Proverbs

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Chapters in Proverbs

1. Proverbs 1: The Purpose of Proverbs and Wisdom's Call

   The book opens by naming Solomon and its aim of teaching wise, right living, with reverence for the LORD as the starting point of knowledge. A father warns his son against violent, greedy men, and Wisdom, pictured as a woman, calls out publicly, warning those who ignore her and promising safety to those who listen.

2. Proverbs 2: Searching for Wisdom Like Buried Treasure

   A father urges his son to seek wisdom as eagerly as silver or buried treasure, promising that he will come to know God, who gives wisdom and guards the upright. Wisdom will protect him from evil men and from the adulterous woman whose way leads to death, while the upright remain in the land.

3. Proverbs 3: Trusting the Lord and the Worth of Wisdom

   A father urges his son to rely wholly on the LORD rather than his own insight, to honor God with his wealth, and to accept the LORD's correction as a sign of fatherly love. He praises wisdom as worth more than riches and as the means by which God made the world, then gives counsel on neighbors, envy, and humility.

4. Proverbs 4: A Father's Plea to Get Wisdom

   A father passes on the teaching he received from his own father, urging his sons to prize wisdom above everything else. He contrasts the brightening road of the righteous with the dark road of evildoers, and calls his son to guard his heart, speak honestly, and keep to a straight, steady path.

5. Proverbs 5: Warning Against the Adulteress

   A father warns his son that the forbidden woman's appealing words lead to bitterness, ruin, and death, and that going to her would waste his strength and wealth and end in regret. He urges faithful delight in his own wife instead, reminding him that the LORD sees every path and that sin traps the one who commits it.

6. Proverbs 6: Surety, the Ant, and Seven Detestable Things

   A father warns his son to get free quickly from a pledge to cover another's debt and sends the lazy man to learn diligence from the ant. He then describes the scheming troublemaker, lists seven things the LORD detests, and warns that adultery brings ruin no payment can undo.

7. Proverbs 7: The Young Man and the Adulteress

   A father urges his son to treasure his teaching and treat wisdom like a sister as protection against the adulteress. From his window he recounts watching a naive young man lured by her flattering, secretive invitation, and warns that following her leads down to death.

8. Proverbs 8: Wisdom Calls and Was There at Creation

   Wisdom stands at the city gates and crossroads, urging everyone to prize her honest instruction above silver and gold. She claims rulers govern well through her, recalls being beside the LORD before and during creation, and promises life and the LORD's favor to whoever finds her.

9. Proverbs 9: The Banquets of Wisdom and Folly

   Wisdom prepares a feast in her house and invites the simple to leave folly behind and live. At the center, correction of mockers and the wise is contrasted and reverence for the LORD is named as wisdom's starting point, before loud Folly lures guests toward death.

10. Proverbs 10: Solomon's Sayings Begin

    A new collection of Solomon's short sayings begins, contrasting the righteous and the wicked. The sayings cover wise and foolish sons, honest and dishonest gain, hard work and laziness, careful and careless speech, love that forgives, and the lasting security of the righteous.

11. Proverbs 11: Honest Scales and Generous Hands

    Sayings contrasting the upright and the wicked open with the LORD’s hatred of dishonest weights. They warn about pride, trusting in riches, gossip, and guaranteeing a stranger’s debt, praise generosity and wise counsel, and end by reasoning that if the righteous are repaid on earth, sinners surely will be.

12. Proverbs 12: Discipline, Diligence, and Truthful Speech

    Short sayings contrast the wise and the foolish, the righteous and the wicked. They praise welcoming correction, a worthy wife, kindness to animals, and hard work, warn against rash words, quick anger, and lies, and close with the way of righteousness that leads to life.

13. Proverbs 13: Wise Instruction and Honest Gain

    Sayings on heeding a father’s instruction open the chapter, followed by lessons on guarding speech, diligence, pretended riches, and honest gain. It speaks of delayed hope, the influence of companions, a good person’s legacy, and a parent’s loving discipline, ending with the righteous satisfied and the wicked hungry.

14. Proverbs 14: Wise and Foolish Ways of Life

    Proverbs 14 gathers short sayings contrasting wise and foolish living in the home, in speech, in court testimony, and in temper. It warns that a path can feel right yet lead to death, links mercy toward the needy with honoring their Creator, and says righteousness lifts up a nation.

15. Proverbs 15: Gentle Words and Reverence for the Lord

    Proverbs 15 opens with the calming power of a soft reply and returns often to wise and harmful speech. It teaches that the LORD sees every heart, delights in the prayers of the upright, and defends the widow. It also prizes a little with reverence over riches and closes by teaching that honor follows humility.

16. Proverbs 16: The Lord Directs Human Plans

    Solomon's sayings stress that people make plans while the Lord weighs their motives, rules the outcome, and even decides how the lot falls. Further sayings praise just kings and honest scales, warn that pride leads to ruin, and commend gracious speech and self-control over troublemaking.

17. Proverbs 17: Peace, Justice, and Loyal Friends

    Sayings prize a quiet home over lavish feasting and teach that the Lord tests hearts. They condemn mocking the poor, repaying good with evil, bribery that bends justice, and clearing the guilty, while praising forgiveness, faithful friends, and restrained speech.

18. Proverbs 18: Words, Refuge, and Friendship

    Sayings warn against self-centered isolation, fools eager to air their views, gossip, laziness, and answering before listening. The Lord's name is pictured as true refuge in contrast with trust in wealth, followed by sayings on gifts, disputes, the power of speech, a good wife, and a friend more loyal than a brother.

19. Proverbs 19: Integrity, Patience, and God's Purpose

    Proverbs 19 gathers short sayings that rank honest poverty above lying and warn that perjurers will be punished. It observes how wealth attracts friends, praises patience and a sensible wife, urges correcting children and helping the needy, affirms God's purpose over human plans, and ends with warnings for mockers.

20. Proverbs 20: Wine, Honest Scales, and Guided Steps

    Proverbs 20 opens with a warning about wine and strong drink, then collects sayings on quarrels, laziness, loyalty, and dishonest trade. It asks who can claim a sinless heart, forbids revenge in favor of waiting on God, warns against rash vows, affirms God directs each life, and closes on just kings and correction.

21. Proverbs 21: The LORD Directs the King's Heart

    Proverbs 21 opens by picturing a ruler's decisions as channels of water steered by God, who also examines every heart. Its sayings prize justice over ritual and warn against pride, dishonest gain, laziness, indulgence, and ignoring the poor, closing with the truth that victory comes from the LORD.

22. Proverbs 22: A Good Name and Sayings of the Wise

    Proverbs 22 values a good reputation above riches, reminds rich and poor that God made them both, and speaks of training children. At verse 17 sayings of the wise begin, aimed at trust in the LORD, warning against robbing the poor, angry friends, risky pledges, and moving boundary stones, and praising skilled work.

23. Proverbs 23: Riches, Discipline, and the Drunkard

    More sayings of the wise warn against greed at a ruler's table, wearing oneself out for wealth that soon vanishes, and stealing land from orphans who have a strong Redeemer. A father urges loving correction of children and reverence for God, then closes with a vivid poem on the misery and grip of drunkenness.

24. Proverbs 24: Rescue the Doomed and the Lazy Man's Field

    The words of the wise continue with warnings against envying evildoers and praise for wisdom that builds a household and wins battles. They call for rescuing those headed for death, forbid gloating and revenge, demand fair judgment, and end with lessons drawn from a lazy man's overgrown field.

25. Proverbs 25: Wisdom for Kings, Courts, and Neighbors

    A new collection of Solomon's sayings, preserved by King Hezekiah's officials, opens with God's hidden glory and the duties of kings. It then counsels humility before rulers, careful handling of disputes, timely speech, moderation, kindness to enemies, and self-control.

26. Proverbs 26: Fools, Slackers, and Deceivers

    This chapter gathers sayings about the fool, including paired advice on when to answer him and when not to. It then mocks the lazy man and his excuses and warns against meddling, gossip, flattery, and hatred disguised by smooth words, which will be exposed.

27. Proverbs 27: Friendship, Humility, and Diligence

    These sayings warn against presuming on the future and praising oneself, and they value a friend's honest correction over an enemy's flattery. They picture friends sharpening one another, the heart revealing the person, and a shepherd tending his flocks because riches do not last.

28. Proverbs 28: Confessing Sin and Trusting the Lord

    More sayings of Solomon contrast the guilty who run in fear with the courageous righteous and rank honest poverty above crooked wealth. They promise mercy to those who admit and forsake their sins, warn about cruel rulers and greedy haste, call self-trust folly, and note that people hide while the wicked hold power.

29. Proverbs 29: Correction, Just Rule, and Trust in God

    The last sayings of Solomon warn that stubbornness after repeated correction ends in sudden ruin. They cover just and unjust kings, anger, the discipline of children, a people unrestrained without God's revealed word, pride, the snare of fearing people, and the hostility between righteous and wicked.

30. Proverbs 30: The Sayings of Agur

    Agur son of Jakeh confesses his lack of wisdom and asks who rules creation and what His Son is called. He affirms that God's word is pure, prays for honesty and daily provision, and offers numbered sayings on greed, pride, small wise creatures, and anger.

31. Proverbs 31: King Lemuel and the Noble Wife

    King Lemuel's mother warns him against spending his strength on women and against kings craving wine, and she urges him to defend the poor and voiceless. The book closes with an alphabetic poem praising a capable wife for her work, generosity, wisdom, and reverence for the LORD.