Proverbs 10

General context

The chapter opens with a heading, "The proverbs of Solomon.", and moves at once into two-line sayings. A wise son makes a glad father, a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death; the Lord will not let the righteous famish but casts away the substance of the wicked. A slack hand makes poor and the hand of the diligent makes rich; gathering in summer marks a wise son, sleeping in harvest a son that causes shame. The memory of the just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot. Many sayings concern speech: the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life, violence covers the mouth of the wicked, hatred stirs up strifes but love covers all sins, wise men lay up knowledge, hiding hatred with lying lips marks a fool, in the multitude of words there wants not sin, the tongue of the just is as choice silver, and the lips of the righteous feed many. The rich man's wealth is his strong city and the destruction of the poor is their poverty. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow. The fear of the wicked shall come upon him, the desire of the righteous shall be granted; as the whirlwind passes the wicked is no more, but the righteous is an everlasting foundation. The sluggard is as vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes to those who send him. The fear of the Lord prolongs days, the years of the wicked are shortened, and the chapter closes on the mouth of the just bringing forth wisdom while the froward tongue is cut out.

Cited passages: Proverbs 10:1, Proverbs 10:2, Proverbs 10:3, Proverbs 10:4, Proverbs 10:5, Proverbs 10:7, Proverbs 10:11, Proverbs 10:12, Proverbs 10:13, Proverbs 10:14, Proverbs 10:15, Proverbs 10:18, Proverbs 10:19, Proverbs 10:20, Proverbs 10:21, Proverbs 10:22, Proverbs 10:23, Proverbs 10:24, Proverbs 10:25, Proverbs 10:26, Proverbs 10:27, Proverbs 10:31

Proverbs 10 (KJV)

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The words "The proverbs of Solomon." at the head of verse 1 are a collection heading, the second in the book after 1:1, and the text attaches no date, occasion or place to it. From here the book changes form: chapters 1 to 9 were connected addresses to "My son", while this chapter is a sequence of independent sayings with no narrative, no named person and no setting. The Lord is named in verses 3, 22, 27 and 29, always as the one who acts on the righteous and the wicked. The sayings state outcomes without qualification, for example that the diligent hand makes rich and that the righteous shall never be removed, and the chapter does not discuss exceptions. Two half-lines are repeated inside the chapter, "but a prating fool shall fall" in verses 8 and 10 and "but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked" in verses 6 and 11, and the text gives no reason for the repetition. The "wise son" and "foolish son" of verses 1 and 5 are types, not individuals, and the father and mother are unnamed. Nothing in the chapter says who collected the sayings or in what order they were arranged.

Cited passages: Proverbs 10:1, Proverbs 1:1, Proverbs 10:3, Proverbs 10:29, Proverbs 10:30, Proverbs 10:8, Proverbs 10:10, Proverbs 10:6, Proverbs 10:11, Proverbs 10:5

Literary context

Nearly every verse is an antithetic pair: a first line about the righteous, wise, just or diligent, a colon, and a second line beginning "but" about the wicked, foolish or slack. A few verses break the pattern, verse 15 and verse 16 set two statements side by side without "but", and verses 25 and 26 use the comparison form "As ... so". The opening verse ties this collection to the discourses before it by naming father and mother, as 1:8 did, before turning to the general contrast of righteous and wicked. Speech is the chapter's densest subject: mouth, lips and tongue appear in verses 6, 11, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 31 and 32, and the last two verses both concern the mouth. The images are concrete and brief: a well of life, choice silver, a strong city, a whirlwind, vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, an everlasting foundation. Some pairs match a person with an outcome ("The memory of the just is blessed"), others match a cause with its effect ("Hatred stirreth up strifes"). The phrase "the fear of the Lord" returns at verse 27, as at 1:7 and 9:10, now measured in days added or years shortened.

Cited passages: Proverbs 10:2, Proverbs 10:15, Proverbs 10:16, Proverbs 10:25, Proverbs 10:26, Proverbs 10:1, Proverbs 1:8, Proverbs 10:32, Proverbs 10:11, Proverbs 10:7, Proverbs 10:12, Proverbs 10:27, Proverbs 9:10

Key moments

1. The proverbs of Solomon (Proverbs 10:1). A new heading opens the collection, followed by the wise son and the foolish son.
2. Slack hand, diligent hand (Proverbs 10:4). A slack hand makes poor and the hand of the diligent makes rich.
3. The memory of the just (Proverbs 10:7). The memory of the just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot.
4. Love covereth all sins (Proverbs 10:12). Hatred stirs up strifes, but love covers all sins.
5. Refraining the lips (Proverbs 10:19). Many words bring sin, and he that refrains his lips is wise.
6. The blessing of the Lord (Proverbs 10:22). The Lord's blessing makes rich and adds no sorrow with it.
7. As the whirlwind passeth (Proverbs 10:25). The wicked is gone like a passing whirlwind, the righteous is an everlasting foundation.

For reflection

Verse 19 says that in the multitude of words there wants not sin, and verse 21 says the lips of the righteous feed many. By the chapter's own examples, what separates speech that feeds from speech that only multiplies?

People in this chapter

• Solomon