Proverbs 24:1-13

24:1 Do not envy evil people, ¹ 

do not desire ²  to be with them;

24:2 for their hearts contemplate violence,

and their lips speak harm. ³ 

24:3 By ⁴  wisdom a house is built, ⁵ 

and through understanding it is established;

24:4 by knowledge its rooms are filled

with all kinds of precious and pleasing treasures.

24:5 A wise warrior ⁶  is strong, ⁷ 

and a man of knowledge makes his strength stronger;

24:6 for with guidance you wage your war,

and with numerous advisers there is victory. ⁸ 

24:7 Wisdom is unattainable ⁹  for a fool;

in court ¹⁰  he does not open his mouth. ¹¹ 

24:8 The one who plans to do evil

will be called a scheming person. ¹² 

24:9 A foolish scheme ¹³  is sin,

and the scorner is an abomination to people. ¹⁴ 

24:10 If you faint ¹⁵  in the day of trouble, ¹⁶ 

your strength is small! ¹⁷ 

24:11 Deliver those being taken away to death,

and hold back those slipping to the slaughter. ¹⁸ 

24:12 If you say, “But we did not know about this,”

does not the one who evaluates ¹⁹  hearts consider?

Does not the one who guards your life know?

Will he not repay each person according to his deeds? ²⁰ 

24:13 Eat honey, ²¹  my child, for it is good,

and honey from the honeycomb is sweet to your taste.

[24:1]  ¹ tn Heb “evil men,” although the context indicates a generic sense.

[24:1]  ² tn The Hitpael jussive is from the verb that means “to crave; to desire.” This is more of a coveting, an intense desire.

[24:2]  ³ sn This nineteenth saying warns against evil associations. Evil people are obsessed with destruction and trouble. See on this theme 1:10-19; 3:31 and 23:17. D. Kidner observes that a close view of sinners is often a good antidote to envying them (Proverbs [TOTC], 153).

[24:3]  ⁴ tn The preposition בְּ (bet, “by; through”) in these two lines indicates means.

[24:3]  ⁵ sn The twentieth saying, vv. 3-4, concerns the use of wisdom for domestic enterprises. In Prov 9:1 wisdom was personified as a woman who builds a house; but here the emphasis is primarily on the building – it is a sign of security and prosperity (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 442). One could still make a secondary application from this line for a household or “family” (cf. NCV, which sees this as a reference to the family).

[24:5]  ⁶ sn The twenty-first saying seems to be concerned with the need for wisdom in warfare. In line with that, the word used here is גֶּבֶר (gever), “mighty man; hero; warrior.”

[24:5]  ⁷ tn The expression בַּעוֹז (ba’oz) employs a beth essentiae, meaning he “is strong,” not “in strength.”

[24:6]  ⁸ sn The point of the saying is that wise counsel is necessary in war. Victory, strategy, and counsel are more important than mere military strength – many great armies have been destroyed because of their unwise leaders. See on this theme 11:14; 20:18; and 21:22.

[24:7]  ⁹ tc The MT reads רָאמוֹת (ra’mot, “corals”) – wisdom to the fool is corals, i.e., an unattainable treasure. With a slight change in the text, removing the א (alef), the reading is רָמוֹת (ramot, “high”), i.e., wisdom is too high – unattainable – for a fool. The internal evidence favors the emendation, which is followed by most English versions including KJV.

[24:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[city] gate,” a metonymy of subject, meaning what goes on in the gate – court cases and business transactions. So it is in these assemblies that the fool keeps quiet. The term “court” has been used in the translation for clarity. Some English versions do not emphasize the forensic connotation here: NCV “in a discussion”; NLT “When the leaders gather.”

[24:7]  ¹¹ sn The verse portrays a fool out of his element: In a serious moment in the gathering of the community, he does not even open his mouth (a metonymy of cause, meaning “speak”). Wisdom is too high for the fool – it is beyond his ability.

[24:8]  ¹² tn Heb “possessor of schemes”; NAB “an intriguer.” The picture of the wicked person is graphic: He devises plans to do evil and is known as a schemer. Elsewhere the “schemes” are outrageous and lewd (e.g., Lev 18:7; Judg 20:6). Here the description portrays him as a cold, calculating, active person: “the fool is capable of intense mental activity but it adds up to sin” (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 399).

[24:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “the scheme of folly” (NIV similar). The genitive functions as an attributive genitive, meaning “foolish scheme.” But it could also be interpreted as a genitive of source, the scheme that comes from folly (or from the fool if “folly” were metonymical).

[24:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to a man”; cf. CEV “Everyone hates senseless fools.”

[24:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “show yourself slack” (NASB similar). The verb רָפָה (rafah) means “to sink; to relax.” In the causative stems it means “to let slacken; to let go; to refrain; to fail; to do nothing.” In the Hitpael stem BDB 952 s.v. defines it as “to show yourself slack.” It has also been rendered as “give up” (NCV, CEV); “fail” (NLT); “falter” (NIV). The colon implies a condition, for which the second part of the verse is the apodosis.

[24:10]  ¹⁶ tn The verse employs a paronomasia to underscore the point: “trouble” is צָרָה (tsarah), literally “a bind; a strait [or, narrow] place”; “small” is צַר (tsar), with the same idea of “narrow” or “close.”

[24:10]  ¹⁷ sn The test of strength is adversity, for it reveals how strong a person is. Of course a weak person can always plead adverse conditions in order to quit. This is the twenty-fourth saying.

[24:11]  ¹⁸ tn The idea of “slipping” (participle from מוֹט, mot) has troubled some commentators. G. R. Driver emends it to read “at the point of” (“Problems in Proverbs,” ZAW 50 [1932]: 146). But the MT as it stands makes good sense. The reference would be general, viz., to help any who are in mortal danger or who might be tottering on the edge of such disaster – whether through sin, or through disease, war, or danger. Several English versions (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV) render this term as “staggering.”

[24:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “weighs” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV) meaning “tests” or “evaluates.”

[24:12]  ²⁰ sn The verse completes the saying by affirming that people will be judged responsible for helping those in mortal danger. The verse uses a series of rhetorical questions to affirm that God knows our hearts and we cannot plead ignorance.

[24:13]  ²¹ sn The twenty-sixth saying teaches that one should develop wisdom because it has a profitable future. The saying draws on the image of honey; its health-giving properties make a good analogy to wisdom.