Proverbs 24:23-34

23 It's wrong, very wrong, to go along with injustice.

24 Whoever whitewashes the wicked gets a black mark in the history books,

25 But whoever exposes the wicked will be thanked and rewarded.

26 An honest answer is like a warm hug.

27 First plant your fields; then build your barn.

28 Don't talk about your neighbors behind their backs - no slander or gossip, please.

29 Don't say to anyone, "I'll get back at you for what you did to me. I'll make you pay for what you did!"

30 One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones, and then passed the vineyard of a lout;

31 They were overgrown with weeds, thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.

32 I took a long look and pondered what I saw; the fields preached me a sermon and I listened:

33 "A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy - do you know what comes next?

34 Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, with poverty as your permanent houseguest!"

Proverbs 24:23-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 12

This chapter relates Rehoboam's going to Shechem to be made king, and Jeroboam's return from Egypt, 1Ki 12:1,2, the people's request to Rehoboam to be eased of their taxes, as the condition of making him king, 1Ki 12:3,4, his answer to them, after three days, having had the advice both of the old and young men, which latter he followed, and gave in a rough answer, 1Ki 12:5-15, upon which ten tribes revolted from him, and two abode by him, 1Ki 12:16-20, wherefore he meditated a war against the ten tribes, but was forbid by the Lord to engage in it, 1Ki 12:21-24 and Jeroboam, in order to establish his kingdom, and preserve the people from a revolt to the house of David, because of the temple worship at Jerusalem, devised a scheme of idolatrous worship in his own territories, 1Ki 12:25-33.