Proverbs 21:1-10

1 The king's heart is like streams of water. Both are under the LORD's control. He turns them in any direction he chooses.

2 A person thinks everything he does is right, but the LORD weighs hearts.

3 Doing what is right and fair is more acceptable to the LORD than offering a sacrifice.

4 A conceited look and an arrogant attitude, which are the lamps of wicked people, are sins.

5 The plans of a hard-working person lead to prosperity, but everyone who is [always] in a hurry ends up in poverty.

6 Those who gather wealth by lying are wasting time. They are looking for death.

7 The violence of wicked people will drag them away since they refuse to do what is just.

8 The way of a guilty person is crooked, but the behavior of those who are pure is moral.

9 Better to live on a corner of a roof than to share a home with a quarreling woman.

10 The mind of a wicked person desires evil and has no consideration for his neighbor.

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.