Proverbs 24:23-34

More Sayings of Those Who Are Wise

23 Here are more sayings of those who are wise. Taking sides in court is not good.

24 A curse will fall on those who say the guilty are not guilty. Nations will call down curses on them. People will speak against them.

25 But it will go well with those who sentence guilty people. Rich blessings will come to them.

26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

27 Finish your outdoor work. Get your fields ready. After that, build your house.

28 Don't give witness against your neighbor without any reason. Don't use your lips to tell lies.

29 Don't say, "I'll do to him what he did to me. I'll get even with that man for what he did."

30 I went past the field of someone who didn't want to work. I went past the vineyard of a man who didn't have any sense.

31 Thorns had grown up everywhere. The ground was covered with weeds. The stone wall had fallen down.

32 I applied my heart to what I observed. I learned a lesson from what I saw.

33 You might sleep a little or take a little nap. You might even fold your hands and rest.

34 Then you would be poor, as if someone had robbed you. You would have little, as if someone had stolen from you.

Proverbs 24:23-34 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 12

This chapter relates Rehoboam's going to Shechem to be made king, and Jeroboam's return from Egypt, 1Ki 12:1,2, the people's request to Rehoboam to be eased of their taxes, as the condition of making him king, 1Ki 12:3,4, his answer to them, after three days, having had the advice both of the old and young men, which latter he followed, and gave in a rough answer, 1Ki 12:5-15, upon which ten tribes revolted from him, and two abode by him, 1Ki 12:16-20, wherefore he meditated a war against the ten tribes, but was forbid by the Lord to engage in it, 1Ki 12:21-24 and Jeroboam, in order to establish his kingdom, and preserve the people from a revolt to the house of David, because of the temple worship at Jerusalem, devised a scheme of idolatrous worship in his own territories, 1Ki 12:25-33.