Proverbs 17:15-25

15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, the two of them [are] both abominations of Yahweh.

16 Why [is] this? A price in the hand of a fool, [in order] to buy wisdom where there is no {sense}.

17 The friend loves at all times, but a brother is born for adversity.

18 A person who lacks {sense} {pledges}; he becomes security before his neighbor.

19 He who loves transgression loves strife; he who builds his high thresholds seeks destruction.

20 He who is crooked of heart will not find goodness, and he who is perverse, by his tongue he will fall into calamity.

21 He who begets a fool, [there is] trouble for him; the father of a fool will not rejoice.

22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast spirit will dry out bones.

23 The wicked will accept a bribe from the lap, [in order] to pervert the ways of justice.

24 He who understands sets [his] face [toward] wisdom, but the eyes of a fool, to the end of the earth.

25 A grief to his father [is] the child of a fool, and bitterness to her who bore him.

Proverbs 17:15-25 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

• [a]. Hebrew "and"
• [b]. Literally "heart"
• [c]. Hebrew "time"
• [d]. Literally "heart"
• [e]. Literally "pledges a hand"
• [f]. Or "mind"
• [g]. Or "land"