Proverbs 22:1-8

1 ¹A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.

2 ²The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is ³the maker of them all.

3 ⁴The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is ⁵riches and honor and life. ^[a]

5 ⁶Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever ⁷guards his soul will keep far from them.

6 ⁸Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

7 ⁹The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

8 Whoever ¹⁰sows injustice will reap calamity, and ¹¹the rod of his fury will fail.

Proverbs 22:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 10

This chapter contains an account of the queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon to her great satisfaction, 1Ki 10:1-13, of Solomon's merchandise and riches, and the magnificence of his court, 1Ki 10:14-23, of the rich presents sent to him, and of the purchase of chariots and horses, and other things, he made, 1Ki 10:24-29.

Cross References

• 1. 22:1 [Eccles. 7:1]
• 2. 22:2 [ch. 29:13]
• 3. 22:2 ch. 14:31; Job 31:15
• 4. 22:3 ch. 27:12; [ch. 14:16]
• 5. 22:4 [ch. 21:20, 21]
• 6. 22:5 ch. 15:19
• 7. 22:5 ch. 21:23; [1 John 5:18]
• 8. 22:6 Eph. 6:4; 2 Tim. 3:15
• 9. 22:7 James 2:6
• 10. 22:8 Job 4:8; [Hos. 10:13]
• 11. 22:8 [Isa. 14:6; 30:31]

Footnotes

• [a] 22:4 Or 'The reward for humility is the fear of the 'Lord', riches and honor and life'