Proverbs 17:1-16

1 ¹Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting^[a] with strife.

2 A servant who deals wisely will rule over ²a son who acts shamefully and ³will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.

3 ⁴The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, ⁵and the LORD tests hearts.

4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

5 Whoever mocks the poor ⁶insults his Maker; he who is ⁷glad at calamity will not go ⁸unpunished.

6 ⁹Grandchildren are ¹⁰the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.

7 Fine speech is not ¹¹becoming to a fool; still less is ¹²false speech to a prince.

8 ¹³A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it; wherever he turns he prospers.

9 Whoever ¹⁴covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter ¹⁵separates close friends.

10 A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool.

11 An evil man seeks only rebellion, and ¹⁶a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

12 Let a man meet ¹⁷a she-bear robbed of her cubs ¹⁸rather than a fool in his folly.

13 If anyone ¹⁹returns evil for good, ²⁰evil will not depart from his house.

14 The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so ²¹quit before the quarrel breaks out.

15 He who ²²justifies the wicked and he who ²³condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

16 Why should a fool have money in his hand ²⁴to buy wisdom when he has no sense?

Proverbs 17:1-16 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 15:17
• 2. ver. 21, 25; Proverbs 10:5; Proverbs 19:26
• 3. [2 Samuel 16:4]
• 4. Proverbs 27:21
• 5. 1 Chronicles 29:17; Psalms 26:2; Jeremiah 17:10; Malachi 3:3
• 6. Proverbs 14:31; [Matthew 25:40, 45]
• 7. Job 31:29; Obadiah 12; [Proverbs 24:17]
• 8. Proverbs 16:5
• 9. Psalms 128:6; [Psalms 127:3, 4]
• 10. Proverbs 16:31
• 11. [Proverbs 19:10; Proverbs 26:1]
• 12. Proverbs 6:17
• 13. ver. 23; Proverbs 18:16; Proverbs 19:6; Proverbs 21:14; [Exodus 23:8; Isaiah 1:23; Amos 5:12]
• 14. Proverbs 10:12
• 15. Proverbs 16:28
• 16. [1 Kings 2:29]
• 17. 2 Samuel 17:8; Hosea 13:8
• 18. [Proverbs 27:3]
• 19. Psalms 35:12; Psalms 109:4, 5; [Proverbs 20:22; Matthew 5:39]
• 20. [2 Samuel 12:10]
• 21. Proverbs 20:3; Proverbs 25:8
• 22. Proverbs 24:24; Exodus 23:7; Isaiah 5:23
• 23. Job 34:17; Psalms 94:21; [ver. 26; Proverbs 18:5]
• 24. [Proverbs 23:23]

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew sacrifices