9 Better to live alone in a tumbledown shack than share a mansion with a nagging spouse.
10 Wicked souls love to make trouble; they feel nothing for friends and neighbors.
11 Simpletons only learn the hard way, but the wise learn by listening.
12 A God-loyal person will see right through the wicked and undo the evil they've planned.
13 If you stop your ears to the cries of the poor, your cries will go unheard, unanswered.
14 A quietly given gift soothes an irritable person; a heartfelt present cools a hot temper.
15 Good people celebrate when justice triumphs, but for the workers of evil it's a bad day.
16 Whoever wanders off the straight and narrow ends up in a congregation of ghosts.
17 You're addicted to thrills? What an empty life! The pursuit of pleasure is never satisfied.
18 What a bad person plots against the good, boomerangs; the plotter gets it in the end.
19 Better to live in a tent in the wild than with a cross and petulant spouse.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Proverbs 21:9-19
Commentary on Proverbs 21:9
(Read Proverbs 21:9)
It is best to shun bitter contention by pouring out the heart before God. For by prudence and patience, with constant prayer, the cross may be removed.
Commentary on Proverbs 21:10
(Read Proverbs 21:10)
The evil desires of a wicked man's heart, lead to baseness in his conduct.
Commentary on Proverbs 21:11
(Read Proverbs 21:11)
The simple may be made wise by punishments on the wicked, and by instructions to those who are willing to be taught.
Commentary on Proverbs 21:12
(Read Proverbs 21:12)
Good men envy not the prosperity of evil-doers; they see there is a curse on them.
Commentary on Proverbs 21:13
(Read Proverbs 21:13)
Such as oppress the poor by beating down wages, such as will not relieve according to their ability those in distress, and those in authority who neglect to do justice, stop their ears at the cry of the poor. But doubtless care is to be used in the exercise of charity.
Commentary on Proverbs 21:14
(Read Proverbs 21:14)
If money can conquer the fury of the passions, shall reason, the fear of God, and the command of Christ, be too weak to bridle them?
Commentary on Proverbs 21:15
(Read Proverbs 21:15)
There is true pleasure only in the practice of religion.
Commentary on Proverbs 21:16
(Read Proverbs 21:16)
Of all wanderers in the ways of sin, those are in the most dangerous condition who turn aside into the ways of darkness. Yet there is hope even for them in the all-sufficient Saviour; but let them flee to him without delay.
Commentary on Proverbs 21:17
(Read Proverbs 21:17)
A life of worldly pleasure brings ruin on men.
Commentary on Proverbs 21:18
(Read Proverbs 21:18)
The righteous is often delivered out of trouble, and the wicked comes in his stead, and so seems as a ransom for him.
Commentary on Proverbs 21:19
(Read Proverbs 21:19)
Unbridled passions spoil the comfort of all relations.