Proverbs 24:10-34
10 If you fall to pieces in a crisis, there wasn't much to you in the first place.
11 Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help. 12 If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business," will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know - Someone not impressed with weak excuses.
13 Eat honey, dear child - it's good for you - and delicacies that melt in your mouth. 14 Likewise knowledge, and wisdom for your soul - Get that and your future's secured, your hope is on solid rock.
15 Don't interfere with good people's lives; don't try to get the best of them. 16 No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don't stay down long; Soon they're up on their feet, while the wicked end up flat on their faces.
17 Don't laugh when your enemy falls; don't crow over his collapse. 18 God might see, and become very provoked, and then take pity on his plight.
19 Don't bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked. 20 Those people have no future at all; they're headed down a dead-end street.
21 Fear God, dear child - respect your leaders; don't be defiant or mutinous. 22 Without warning your life can turn upside-down, and who knows how or when it might happen?
23 It's wrong, very wrong, to go along with injustice. 24 Whoever whitewashes the wicked gets a black mark in the history books, 25 But whoever exposes the wicked will be thanked and rewarded. 26 An honest answer is like a warm hug.
27 First plant your fields; then build your barn.
28 Don't talk about your neighbors behind their backs - no slander or gossip, please. 29 Don't say to anyone, "I'll get back at you for what you did to me. I'll make you pay for what you did!"
30 One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones, and then passed the vineyard of a lout; 31 They were overgrown with weeds, thick with thistles, all the fences broken down. 32 I took a long look and pondered what I saw; the fields preached me a sermon and I listened: 33 "A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy - do you know what comes next? 34 Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, with poverty as your permanent houseguest!"
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Proverbs 24:10-34
Commentary on Proverbs 24:10
(Read Proverbs 24:10)
Under troubles we are apt to despair of relief. But be of good courage, and God shall strengthen thy heart.
Commentary on Proverbs 24:11-12
(Read Proverbs 24:11-12)
If a man know that his neighbour is in danger by any unjust proceeding, he is bound to do all in his power to deliver him. And what is it to suffer immortal souls to perish, when our persuasions and example may be the means of preventing it?
Commentary on Proverbs 24:13-14
(Read Proverbs 24:13-14)
We are quickened to the study of wisdom by considering both the pleasure and the profit of it. All men relish things that are sweet to the palate; but many have no relish for the things that are sweet to the purified soul, and that make us wise unto salvation.
Commentary on Proverbs 24:15-16
(Read Proverbs 24:15-16)
The sincere soul falls as a traveller may do, by stumbling at some stone in his path; but gets up, and goes on his way with more care and speed. This is rather to be understood of falls into affliction, than falls into actual sin.
Commentary on Proverbs 24:17-18
(Read Proverbs 24:17-18)
The pleasure we are apt to take in the troubles of an enemy is forbidden.
Commentary on Proverbs 24:19-20
(Read Proverbs 24:19-20)
Envy not the wicked their prosperity; be sure there is no true happiness in it.
Commentary on Proverbs 24:21-22
(Read Proverbs 24:21-22)
The godly in the land, will be quiet in the land. There may be cause to change for the better, but have nothing to do with them that are given change.
Commentary on Proverbs 24:23-26
(Read Proverbs 24:23-26)
The wisdom God giveth, renders a man fit for his station. Every one who finds the benefit of the right answer, will be attached to him that gave it.
Commentary on Proverbs 24:27
(Read Proverbs 24:27)
We must prefer necessaries before conveniences, and not go in debt.
Commentary on Proverbs 24:28-29
(Read Proverbs 24:28-29)
There are three defaults in a witness pointed out.
Commentary on Proverbs 24:30-34
(Read Proverbs 24:30-34)
See what a blessing the husbandman's calling is, and what a wilderness this earth would be without it. See what great difference there is in the management even of worldly affairs. Sloth and self-indulgence are the bane of all good. When we see fields overgrown with thorns and thistles, and the fences broken down, we see an emblem of the far more deplorable state of many souls. Every vile affection grows in men's hearts; yet they compose themselves to sleep. Let us show wisdom by doubling our diligence in every good thing.