Proverbs 17:16-26

16 Why should a fool have money in his hand ¹to buy wisdom when he has no sense?

17 ²A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

18 One who lacks sense gives a pledge and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.

19 Whoever loves transgression loves strife; he who ³makes his door high seeks destruction.

20 ⁴A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.

21 He who ⁵sires a fool gets himself sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy.

22 ⁶A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit ⁷dries up the bones.

23 The wicked accepts ⁸a bribe in secret^[a] to ⁹pervert the ways of justice.

24 ¹⁰The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

25 ¹¹A foolish son is a grief to his father ¹²and bitterness to ¹³her who bore him.

26 ¹⁴To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good, nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

Proverbs 17:16-26 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.

Cross References

• 1. [Proverbs 23:23]
• 2. Proverbs 18:24; Proverbs 27:10; [Ruth 1:16; Job 6:14]
• 3. [Proverbs 11:2; Proverbs 29:23]
• 4. [Proverbs 11:20]
• 5. Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 19:13
• 6. See Proverbs 15:13
• 7. Psalms 22:15; [Proverbs 12:25]
• 8. See ver. 8
• 9. [Micah 3:11; Micah 7:3]
• 10. [Proverbs 14:6; Proverbs 15:14; Ecclesiastes 2:14]; See Deuteronomy 30:11-14
• 11. [See ver. 21 above]
• 12. Proverbs 10:1
• 13. Proverbs 23:25
• 14. [ver. 15]

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew a bribe from the bosom