Глава 14

1–7. About wisdom and stupidity in general. 8–19. A more detailed depiction of the wise and the foolish, mainly from the perspective of the differences in their lot in life. 20–27. About wealth and poverty in their causal connection with wisdom. 28–35. A parallel image of the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor, and finally, masters and servants. Proverbs 14:1. A wise wife will build her house, but a foolish woman will destroy it with her own hands. Proverbs 14:2. He who walks the straight path fears the Lord; but whose ways are crooked neglect Him. Proverbs 14:3. In the mouth of a fool is the scourge of pride; but the lips of the wise guard them. Proverbs 14:4. Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty; and much profit came from the strength of oxen. Proverbs 14:5. A true witness does not lie, but a false witness will tell many lies. Proverbs 14:6. The dissolute seeks wisdom and does not find it; but for the wise, knowledge is easy. Proverbs 14:7. Move away from the foolish man whose intelligent lips you do not notice. A concrete manifestation of wisdom is a wise wife who builds a home, and the same example of stupidity is a foolish wife who destroys her home and all its well-being with her own hands (v. 1, fn. Proverbs 12.4). Further, they are contrasted - the fear of God, which leads a person along straight paths, and the impudent neglect of the memory of God, combined with walking in crooked paths (v. 2), - the arrogance of the speech of the foolish and the modesty of the speech of the wise (v. 3, cf. Proverbs 12.6), - true and false witnesses (v. 5, cf. Exodus 23.1; Proverbs 12.17), the inaccessibility of wisdom to people devoid of the fear of God, and its complete accessibility to those filled with the fear of God and the pure in heart (v. 6), which is why advice is given to avoid a fool from whom there is nothing to learn (v. 7). Without any visible connection with the general thought of the department under consideration, there is an economic note of Art. 4, which apparently has the goal of teaching a person, without overestimating the importance of wealth (cf. Proverbs 10.15; Proverbs 13.8), to reconcile attempts to multiply property with the spread of tools of production and the means of subsistence in general. Proverbs 14:8. The wisdom of the prudent is knowledge of his way, but the stupidity of the foolish is error. Proverbs 14:9. Fools laugh at sin, but among the righteous there is good will. Proverbs 14:10. The heart knows the grief of its soul, and no stranger will interfere with its joy. Proverbs 14:11. The house of the wicked will be ruined, but the house of the righteous will prosper. Proverbs 14:12. There are ways that seem right to a man; but their end is the path to death. Proverbs 14:13. And when you laugh, sometimes your heart hurts, and the end of joy is sadness. Proverbs 14:14. A man with a corrupt heart will be satisfied with his ways, and a good man with his. Proverbs 14:15. A fool believes every word, but a prudent man pays attention to his ways. Proverbs 14:16. The wise man fears and shuns evil, but the foolish man is irritable and arrogant. Proverbs 14:17. A hot-tempered person can do something stupid; but a person who deliberately does evil is hated. Proverbs 14:18. The ignorant receive stupidity as their inheritance, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. Proverbs 14:19. The wicked will bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. Here, the internal and external properties and relationships of the wise - pious and foolish - wicked are set out completely and without strict distinction. Contrasted are the guidance of the wise and the wandering of the fool on the path of life (v. 8), the blasphemous attitude of the latter to the idea of ​​sin and atoning sacrifice and good will in all actions of this kind in the righteous (v. 9), the quality of the path of the righteous and the wicked and the final fate of both (v. 11-12; 14-19). Along the way, comments are inserted: 1) about the inaccessibility of a person’s inner world, his joys and sorrows, to an outside witness or observer (v. 10) and 2) a bleak, almost pessimistic observation that every joy and happiness is fraught with the germ of sadness and unhappiness (v. 13). Proverbs 14:20. A poor man is hated even by those closest to him, but a rich man has many friends. Proverbs 14:21. He who despises his neighbor sins; and he who is merciful to the poor is blessed. Proverbs 14:22. Are those who plot evil not mistaken? [those who do evil do not know mercy and faithfulness;] but mercy and faithfulness are with those who mean well. Proverbs 14:23. From all work there is profit, but from idle talk there is only damage. Proverbs 14:24. The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the stupidity of the ignorant is stupidity. Proverbs 14:25. A faithful witness saves souls, but a lying witness tells many lies. Proverbs 14:26. In the fear of the Lord there is sure hope, and He is a refuge for His sons. Proverbs 14:27. The fear of the Lord is the source of life, removing us from the snares of death. Of the two verses - 20 and 21, the first indicates a frequent, although not normal from a moral point of view, phenomenon - friendship only for the sake of self-interest - and the second provides a moral view on this point. This is followed by maxims: about the perniciousness of malicious intent against one’s neighbor and about the beneficence of goodwill (v. 22), about the benefits of work and the harm of idle talk (v. 23), about wealth as the lot of the wise, and the poverty that befalls the foolish (v. 24), about the salvation of true testimony and the harmfulness of false witness (v. 25); finally, in connection with the latter, and together with the content of the whole section, the fear of God is spoken of as the source of every good thing in life and life itself (vv. 26–27). Proverbs 14:28. In a multitude of people there is greatness of the king, but in the absence of people there is trouble for the sovereign. Proverbs 14:29. A patient person has a lot of intelligence, but an irritable person shows stupidity. Proverbs 14:30. A meek heart is life for the body, but envy is rottenness for the bones. Proverbs 14:31. He who oppresses the poor blasphemes his Creator; He who honors Him does good to those in need. Proverbs 14:32. The wicked will be rejected for his evil, but the righteous will have hope even at his death. Proverbs 14:33. Wisdom rests in the heart of the wise, and makes itself known among fools. Proverbs 14:34. Righteousness exalts a people, but iniquity brings dishonor to nations. Proverbs 14:35. The king's favor is towards the wise servant, but his wrath is against the one who dishonors him. The content of the section partly affects the area of ​​​​state life; the king’s good is indicated in the large number of his subjects and misfortune in their small number (v. 26); the fundamental law of the rise and humiliation of peoples is determined - truth (Article 34); the king seems to be an ideal force, like the conscience of the people, fairly rewarding good deeds and punishing wickedness (v. 35). On the other hand, and mainly, the significance of both the good of personal virtue and the evil of its opposite - wickedness - are contrasted: long-suffering and irritation (v. 29), meekness and envy (v. 30), the final destruction of the wicked and the hope of salvation for a pious person (v. 32). High significance is especially recognized for works of mercy, and the idea is expressed, clearly repeated in the Gospel (Matthew 25.36), that God is pleased to accept and impute a person’s mercy or lack of mercy to his neighbor (v. 31, cf. Proverbs 17.5). You might be interested in: