Proverbs 17:4-14

4 A wicked person listens to malicious talk;[a] a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.
5 The one who mocks the poor insults his Maker,[b] and one who rejoices over disaster will not go unpunished.[c]
6 Grandchildren are the crown of the elderly, and the pride of sons is their fathers.
7 Excessive speech is not appropriate on a fool's lips; how much worse are lies for a ruler.
8 A bribe seems like a magic stone to its owner; wherever he turns, he succeeds.[d]
9 Whoever conceals an offense promotes love, but whoever gossips about it separates friends.[e]
10 A rebuke cuts into a perceptive person more than a hundred lashes into a fool.
11 An evil man seeks only rebellion; a cruel messenger[f] will be sent against him.
12 Better for a man to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his foolishness.
13 If anyone returns evil for good, evil will never depart from his house.
14 To start a conflict is to release a flood; stop the dispute before it breaks out.[g]

Proverbs 17:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 7

This chapter gives an account of some buildings of Solomon for himself, 1Ki 7:1-12; and of other things for the use of the temple; of two pillars of brass, 1Ki 7:13-22; of the molten sea, 1Ki 7:23-26; and of ten bases, and ten layers on them, 1Ki 7:27-39; with other utensils and ornaments, 1Ki 7:40-51.

Footnotes 7

  • [a]. Lit to lips of iniquity
  • [b]. Pr 14:31; 21:13
  • [c]. Lm 1:21-22; Ezk 25:6-7; 35:15
  • [d]. Pr 18:16; 19:6; 21:14
  • [e]. Pr 11:13; 16:28; Lv 19:16; Ps 101:5; 1 Pt 4:8
  • [f]. Or a merciless angel; Ps 78:49
  • [g]. Pr 20:3
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