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Texts -- Proverbs 1:8-33 (NET)

Context
1:8 Listen , my child , to the instruction from your father , and do not forsake the teaching from your mother . 1:9 For they will be like an elegant garland on your head , and like pendants around your neck .
Admonition to Avoid Easy but Unjust Riches
1:10 My child , if sinners try to entice you, do not consent ! 1:11 If they say , “Come with us! We will lie in wait to shed blood ; we will ambush an innocent person capriciously . 1:12 We will swallow them alive like Sheol , those full of vigor like those going down to the Pit . 1:13 We will seize all kinds of precious wealth ; we will fill our houses with plunder . 1:14 Join with us! We will all share equally in what we steal .” 1:15 My child , do not go down their way , withhold yourself from their path ; 1:16 for they are eager to inflict harm , and they hasten to shed blood . 1:17 Surely it is futile to spread a net in plain sight of any bird , 1:18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood , they ambush their own lives ! 1:19 Such are the ways of all who gain profit unjustly ; it takes away the life of those who obtain it!
Warning Against Disregarding Wisdom
1:20 Wisdom calls out in the street , she shouts loudly in the plazas ; 1:21 at the head of the noisy streets she calls , in the entrances of the gates in the city she utters her words : 1:22 “How long will you simpletons love naiveté ? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge ? 1:23 If only you will respond to my rebuke , then I will pour out my thoughts to you and I will make my words known to you. 1:24 However, because I called but you refused to listen, because I stretched out my hand but no one paid attention , 1:25 because you neglected all my advice , and did not comply with my rebuke , 1:26 so I myself will laugh when disaster strikes you, I will mock when what you dread comes , 1:27 when what you dread comes like a whirlwind , and disaster strikes you like a devastating storm , when distressing trouble comes on you. 1:28 Then they will call to me, but I will not answer ; they will diligently seek me, but they will not find me. 1:29 Because they hated moral knowledge , and did not choose to fear the Lord , 1:30 they did not comply with my advice , they spurned all my rebuke . 1:31 Therefore they will eat from the fruit of their way , and they will be stuffed full of their own counsel . 1:32 For the waywardness of the simpletons will kill them, and the careless ease of fools will destroy them. 1:33 But the one who listens to me will live in security , and will be at ease from the dread of harm .

Pericope

NET
  • Pro 1:10-19 -- Admonition to Avoid Easy but Unjust Riches
  • Pro 1:20-33 -- Warning Against Disregarding Wisdom

Bible Dictionary

  • YOUNG; MEN, YOUNG WOMEN

    [isbe] YOUNG; MEN, YOUNG WOMEN - yung, (bachur, na`ar; neanias, neaniskos): "Young man" is generally in the Old Testament the translation of bachur, from bachar, "to prove," "to choose," and of na`ar (literally, "boy," but used som...

  • Wise, wisdom

    [ebd] a moral rather than an intellectual quality. To be "foolish" is to be godless (Ps. 14:1; comp. Judg. 19:23; 2 Sam. 13:13). True wisdom is a gift from God to those who ask it (Job 28:12-28; Prov. 3:13-18; Rom. 1:22; 16:27; 1 ...

  • WISDOM OF GOD

    [isbe] WISDOM OF GOD - (sophia): Lk 11:49 reads: "Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets and apostles; and some of them they shall kill and persecute." The patristic and many later commentators, on th...

  • Personification

    [nave] PERSONIFICATION Of wisdom, Prov. 1; 2:1-9; 8; 9. possibly of the Church or Israel, Song 1-8.

  • PROVERBS, THE BOOK OF

    [isbe] PROVERBS, THE BOOK OF - prov'-erbz: I. THE BOOK'S ACCOUNT OF ITSELF 1. Title and Headings 2. Authorship or Literary Species? II. THE SUCCESSIVE COMPILATIONS 1. The Introductory Section 2. The Classic Nucleus 3. A Body of Sol...

  • LURK; LURKING-PLACE

    [isbe] LURK; LURKING-PLACE - lurk, lurk'-ing-plas: "To lurk" means "to lie in wait," usually with intent to do harm (see Ps 17:12; Prov 1:11,18). Lurking-place, a place of hiding, usually for the purpose of murder. See 1 Sam 23:23;...

  • KNOW; KNOWLEDGE

    [isbe] KNOW; KNOWLEDGE - no, nol'-ej (in Hebrew chiefly yadha`, noun da`ath; in Greek ginosko, oida' "to know fully," epiginosko, noun gnosis epignosis): Knowledge strictly is the apprehension by the mind of some fact or truth in a...

  • Grace

    [ebd] (1.) Of form or person (Prov. 1:9; 3:22; Ps. 45:2). (2.) Favour, kindness, friendship (Gen. 6:8; 18:3; 19:19; 2 Tim. 1:9). (3.) God's forgiving mercy (Rom. 11:6; Eph. 2:5). (4.) The gospel as distinguished from the law (John...

  • GATE

    [ebd] (1.) Of cities, as of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:13; Neh. 1:3; 2:3; 3:3), of Sodom (Gen. 19:1), of Gaza (Judg. 16:3). (2.) Of royal palaces (Neh. 2:8). (3.) Of the temple of Solomon (1 Kings 6:34, 35; 2 Kings 18:16); of the holy pla...
    [isbe] GATE - gat (Hebrew normally (over 300 times) sha`ar; occasionally deleth, properly, "gateway" (but compare Dt 3:5); elsewhere the gateway is pethach (compare especially Gen 19:6); Aramaic tera`; Greek pulon, pule; the Englis...

  • Fruit

    [ebd] a word as used in Scripture denoting produce in general, whether vegetable or animal. The Hebrews divided the fruits of the land into three classes:, (1.) The fruit of the field, "corn-fruit" (Heb. dagan); all kinds of grain...

  • CRY, CRYING

    [isbe] CRY, CRYING - kri'-ing (zaaq, tsa`aq (and forms), qara', shawa`, rinnah; boao, krazo, phoneo): Various words are translated "cry," "crying," etc., the chief of which are those above given; za'aq and tsa`aq denote especially ...

  • CRIER

    [isbe] CRIER - kri'-er (qara'; compare boao): (1) Neither is this exact word found in English Versions of the Bible, nor a word exactly corresponding to it in the Hebrew Bible, but the character it stands for appears as "one who cr...

  • CONCOURSE

    [isbe] CONCOURSE - kon'-kors (hamah, "to hum," "to make a noise"; sustrophe, "a turning" or "twisting together"): Hamah, usually translated by some word signifying "sound" is rendered "concourse" in Prov 1:21 (perhaps from the nois...

  • CHAIN

    [ebd] (1.) A part of the insignia of office. A chain of gold was placed about Joseph's neck (Gen. 41:42); and one was promised to Daniel (5:7). It is used as a symbol of sovereignty (Ezek. 16:11). The breast-plate of the high-prie...
    [smith] Chains were used, As badges of office; For ornament; For confining prisoners. the gold chain placed about Joseph?s neck, (Genesis 41:42) and that promised to Daniel, (Daniel 5:7) are instances of the first use. In (Ezekiel 1...

  • CALAMITY

    [isbe] CALAMITY - ka-lam'-i-ti ('edh, "a load" or "burden" under which one is crushed, hence, "misfortune"; hayyah, hawwah, "fall," "ruin," the latter word used only in the plural; ra`, "evil in essence" hence, "adversity," once on...

  • Bird

    [ebd] Birds are divided in the Mosaic law into two classes, (1) the clean (Lev. 1:14-17; 5:7-10; 14:4-7), which were offered in sacrifice; and (2) the unclean (Lev. 11:13-20). When offered in sacrifice, they were not divided as ot...

  • BAG

    [ebd] (1.) A pocket of a cone-like shape in which Naaman bound two pieces of silver for Gehazi (2 Kings 5:23). The same Hebrew word occurs elsewhere only in Isa. 3:22, where it is rendered "crisping-pins," but denotes the reticule...
    [isbe] BAG - Bags of various kinds are mentioned in the English Bible, but often in a way to obscure rather than tr the original. (1) "Bag" is used for a Hebrew word which means a shepherd's "bag," rendered "wallet" in the Revised ...
    [smith] is the rendering of several words in the Old and New Testaments. Charitim , the "bags" in which Naaman bound up the two talents of silver for Gehazi. (2 Kings 5:23) They were long cone-like bags of the size to hold a prec...

  • ANGUISH

    [isbe] ANGUISH - an'-gwish: Extreme distress of body, mind or spirit; excruciating pain or suffering of soul, e.g. excessive grief, remorse, despair. Chiefly expressed in Old Testament, by four derivatives of tsuq, "straitened," "p...

  • AMULET

    [isbe] AMULET - am'-u-let (qemia, lechashim, mezuzah, tephillin, tsitsith; phulakterion): Modern scholars are of opinion that our English word amulet comes from the Latin amuletum, used by Pliny (Naturalis Historia, xxviii, 28; xxx...

  • ADORN

    [isbe] ADORN - a-dorn' (kosmeo): Has as its primary meaning "to arrange," "to put In order," "to decorate." It is used with reference to the manner in which Christian women were urged to dress. This was a vital question in the earl...

Arts

Questions

  • I've heard and read the same statement a number of times, but have never troubled myself to look up each passage. I'm not surprised that looking up "heaven" and "hell" in a concordance would give you contradictory results. T...

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • We can explain the writer's unusual reference to Judah and Israel at this time, before the division of the kingdom. When he wrote Kings the nation had split, so probably the writer was using the designation that was common in...
  • 30:6 David had evidently become self-confident and had forgotten his complete dependence on the Lord (cf. John 15:5). Prosperity often tempts us with a false sense of our security (cf. Prov. 1:32; Jer. 22:21), and David slipp...
  • The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is "The Proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, King in Israel"(cf. 1:1). The Greek Septuagint called this book "Proverbs of Solomon."The Latin Vulgate named it "The Book of Proverbs....
  • Proverbs claims to be a compendium of the wise sayings of several different individuals.4Solomon originated some of them (10:1-22:16 and chs. 25-29 definitely, and probably chs. 1-9 as well).5Unnamed wise men (sages) wrote ot...
  • The Book of Proverbs contains no history. It is purely didactic. It is a book of explicit instruction. Like the other Old Testament wisdom books, Job and Ecclesiastes, it does not contain references to Israel's laws, rituals,...
  • I. Discourses on wisdom chs. 1-9A. Introduction to the book 1:1-71. The title of the book 1:12. The purpose of the book 1:2-63. The thesis of the book 1:7B. Instruction for young people 1:8-7:271. Warning against consorting w...
  • Verse one introduces both the book as a whole and chapters 1-9 in particular. The Book of Proverbs is a collection of at least five separate groups of proverbs. There are those that Solomon spoke and or wrote (possibly chs. 1...
  • This verse enjoys almost universal recognition as the key statement not only in Proverbs but in all the wisdom literature of the Bible (cf. 9:10; 15:33; Job 28:28; Ps. 111:10; Eccles. 12:13). Some people think of it as the mo...
  • The two ways (paths) introduced in 1:7 stretch out before the reader (cf. Matt. 7:13-14). In this section Solomon spoke to his son guiding him into God's way. "My son"was and is a customary way of addressing a disciple."It de...
  • In the pericope before us the wise way (vv. 8-9) does not have the personal appeal, the excitement and hope of power, that the second way does (vv. 10-19). Its only reward is goodness as opposed to acceptance by one's peers."...
  • This is one of several passages in Proverbs where the writer personified wisdom. Her call comes to people in the market, in the hustle and bustle of life, not in the seclusion of the home or sanctuary (cf. v. 8).36"To whom do...
  • Even though wisdom wants people to adopt her (1:20-33) she is hard to get. The person who wants her has to work hard to obtain her (v. 3). If understanding does not come easily, one should work harder to obtain it.40He or she...
  • Wisdom safeguards a person morally. The first part of this pericope shows how God protects (vv. 10-11; cf. vv. 7b-8). The last part presents the temptations one can overcome (vv. 12-15 and 16-19). When a person submits himsel...
  • The trust of the wise son (vv. 5-6) comes from heeding sound teaching (vv. 1-4), and it leads to confident obedience (vv. 7-9)."Teaching"(v. 1, Heb. torah) means "law"or, more fundamentally, "direction."Here the context sugge...
  • In verses 10-19 two paths again lie before the youth, the way of wisdom (vv. 10-13) and the way of the wicked (vv. 14-17).60"Upright"paths (v. 11) are straightforward ways of behaving morally and practically. God's way is the...
  • Chapters 1-9, as we have seen, contain discourses that Solomon evidently wrote urging his sons to choose the way of wisdom for their lives.92At 10:1 we begin the part of the book that sets forth what the wise way is in a vari...
  • 12:6 The words of the wicked, particularly their false accusations, are an ambush, but the words of the upright are straightforward and sincere (cf. 1:18).10712:9 A better translation is, "Better is a man of humble standing w...
  • A third major section of the Book of Proverbs begins with 22:17. This is clear from several indicators. The proverbs lengthen out again from the typical one verse couplet that characterizes 10:1-26:16 (cf. chs. 1-9). The phra...
  • As in chapters 1-9, the writer began this section of the book with an exhortation to hear and give heed to the words of wisdom that follow (22:17-21)."This extended introduction reminds us that the wise sayings were not curio...
  • 22:22-23 Note the chiastic structure in these four lines that unifies the thought of the passage: violence, litigation, litigation, violence. God will avenge the poor on those who oppress them.22:24-25 The writer gave a reaso...
  • We return now to the proverbs of Solomon (cf. 1:1-22:16). Chapters 25-26 contain proverbs that are mainly comparisons. The key words in these chapters are "like . . . so."Chapter 27 is a mixture of comparative and antithetica...
  • 25:1 A group of scholars who served during King Hezekiah's reign (715-686 B.C.) added more of Solomon's 3,000 proverbs (1 Kings 4:32) to the former collection (1:1-22:16). These men lived about 250 years after Solomon. Solomo...
  • This poem recalls the earlier discourses in chapters 1-9. In this one, Solomon gave some basic and practical advice designed to assure success in the context of Israel's most common occupation, animal husbandry.The essentials...
  • Chapters 30 and 31 form a distinct section in Proverbs because neither Solomon (1:1-22:16; chs. 25-29) nor the unnamed sages (22:17-24:34) wrote them. Two other wise men whose names the text records did. Some expositors specu...
  • The quality of wisdom that Proverbs presents is much more than the ability to apply knowledge to various situations in life effectively. It also involves submission to the way of God that is the order of life God has revealed...
  • Aitken, Kenneth T. Proverbs. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986.Alden, Robert L. Proverbs: A Commentary on an Ancient Book of Timeless Advice. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984.Archer, Gleason L., Jr. Encyclopedia of Bi...
  • Even though the righteous sometimes do not receive a reward in this life and the wicked prosper, it is still better to live righteously."Proper evaluation of a man's character helps to explain the apparent inequalities in div...
  • 23:5-8 Oholah proved unfaithful to the Lord by lusting after her attractive neighbors, the Assyrians."The appeal, then as now, was to youth, strength, position, wealth and self-gratification; that is, the world in all its daz...
  • 11:45-46 The lawyers (or scribes) were a distinct group, though most of them were Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees often acted together. The lawyer who spoke up wanted to distinguish his group from the Pharisees, but Jesu...
  • A. Paul affirms the personal equality of man and woman in the new creation by stating that in Christ there is "neither male nor female"(Gal. 3:28).A woman obtains salvation by faith exactly as a man does (Eph. 2:8-9; 1 Pet. 1...
  • Paul listed seven responsibilities of these women. They were (1) to be lovers of their husbands (to put their welfare before self-interests), (2) to be lovers of their children, and (3) to be sensible (Gr. sophronas; self-con...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

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