Proverbs 17:6-28

6 Grandparents are proud of their grandchildren, just as children are proud of their parents.

7 Respected people do not tell lies, and fools have nothing worthwhile to say.

8 Some people think a bribe works like magic; they believe it can do anything.

9 If you want people to like you, forgive them when they wrong you. Remembering wrongs can break up a friendship.

10 An intelligent person learns more from one rebuke than a fool learns from being beaten a hundred times.

11 Death will come like a cruel messenger to wicked people who are always stirring up trouble.

12 It is better to meet a mother bear robbed of her cubs than to meet some fool busy with a stupid project.

13 If you repay good with evil, you will never get evil out of your house.

14 The start of an argument is like the first break in a dam; stop it before it goes any further.

15 Condemning the innocent or letting the wicked go - both are hateful to the Lord.

16 It does a fool no good to spend money on an education, because he has no common sense.

17 Friends always show their love. What are relatives for if not to share trouble? ¹

18 Only someone with no sense would promise to be responsible for someone else's debts.

19 To like sin is to like making trouble. If you brag all the time, you are asking for trouble.

20 Anyone who thinks and speaks evil can expect to find nothing good - only disaster.

21 There is nothing but sadness and sorrow for parents whose children do foolish things.

22 Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time.

23 Corrupt judges accept secret bribes, and then justice is not done.

24 An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions.

25 Foolish children bring grief to their fathers and bitter regrets to their mothers.

26 It is not right to make an innocent person pay a fine; justice is perverted when good people are punished.

27 Those who are sure of themselves do not talk all the time. People who stay calm have real insight.

28 After all, even fools may be thought wise and intelligent if they stay quiet and keep their mouths shut. ²

Proverbs 17:6-28 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 7

This chapter gives an account of some buildings of Solomon for himself, 1Ki 7:1-12; and of other things for the use of the temple; of two pillars of brass, 1Ki 7:13-22; of the molten sea, 1Ki 7:23-26; and of ten bases, and ten layers on them, 1Ki 7:27-39; with other utensils and ornaments, 1Ki 7:40-51.

Cross References

• 1. +217.17Ben Sira 6.7-10.
• 2. +217.28Ben Sira 20.5.

Footnotes

• [a]. brag . . . time; [or] make a show of your wealth.