Proverbs 10 Study Notes

10:18 This verse does not mean a person should display hatred. Rather, the person who has hatred concealed within himself inevitably tells lies.

10:19 The wicked tend to use many words, and their words reveal the heart.

10:20 Tongue is parallel to heart because speech reveals the heart.

10:21 The righteous produce life-giving nourishment (v. 11), while fools cannot even keep themselves alive.

10:22 If wealth is gained apart from acknowledgment of God’s blessing, often all kinds of painful effort accompany it—greedy “friends,” legal trouble, fear of loss (Mt 6:19), and the temptation of pride (Dt 8:17-18).

10:23 Shameful conduct contrasts with wisdom. A person of understanding finds pleasure in wisdom just as a fool finds pleasure in shameful conduct.

10:24 This observation on the wicked is often valid in this life and always true in eternity.

10:25 This is similar to Jesus’s parable of the Two Foundations (Mt 7:24-27).

10:26 Vinegar, or soured wine, had an astringent quality that irritated the teeth.

10:27 On life, see note at 3:22.

10:28 The hope of the righteous is well founded and results in joy. But neither is true of the expectation of the wicked.

10:29 The honorable do not dread the imposition of truth (Rm 13:3), but when God’s kingdom comes (Mt 6:10) and every knee bows to Christ (Php 2:10), the way of the Lord will be destruction, in the ultimate sense, for the malicious (Am 5:18-20; 7:7-9).

10:30 This proverb uses promised land terminology (cp. 2:22). Just as disobedient Israel was sent into exile, so the wicked will not remain in God’s grace.

10:31 The person who speaks what is perverse (see note at 2:12) will be excluded from the community and ultimately from God’s presence (Lv 18:29).

10:32 The Hebrew word translated what is appropriate also means “favor, delight” (8:35).