8 Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, And leave not the law of thy mother, 9 For a graceful wreath 'are' they to thy head, And chains to thy neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice thee be not willing. 11 If they say, 'Come with us, we lay wait for blood, We watch secretly for the innocent without cause, 12 We swallow them as Sheol—alive, And whole—as those going down 'to' the pit, 13 Every precious substance we find, We fill our houses 'with' spoil, 14 Thy lot thou dost cast among us, One purse is—to all of us.' 15 My son! go not in the way with them, Withhold thy foot from their path, 16 For their feet to evil do run, And they haste to shed blood. 17 Surely in vain is the net spread out before the eyes of any bird. 18 And they for their own blood lay wait, They watch secretly for their own lives. 19 So 'are' the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Proverbs 1:8-19
Commentary on Proverbs 1:7-9
(Read Proverbs 1:7-9)
Fools are persons who have no true wisdom, who follow their own devices, without regard to reason, or reverence for God. Children are reasonable creatures, and when we tell them what they must do, we must tell them why. But they are corrupt and wilful, therefore with the instruction there is need of a law. Let Divine truths and commands be to us most honourable; let us value them, and then they shall be so to us.
Commentary on Proverbs 1:10-19
(Read Proverbs 1:10-19)
Wicked people are zealous in seducing others into the paths of the destroyer: sinners love company in sin. But they have so much the more to answer for. How cautious young people should be! "Consent thou not." Do not say as they say, nor do as they do, or would have thee to do; have no fellowship with them. Who could think that it should be a pleasure to one man to destroy another! See their idea of worldly wealth; but it is neither substance, nor precious. It is the ruinous mistake of thousands, that they overvalue the wealth of this world. Men promise themselves in vain that sin will turn to their advantage. The way of sin is down-hill; men cannot stop themselves. Would young people shun temporal and eternal ruin, let them refuse to take one step in these destructive paths. Men's greediness of gain hurries them upon practices which will not suffer them or others to live out half their days. What is a man profited, though he gain the world, if he lose his life? much less if he lose his soul?