Open an explanation beneath verses with notes. Your notes and highlights stay on this device.
A slothful man is compared to a stone that is defiled. Everyone will hiss at him in his disgrace.
Verse 1. Sluggard. Who neglects his own and others’ welfare. Calmet.—Disgrace. He is still despised here, and punished eternally. Matthew 25:30. Worthington.
A slothful man is compared to the filth of a dunghill. Anyone who picks it up will shake it out of his hand.
Verse 2. Pelted. Greek “compared to a lump of dung.” Bible.
An undisciplined child is a disgrace to his father, and a foolish daughter is born to his loss.
Verse 3. Loss. “I wish,” said Augustus, “I had never married, or that I had died without children.” Suet.
A prudent daughter will inherit a husband of her own. She who brings shame is the grief of her father.
Verse 4. Inheritance. Her wisdom and economy. Proverbs 31:29. Women had no inheritance among the Jews, when they had brothers.
She who is arrogant brings shame on father and husband. She will be despised by both of them.
Verse 5. Bold. In speaking and acting without restraint. Calmet.
Ill-timed conversation is like music in mourning, but stripes and correction are wisdom in every season.
Verse 6. Mourning. Saint Jerome (ep. ad Julian) quoting this sentence, calls it “divine Scripture.” Proverbs 25:20.—Of time. Or “stripes and instruction well-timed, are wisdom.” Bible.—Only the wise know how to correct with advantage.
He who teaches a fool is like one who glues potsherds together, even like one who wakes a sleeper out of a deep sleep.
Verse 7. Fool. Who is incapable of understanding. Those who have sense may be corrected, though they may have taken evil courses.
He who teaches a fool is as one who teaches a man who slumbers. In the end he will say, “What is it?”
Weep for the dead, for he lacks light. Weep for a fool, for he lacks understanding. Weep more sweetly for the dead, because he has found rest, but the life of the fool is worse than death.
Mourning for the dead lasts seven days, but for a fool and an ungodly man, it lasts all the days of his life.
Don’t talk much with a foolish man, and don’t go to one who has no understanding. Beware of him, lest you have trouble and be defiled in his onslaught. Turn away from him, and you will find rest, and you won’t be wearied in his madness.
Verse 13. Day. There was a longer time assigned for great men. Genesis 50:3. Numbers 20:30 and Deuteronomy 34:8.—Life. This is understood of those who have lost all reason, or sense of religion. S. Monica wept for her son, hoping that he would repent, as a certain bishop had comforted her. Saint Augustine Conf. iii. ult.
What would be heavier than lead? What is its name, but “Fool”?
Sand, salt, and a mass of iron is easier to bear than a man without understanding.
Timber girded and bound into a building will not be released with shaking. So a heart established in due season on well advised counsel will not be afraid.
A heart settled upon a thoughtful understanding is as an ornament of plaster on a polished wall.
Verse 17. Lead? Gold alone is heavier. But the fool is compared with lead, and is most insupportable.
Fences set on a high place will not stand against the wind; so a fearful heart in the imagination of a fool will not stand against any fear.
He who pricks the eye will make tears fall. He who pricks the heart makes it show feeling.
Verse 19. Wood. Such were used in the walls of Jerusalem, (4 Maccabees 2) and of the temple and palace. 3 Kennicott. 6:36 and 7:12.
Whoever casts a stone at birds scares them away. He who insults a friend will dissolve friendship.
If you have drawn a sword against a friend, don’t despair, for there may be a way back.
Verse 21. Cost. Of lime. Calmet.—Greek omits this comparison, as well as the 23d verse. Bible.
If you have opened your mouth against a friend, don’t be afraid, for there may be reconciliation, unless it is for insulting, arrogance, disclosing of a secret, or a treacherous blow— for these things any friend will flee.
Gain trust with your neighbor in his poverty, that in his prosperity you may have gladness. Stay steadfast to him in the time of his affliction, that you may be heir with him in his inheritance.
Verse 23. Not fear. This seems contrary to what goes before. But fools are sometimes intrepid even to harshness. Calmet.
The remainder of this verse is omitted by the best authorities.
Before fire is the vapor and smoke of a furnace, so insults precede bloodshed.
Verse 24. Resentment. Or “sense,” ( Bible.) by means of pungent reprimands. Calmet.
I won’t be ashamed to shelter a friend. I won’t hide myself from his face.
Verse 25. Away, (Gr.) Lit. “will knock them down,” dejiciet. Bible.—Deliberate provocations (verse 27) are pardoned with more difficulty than a sudden impulse of wrath. verse 26. On such occasions we may withdraw our confidence, but not our charity and patience. Matthew 5:11. Calmet.—A true friend will not be lost for a temporal damage; but he must not be slighted. Worthington.
If any evil happens to me because of him, everyone who hears it will beware of him.
Who will set a watch over my mouth, and a seal of shrewdness upon my lips, that I may not fall from it, and that my tongue may not destroy me?