Proverbs 21:4-14

4 A conceited look and an arrogant attitude, which are the lamps of wicked people, are sins.

5 The plans of a hard-working person lead to prosperity, but everyone who is [always] in a hurry ends up in poverty.

6 Those who gather wealth by lying are wasting time. They are looking for death.

7 The violence of wicked people will drag them away since they refuse to do what is just.

8 The way of a guilty person is crooked, but the behavior of those who are pure is moral.

9 Better to live on a corner of a roof than to share a home with a quarreling woman.

10 The mind of a wicked person desires evil and has no consideration for his neighbor.

11 When a mocker is punished, a gullible person becomes wise, and when a wise person is instructed, he gains knowledge.

12 A righteous person wisely considers the house of a wicked person. He throws wicked people into disasters.

13 Whoever shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will call and not be answered.

14 A gift [given] in secret calms anger, and a secret bribe calms great fury.

Proverbs 21:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 9

This chapter relates a second vision Solomon had at Gibeon, in which he received an answer to his prayer in the preceding chapter, 1Ki 9:1-9 that passed between him and Hiram king of Tyre, 1Ki 9:10-14, the places that Solomon built or repaired, 1Ki 9:15-19, the Canaanitish people that became bondmen to him, and the officers he had among the children of Israel, 1Ki 9:20-23 the removal of Pharaoh's daughter to the house built for her, 1Ki 9:24. Solomon's attention to religious services, 1Ki 9:25 and the navy of ships he employed, which brought him in great riches, 1Ki 9:26-28.