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Two old men seen from behind on a low stone bench, one with his hand on the other’s shoulder, a plain fieldstone wall ahead of them.

Solomon’s sayings

Proverbs 17

Plenty of people will like your post. Who would you call at two in the morning?

28 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–7The father's talksWhy the book exists, then a father to his son
  2. 8–9Wisdom callsHer house and Folly's
  3. 10–22:16Solomon's sayingsTwo lines at a timeChapter 17
  4. 22:17–24The sayings of the wiseThirty sayings, and a few more
  5. 25–29Hezekiah's collectionMore of Solomon, copied out later
  6. 30AgurNumbered sayings from a weary man
  7. 31LemuelA mother's words, and the noble wife

Better a Dry Morsel in Quietness

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Sayings

What lips and bribes do

  1. Words

    Listening to lies

    A wicked man listens to evil lips;

    a liar gives ear to a destructive tongue.

  2. Justice

    Mocking the poor

    He who mocks the poor insults their Maker;

    whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.

  3. Family

    Crown of the aged

    Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,

    and the glory of a son is his father.

  4. Words

    Lips that don’t fit

    Eloquent words are unfit for a fool;

    how much worse are lying lips to a ruler!

  5. Justice

    What a bribe seems

    A bribe is a charm to its giver;

    wherever he turns, he succeeds.

Whoever conceals an offense promotes love,

but he who brings it up separates friends.

Reflect

Take it home

Is there an old offense you keep bringing up? What would it take to let it go?

A rebuke cuts into a man of discernment

deeper than a hundred lashes cut into a fool.

An evil man seeks only rebellion;

a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

It is better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs

than a fool in his folly.

Water bursting through a small gap in an earthen irrigation bank, the first stones going, a hoe left lying on the bank.

If anyone returns evil for good,

evil will never leave his house.

To start a quarrel is to release a flood;

so abandon the dispute before it breaks out.

0:11

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—

both are detestable to the LORD.

Why should the fool have money in his hand

with no intention of buying wisdom?

A friend loves at all times,

and a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 17:17

Question

Quick question

Back to the verse you just read.

When does a brother prove what he was born for?

In a lane of low fieldstone houses, one rich man’s plain stone gateway raised far too tall above its neighbors.

Sayings

Security and high gates

  1. Money

    Striking hands in pledge

    A man lacking judgment strikes hands in pledge

    and puts up security for his neighbor.

  2. Pride

    The high gate

    He who loves transgression loves strife;

    he who builds his gate high invites destruction.

  3. Words

    A deceitful tongue

    The one with a perverse heart finds no good,

    and he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.

  4. Family

    The father of a fool

    A man fathers a fool to his own grief;

    the father of a fool has no joy.

A joyful heart is good medicine,

but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

A small leather pouch with silver lumps showing, passed from the fold of a robe into a seated elder’s hand, low behind a stone bench.

Sayings

Justice bent

  1. Justice

    A covert bribe

    A wicked man takes a covert bribe

    to subvert the course of justice.

  2. Wisdom

    Where the eyes go

    Wisdom is the focus of the discerning,

    but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

  3. Family

    A mother’s bitterness

    A foolish son brings grief to his father

    and bitterness to her who bore him.

  4. Justice

    Punishing the innocent

    It is surely not good to punish the innocent

    or to flog a noble for his honesty.

A man of knowledge restrains his words, and a man of understanding maintains a calm spirit. Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silent, and discerning when he holds his tongue.

Pray

Say it to Him

LORD, make me the friend who stays when it gets hard. Thank You for those who stayed with me. Hold my tongue when I want the last word, and keep my spirit calm.

You’ve experienced

Proverbs 17

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A verse to carry with you

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 17:17

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