Proverbs 22:1

1 A {reputation} [is] to be chosen {rather than} great riches; {favor is better than silver and gold}.

Proverbs 22:1 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 22:1

A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches
The word "good" is not in the text, but is rightly supplied, as it is by the Targum, Septuagint, and Vulgate Latin versions; for it is not any name that is more eligible than riches; nor is it a need name among any sort of persons; for to have a good name with some turns to a man's reproach rather than to his credit; but a good name among good men, a name in the house of God, which is better than sons and daughters; a new name, the name of the children of God, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it; this is to be preferred to a multitude of riches: it is not to be procured by them, and is where they are not, or are lost, but this continues; see ( Ecclesiastes 7:1 ) ; [and] loving favour rather them silver and gold;
favour with God and man, especially with God, whose loving kindness is better than life, and all the enjoyments of it: or, as it may be rendered, "grace [is] better than silver and gold" F16; the grace of God through Christ, the grace of Christ, in whom all fulness of it dwells, the grace of the Spirit of Christ; faith is more precious than gold that perisheth; and if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would be contemned; the Spirit and his grace are not to be purchased for money.


FOOTNOTES:

F16 (bwj Nx) "gratia melior", Munster, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Michaelis; so Schultens.

Proverbs 22:1 In-Context

1 A {reputation} [is] to be chosen {rather than} great riches; {favor is better than silver and gold}.
2 Rich and poor have [much] in common; Yahweh is the maker of all of them.
3 The clever sees danger and hides, but the simple go on and suffer.
4 The reward of humility [is] the fear of Yahweh-- wealth and honor and life.
5 Thorns [and] snares [are] in the way of the perverse; he who guards himself will keep away from them.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Literally "name"
  • [b]. Literally "from"
  • [c]. Literally "from silver and from gold, favor [is] better"
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