard about what I teach you.
Bend your ear and listen to the words of wise men,
A new voice begins. The teacher asks for the posture of real attention, leaning in to catch every word. 'Words of the wise' is in effect the title of the collection that follows.
and set your heart on what I know.
Hearing is not enough. The heart, the place of thought and decision, has to be turned toward the teaching. The ear receives it; the heart takes it seriously.
נטה · natah · stretch, incline
To stretch out or bend. The picture is of tilting the ear toward the speaker.
שמע · shama · hear and heed
Hebrew does not separate hearing from obeying. To hear is to act on it.
חכם · chakam · wise person
Plural: wise men, the teachers whose sayings are collected here. The same heading appears at 24:23.
לב · lev · heart, mind
The Hebrew is heart. English uses mind here because the lev is where a person thinks and decides.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
What the teacher has come to know and is passing on.
Proverbs 22:17 to 24:22 is a separate collection inside the book. Parts of it closely resemble an older Egyptian wisdom book, the Instruction of Amenemope. Israel's sages knew the wisdom of their neighbors and used it, reshaped around trust in the LORD (verse 19).
Proverbs 22:18
It is lovely to keep these words inside you and to have them ready to say.
For it is a pleasant thing when you keep them inside you,
The first reason to listen. Wise sayings stored deep within, literally in your belly, are a pleasure to have. They become part of you.
when all of them are fixed and ready on your lips.
What is stored inside is then available outside. Sayings you have memorized are there when you need to speak, to guide yourself or to answer someone else.
נעים · na'im · pleasant, delightful
Delightful, lovely. Wisdom is described as a pleasure and not only a duty.
שמר · shamar · keep, guard
To guard and preserve. The same verb as guarding one's life in verse 5.
בטן · beten · belly, inner self
Literally the belly. Hebrew uses it for a person's innermost part. The words are to be swallowed and digested, not just heard.
כון · kun · be fixed, established
To be firmly set in place. The sayings sit together on the lips, secure and ready for use.
שפה · saphah · lip, speech
The lips as the place where speech comes out.
Proverbs 22:19
I am teaching you today, yes you, so that you will trust in God.
So that your trust may rest in the LORD,
This is the stated goal of the whole collection. The sayings are not tips for success. They are meant to bring the student to rely on God.
I am making them known to you today, yes, to you.
The teacher presses the point home: this is for you, personally, now. The doubled 'you' in the Hebrew stops the student from treating it as advice for other people.
מבטח · mivtach · confidence, security
From the root of betach, security. It is the thing you lean your weight on.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
God's personal name. Whatever these sayings share with the wisdom of other nations, their purpose here is trust in Israel's God.
ידע · yada · know, make known
The causative form of the verb to know: I have caused you to know.
יום · yom · day
With the article it means this day, today. It makes the teaching urgent and present.
Proverbs 22:20
I have written down fine sayings for you, full of good advice and knowledge.
Have I not written out for you thirty sayings
The teacher points to what he has done: he has put his teaching in writing, so the student has something fixed to return to. The word for what he wrote is disputed; see the note.
full of advice and knowledge,
This describes the content. The sayings contain both counsel, what to do, and knowledge, what is true.
כתב · katav · write
To write. Wisdom here is a written text as well as spoken teaching.
מועצה · mo'etsah · counsel, plan
From the same root as etsah, advice. In Proverbs 1:31 the word is used of people's own bad schemes; here it is good counsel.
דעת · da'at · knowledge
The third time in the chapter: guarded by the LORD in verse 12, offered in verse 17, written down here.
The word behind 'excellent things' is uncertain. The written Hebrew text has a word meaning 'formerly'; the traditional reading in the margin is shalishim, which can mean officers and so perhaps noble or excellent things. With different vowels the same letters read 'thirty', and many modern versions have 'thirty sayings', pointing to the thirty chapters of the Egyptian Instruction of Amenemope.
Proverbs 22:21
They will show you what is really true. Then you can take a right answer back to the one who sent you.
to show you what is reliable, words that are true,
The first purpose of the writing. The student should come away knowing what can be depended on, so that he is not at the mercy of every opinion.
so that you can bring back a true report to those who send you?
The second purpose. The student is pictured as someone sent on an errand by a superior. Trained in what is true, he can be trusted to return with an accurate answer.
קשט · qosht · truth, reliability
A rare word for truth in the sense of what is firm and can be relied on.
אמת · emet · truth, faithfulness
From a root meaning firm. Truth in Hebrew is what holds up when you lean on it. The word occurs twice in this verse.
שוב · shuv · return, bring back
The causative form of the verb to return: to bring words back. It is the idiom for giving a reply or report.
שלח · shalach · send
To send. The Hebrew is plural: those who send you.
Wisdom schooling in the ancient Near East trained young men for service as officials, scribes and messengers. A messenger's worth lay in carrying words accurately in both directions (see Proverbs 13:17; 25:13).
Proverbs 22:22
Don't steal from poor people just because they are poor. Don't crush people in need when they come to court.
Do not rob a poor man because he is poor,
The first saying of the collection. His poverty is the reason he is a target: he cannot fight back or afford a defense. The proverb forbids taking advantage of exactly that weakness.
and do not crush the afflicted at the gate.
This names where it happens. The gate was the law court. The warning is against using the legal system itself, through bribes, influence or false charges, to grind down someone with no power.
גזל · gazal · seize, take by force
To tear away by force. It is open robbery, not quiet theft.
דל · dal · poor, weak
The word occurs twice in the Hebrew line: do not rob the dal because he is dal.
דכא · daka · crush, pulverize
To crush to pieces. A violent word for what a rigged court does to a poor person.
עני · ani · afflicted, lowly
From a root meaning to be bowed down. The person pressed low by hardship.
שער · sha'ar · city gate
The place of public business and judgment.
The city gate was where the elders sat to hear cases and witness contracts (Ruth 4:1-11; Amos 5:12). To crush someone at the gate is to defeat him in court by unfair means.
Proverbs 22:23
God will take their side. He will take the life of anyone who robs them.
For the LORD will argue their case
The reason for the warning. The poor person may have no advocate in court, but God himself takes the role of his lawyer. Whoever sues the poor unjustly finds the LORD on the other side.
and will rob of life those who rob them.
The punishment fits the crime. The same verb is used twice: those who plunder the poor will be plundered, and what is taken from them is their life.
יהוה · YHWH · God's covenant name
The Maker of rich and poor in verse 2 now appears as the defender of the poor.
ריב · riv · contend, argue a case
To contend, especially in a lawsuit. The Hebrew uses the verb and its noun together: he will plead their plea.
קבע · qava · rob, plunder
A rare verb, used twice in this line. Its only other occurrences are in Malachi 3:8-9, about robbing God.
נפש · nephesh · soul, life
The life or whole self. They took property; God takes life.
English hides the repetition. The Hebrew says he will 'rob those who rob them, of life', using one rare verb for both the crime and the sentence.
Proverbs 22:24
Don't make friends with someone who gets angry easily. Don't hang around with a hot-headed person.
Do not keep company with a man ruled by anger,
The Hebrew calls him an 'owner of anger'. Anger is his settled trait. The command is not to make such a person your companion.
and do not go around with a man of hot rages,
The same warning in other words, for emphasis. It concerns the people you choose to spend time with, since that is a choice you control.
רעה · ra'ah · associate with
To be a companion to someone. It is related to re'a, the word for friend in verse 11.
בעל אף · ba'al aph · owner of anger
Ba'al means owner or master. Aph is literally the nose, and so anger, from the flaring nostrils of an angry person.
חמה · chemah · heat, rage
From a root meaning to be hot. The Hebrew phrase is 'a man of heats', plural, meaning repeated outbursts.
Proverbs 22:25
If you do, you will start acting like him, and you will be caught in a trap.
or else you will pick up his ways
The reason. Temper is learned by being around it. Spend enough time with an angry person and his reactions start to feel normal, then become your own.
and get your own life caught in a trap.
The result of learning it. Anger traps the person who has it, in broken relationships, fights and their consequences. You would have taken that trap on yourself by choice.
אלף · alaph · learn, become familiar
A rare verb for learning by familiarity. Its other occurrences, all in Job, mean to teach (Job 33:33).
ארח · orach · path, course
A path, a habitual course. His manner of behaving becomes the track you walk on.
מוקש · moqesh · trap, bait
The trigger or bait of a bird trap, and so a trap in general. A different word from the snares of verse 5 but the same picture.
Proverbs 22:26
Don't be one of those who shake hands and promise to pay back what someone else owes.
Do not be one of those who strike hands in a pledge,
Striking hands sealed a promise, like a handshake on a deal. The promise in view is to cover someone else's debt if he fails to pay.
one of those who stand as security for loans.
This says plainly what the handshake was for. Proverbs warns against this repeatedly, because the guarantor takes on a risk he does not control: whether another person pays.
תקע כף · taqa kaph · strike the palm
Literally to strike the palm. The same gesture and warning appear in Proverbs 6:1, 11:15 and 17:18.
ערב · arav · go surety, pledge
To stand as security for someone, taking on his obligation if he defaults.
משאה · masha'ah · loan
A loan made against a pledge. The word is used in Deuteronomy 24:10 for a loan to a neighbor.
A guarantor made himself legally liable for another person's loan. If the borrower could not pay, the lender collected from the guarantor, taking his goods and, if those ran out, his freedom.
Proverbs 22:27
If you can't pay, they will take even your bed out from under you. Why let that happen?
If you do not have the means to pay,
This is the situation the warning is aimed at: you promised more than you actually have. The pledge felt costless when you made it.
why should your bed be taken out from under you?
A blunt picture of the consequence. The creditor will take whatever you own, down to the bed you sleep on. The question form asks: why put yourself in that position at all?
שלם · shalem · make whole, pay
From the root of shalom, wholeness. To pay a debt is to make the matter whole again.
לקח · laqach · take, seize
The ordinary verb to take. Here it is the creditor lawfully seizing property.
משכב · mishkav · bed, place to lie
From the verb to lie down. The last and most basic thing a household owns.
Creditors could seize a debtor's belongings as payment. The law limited this for the very poor, requiring a cloak taken in pledge to be returned by nightfall (Exodus 22:26-27), but a guarantor's household goods were open to seizure.
Proverbs 22:28
Don't move the old stones that mark where a family's land ends. Your family put them there long ago.
Do not shift the age-old boundary marker
Boundary stones marked where one family's land ended and the next began. Moving one a little was a way to steal land quietly.
that your ancestors put in place.
This gives the weight of it. The boundaries went back to the first allotment of the land to each family. To move one was to rob a family of the inheritance God assigned and to overturn what earlier generations had settled.
סוג · sug · move back, displace
To move back or away. In the causative form used here it means to push a marker back from its place.
עולם · olam · long ages
Time stretching far back or far forward. The boundary has stood for longer than anyone remembers.
גבול · gevul · border, landmark
A border, and the stone that marks it.
אב · av · father, ancestor
Father, and in the plural the ancestors.
Land in Israel was held as a family inheritance and was not meant to pass permanently out of the family. Moving a neighbor's boundary stone is forbidden in Deuteronomy 19:14 and put under a curse in Deuteronomy 27:17. The saying is repeated in Proverbs 23:10.
Proverbs 22:29
Do you see someone who is really good at his work? He will work for kings, not for people nobody has heard of.
Do you see a man who is quick and skilled at his work?
The reader is asked to notice a certain kind of person: someone who has become truly good at what he does and does it promptly.
He will take his place before kings;
Skill gets noticed. The best craftsmen and officials end up serving at the top, because those with power can choose whoever does the best work.
he will not take his place before men nobody knows.
The same point from the other side. His work will not stay hidden in the service of unimportant people. Excellence rises.
חזה · chazah · see, observe
To look at with attention. It is the verb used for a prophet seeing a vision.
מהיר · mahir · quick, expert
From a root meaning to hurry. Quick because practiced. Ezra is called a mahir scribe (Ezra 7:6).
מלאכה · melakah · work, craft
Work, business or craftsmanship. The word used for the work of building the tabernacle.
יצב · yatsav · take one's stand
To station oneself. To stand before someone is to be in his service.
מלך · melek · king
The second time a king appears as the reward of good character, after verse 11.
חשך · chashok · dark, unknown
From the root for darkness. People who are in the dark, that is, unknown. The word occurs only here.