221 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.
2 The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.
3 A prudent man sees danger and hides himself; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; he who guards himself will keep far from them.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
7 The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
8 He who sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.
9 He who has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
10 Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.
11 He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.
12 The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the faithless.
13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!"
14 The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit; he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.
15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth, or gives to the rich, will only come to want.
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Matthew Henry's Commentary on Proverbs 22:1-16
Commentary on Proverbs 22:1
(Read Proverbs 22:1)
We should be more careful to do that by which we may get and keep a good name, than to raise or add unto a great estate.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:2
(Read Proverbs 22:2)
Divine Providence has so ordered it, that some are rich, and others poor, but all are guilty before God; and at the throne of God's grace the poor are as welcome as the rich.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:3
(Read Proverbs 22:3)
Faith foresees the evil coming upon sinners, and looks to Jesus Christ as the sure refuge from the storm.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:4
(Read Proverbs 22:4)
Where the fear of God is, there will be humility. And much is to be enjoyed by it; spiritual riches, and eternal life at last.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:5
(Read Proverbs 22:5)
The way of sin is vexatious and dangerous. But the way of duty is safe and easy.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:6
(Read Proverbs 22:6)
Train children, not in the way they would go, that of their corrupt hearts, but in the way they should go; in which, if you love them, you would have them go. As soon as possible every child should be led to the knowledge of the Saviour.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:7
(Read Proverbs 22:7)
This shows how important it is for every man to keep out of debt. As to the things of this life, there is a difference between the rich and the poor; but let the poor remember, it is the Lord that made the difference.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:8
(Read Proverbs 22:8)
The power which many abuse, will soon fail them.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:9
(Read Proverbs 22:9)
He that seeks to relieve the wants and miseries of others shall be blessed.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:10
(Read Proverbs 22:10)
Profane scoffers and revilers disturb the peace.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:11
(Read Proverbs 22:11)
God will be the Friend of a man in whose spirit there is no guile; this honour have all the saints.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:12
(Read Proverbs 22:12)
God turns the counsels and designs of treacherous men to their own confusion.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:13
(Read Proverbs 22:13)
The slothful man talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion within, and from his own slothfulness, which kills him.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:14
(Read Proverbs 22:14)
The vile sin of licentiousness commonly besots the mind beyond recovery.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:15
(Read Proverbs 22:15)
Sin is foolishness, it is in the heart, there is an inward inclination to sin: children bring it into the world with them; and it cleaves close to the soul. We all need to be corrected by our heavenly Father.
Commentary on Proverbs 22:16
(Read Proverbs 22:16)
We are but stewards, and must distribute what God intrusts to our care, according to his will.