Proverbs 21:4-8

4 ¹Haughty eyes and a proud heart, ²the lamp^[a] of the wicked, are sin.

5 The plans of ³the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is ⁴hasty comes ⁵only to poverty.

6 ⁶The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a ⁷fleeting ⁸vapor and a ⁹snare of death.^[b]

7 The violence of the wicked will ¹⁰sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just.

8 The way of the guilty ¹¹is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright.

Proverbs 21:4-8 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. See Proverbs 6:17; Psalms 101:5
• 2. 1 Kings 11:36
• 3. Proverbs 10:4
• 4. [Proverbs 19:2]
• 5. [Proverbs 11:24; Proverbs 14:23; Proverbs 22:16]
• 6. Proverbs 20:21; See Proverbs 10:2
• 7. [Proverbs 13:11]
• 8. Job 13:25
• 9. [Proverbs 8:36]
• 10. [Jeremiah 30:23]
• 11. [Proverbs 2:15]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or the plowing
• [b]. Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Latin; most Hebrew manuscripts vapor for those who seek death