Proverbs 21:1-10

1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he ¹turns it wherever he will.

2 ²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord ³weighs the heart.

3 ⁴To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

4 ⁵Haughty eyes and a proud heart, ⁶the lamp^[a] of the wicked, are sin.

5 The plans of ⁷the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is ⁸hasty comes ⁹only to poverty.

6 ¹⁰The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a ¹¹fleeting ¹²vapor and a ¹³snare of death. ^[b]

7 The violence of the wicked will ¹⁴sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just.

8 The way of the guilty ¹⁵is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright.

9 It is ¹⁶better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

10 The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.

Proverbs 21:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 9

This chapter relates a second vision Solomon had at Gibeon, in which he received an answer to his prayer in the preceding chapter, 1Ki 9:1-9 that passed between him and Hiram king of Tyre, 1Ki 9:10-14, the places that Solomon built or repaired, 1Ki 9:15-19, the Canaanitish people that became bondmen to him, and the officers he had among the children of Israel, 1Ki 9:20-23 the removal of Pharaoh's daughter to the house built for her, 1Ki 9:24. Solomon's attention to religious services, 1Ki 9:25 and the navy of ships he employed, which brought him in great riches, 1Ki 9:26-28.

Cross References

• 1. 21:1 [Ezra 6:22]
• 2. 21:2 ch. 16:2; [ch. 12:15]
• 3. 21:2 ch. 24:12; [Luke 16:15; 1 Cor. 4:4]; See 1 Sam. 16:7
• 4. 21:3 See ch. 15:8; 1 Sam. 15:22
• 5. 21:4 See ch. 6:17; Ps. 101:5
• 6. 21:4 1 Kgs. 11:36
• 7. 21:5 ch. 10:4
• 8. 21:5 [ch. 19:2]
• 9. 21:5 [ch. 11:24; 14:23; 22:16]
• 10. 21:6 ch. 20:21; See ch. 10:2
• 11. 21:6 [ch. 13:11]
• 12. 21:6 Job 13:25
• 13. 21:6 [ch. 8:36]
• 14. 21:7 [Jer. 30:23]
• 15. 21:8 [ch. 2:15]
• 16. 21:9 ch. 25:24; [ver. 19; ch. 19:13; 27:15]

Footnotes

• [a] 21:4 Or 'the plowing'
• [b] 21:6 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Latin; most Hebrew manuscripts 'vapor for those who seek death'