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A narrow earth-banked irrigation channel running full and bright across a dry valley floor, turning at a stone-lined bend toward a small green plot.

Solomon’s sayings

Proverbs 21

Everyone you’re afraid of answers to Someone.

31 verses≈ 4 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 21
  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

The King’s Heart

The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD;

He directs it where He pleases.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

All a man’s ways seem right to him,

but the LORD weighs the heart.

To do righteousness and justice

is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice.

Sayings

The way of the wicked

  1. Pride

    Haughty eyes

    Haughty eyes and a proud heart—

    the guides of the wicked—are sin.

  2. Work

    The plans of the diligent

    The plans of the diligent bring plenty,

    as surely as haste leads to poverty.

  3. Money

    A fortune by a lying tongue

    Making a fortune by a lying tongue

    is a vanishing mist, a deadly pursuit.

  4. Justice

    The violence of the wicked

    The violence of the wicked will sweep them away

    because they refuse to do what is just.

  5. Wisdom

    The crooked way

    The way of a guilty man is crooked,

    but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

Reflect

Take it home

“All a man’s ways seem right to him.” Where does your own way seem right only to you? Who would tell you otherwise?

Better to live on a corner of the roof

than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

Sayings

Who hears

  1. Wisdom

    Craving evil

    The soul of the wicked man craves evil;

    his neighbor finds no favor in his eyes.

  2. When a mocker is punished

    When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom;

    and when a wise man is instructed, he acquires knowledge.

  3. The LORD

    The Righteous One considers

    The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked

    and brings the wicked to ruin.

  4. Justice

    The cry of the poor

    Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor,

    he too shall cry out and receive no answer.

In the dim of a stone gateway, two men stand shoulder to shoulder facing opposite ways while a small leather pouch passes low between the folds of their robes.

A gift in secret soothes anger,

and a covert bribe pacifies great wrath.

Question

Quick question

Back to verse 13 and the cry of the poor.

What happens to the one who shuts his ears to the poor?

Sayings

Where it ends

  1. Justice

    Justice done

    Justice executed is a joy to the righteous,

    but a terror to the workers of iniquity.

  2. Wisdom

    Off the path

    The man who strays from the path of understanding

    will rest in the assembly of the dead.

  3. Money

    Lovers of pleasure

    He who loves pleasure will become poor;

    the one who loves wine and oil will never be rich.

  4. The LORD

    A ransom for the righteous

    The wicked become a ransom for the righteous,

    and the faithless for the upright.

  5. Family

    Better the desert

    Better to live in the desert

    than with a contentious and ill-tempered wife.

He who guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from distress.

Mocker is the name of the proud and arrogant man—

of him who acts with excessive pride.

Sayings

Without restraint

  1. Work

    The slacker’s craving

    The craving of the slacker kills him

    because his hands refuse to work.

    All day long he covets more,

    but the righteous give without restraint.

  2. The LORD

    The sacrifice of the wicked

    The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable—

    how much more so when brought with ill intent!

  3. Justice

    A lying witness

    A lying witness will perish,

    but the man who listens to truth will speak forever.

  4. Wisdom

    A hardened face

    A wicked man hardens his face,

    but the upright man makes his way sure.

There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel

that can prevail against the LORD.

A groom’s two hands tying a plain leather breast strap on a tall dark horse in a stone stable yard, its breath steaming in the cold.

A horse is prepared for the day of battle,

but victory is of the LORD.

0:06

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Say it to Him

LORD, the king’s heart and the day of battle are both in Your hand. Quiet the craving in me that wants more all day long, and teach me to give without restraint. I will prepare what I can, and leave the outcome with You.

You’ve experienced

Proverbs 21

0 of 31 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory is of the LORD.

Proverbs 21:31

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