Proverbs 20

This Proverbs Bible commentary from In-Dept Study delivers a clear, insightful, and practical explanation of Scripture’s foundational wisdom book. Focused on real-life application, it breaks down each passage with context, literary themes, and spiritual interpretation that reveal the timeless relevance of Proverbs. The Proverbs Bible commentary emphasizes godly decision-making, moral integrity, and understanding the path of wisdom. Ideal for students, teachers, and believers seeking direction, this commentary blends trusted scholarship with easy-to-understand insights, making it a valuable tool for both study and daily discipleship.

Proverbs Bible Commentary — Practical Wisdom for Everyday Christian Living

Pride promises freedom but delivers heartache. Proverbs 17:18-21 exposes how arrogance, stubbornness, and reckless decisions ripple far beyond the individual; they wound families, fracture relationships, and leave sorrow in their wake. Folly is never private; it burdens those who love us most and blinds the heart to wisdom’s warnings. These verses remind us that pride is not merely a flaw to overlook, but a path that inevitably leads to grief. God calls His people to a better way—the humble road where teachability replaces stubbornness and wisdom guards the heart from choices that bring regret.


The Heartache of Pride and Folly - Proverbs 17:18-21


“The Generous Soul Will Be Made Rich”
 ~ Proverbs 11:24-26 ~

施し散らして、
なお富を増す人があり、
与えるべきものを
惜しんで、
かえって貧しくなる
者がある。

物惜しみしない者は富み、
人を潤す者は
自分も潤される。

穀物を、しまい込んで
売らない者は
民にのろわれる、
それを売る者のこうべには
祝福がある。


There is one who scatters, 
yet increases more;

And there is one who withholds 
more than is right,
But it leads to poverty.

The generous soul 
will be made rich,
And he who waters 
will also be watered himself.

The people will curse him 
who withholds grain,
But blessing will be 
on the head of him who sells it.

The Generous Soul Will Be Made Rich

My son, don’t forget my teaching,
    but let your heart keep my commandments,
for they will add to you length of days,
    years of life, and peace.
Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you.
    Bind them around your neck.
    Write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor,
    and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Trust in Yahweh with all your heart,
    and don’t lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make your paths straight.
Don’t be wise in your own eyes.
    Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.
It will be health to your body,
    and nourishment to your bones.
Honor Yahweh with your substance,
    with the first fruits of all your increase;
so your barns will be filled with plenty,
    and your vats will overflow with new wine.
My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline,
    neither be weary of his correction;
for whom Yahweh loves, he corrects,
    even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.
Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
    the man who gets understanding.
For her good profit is better than getting silver,
    and her return is better than fine gold.
She is more precious than rubies.
    None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her.
Length of days is in her right hand.
    In her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness.
    All her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.
    Happy is everyone who retains her.
By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth.
    By understanding, he established the heavens.
By his knowledge, the depths were broken up,
    and the skies drop down the dew.
My son, let them not depart from your eyes.
    Keep sound wisdom and discretion,
so they will be life to your soul,
    and grace for your neck.
Then you shall walk in your way securely.
    Your foot won’t stumble.
When you lie down, you will not be afraid.
    Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.
Don’t be afraid of sudden fear,
    neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes;
for Yahweh will be your confidence,
    and will keep your foot from being taken.
Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in the power of your hand to do it.
Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again;
    tomorrow I will give it to you,”
    when you have it by you.
Don’t devise evil against your neighbor,
    since he dwells securely by you.
Don’t strive with a man without cause,
    if he has done you no harm.
Don’t envy the man of violence.
    Choose none of his ways.
For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh,
    but his friendship is with the upright.
Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked,
    but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.
Surely he mocks the mockers,
    but he gives grace to the humble.
The wise will inherit glory,
    but shame will be the promotion of fools.

Proverbs 3 WEB

Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction.
    Pay attention and know understanding;
for I give you sound learning.
    Don’t forsake my law.
For I was a son to my father,
    tender and an only child in the sight of my mother.
He taught me, and said to me:
    “Let your heart retain my words.
    Keep my commandments, and live.
Get wisdom.
    Get understanding.
    Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
Don’t forsake her, and she will preserve you.
    Love her, and she will keep you.
Wisdom is supreme.
    Get wisdom.
    Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
Esteem her, and she will exalt you.
    She will bring you to honor when you embrace her.
She will give to your head a garland of grace.
    She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”
Listen, my son, and receive my sayings.
    The years of your life will be many.
I have taught you in the way of wisdom.
    I have led you in straight paths.
When you go, your steps will not be hampered.
    When you run, you will not stumble.
Take firm hold of instruction.
    Don’t let her go.
    Keep her, for she is your life.
Don’t enter into the path of the wicked.
    Don’t walk in the way of evil men.
Avoid it, and don’t pass by it.
    Turn from it, and pass on.
For they don’t sleep unless they do evil.
    Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness
    and drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light
    that shines more and more until the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is like darkness.
    They don’t know what they stumble over.
My son, attend to my words.
    Turn your ear to my sayings.
Let them not depart from your eyes.
    Keep them in the center of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them,
    and health to their whole body.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
    for out of it is the wellspring of life.
Put away from yourself a perverse mouth.
    Put corrupt lips far from you.
Let your eyes look straight ahead.
    Fix your gaze directly before you.
Make the path of your feet level.
    Let all of your ways be established.
Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left.
    Remove your foot from evil.

Proverbs 4

Joy and integrity are two of God’s greatest gifts to the human soul. Proverbs 17 teaches that a joyful heart doesn’t merely feel good; it brings healing, strength, and renewed hope. In contrast, a crushed spirit drains life from within. But joy is not a shallow cheerfulness; it is a deep, steady confidence in God’s goodness that shines even in hardship. Alongside joy, integrity stands as its steadfast companion, guiding decisions, anchoring character, and shaping a life that honors God. Together, joy and righteousness create a life marked by wholeness and peace, a testimony that God’s wisdom brings health to the heart and stability to the path.


The Power of Joy and the Strength of Integrity - Proverbs 17:22-26

My son, pay attention to my wisdom.
    Turn your ear to my understanding,
that you may maintain discretion,
    that your lips may preserve knowledge.
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey.
    Her mouth is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is as bitter as wormwood,
    and as sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death.
    Her steps lead straight to Sheol.
She gives no thought to the way of life.
    Her ways are crooked, and she doesn’t know it.
Now therefore, my sons, listen to me.
    Don’t depart from the words of my mouth.
Remove your way far from her.
    Don’t come near the door of her house,
lest you give your honor to others,
    and your years to the cruel one;
lest strangers feast on your wealth,
    and your labors enrich another man’s house.
You will groan at your latter end,
    when your flesh and your body are consumed,
and say, “How I have hated instruction,
    and my heart despised reproof.
I haven’t obeyed the voice of my teachers,
    nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
I have come to the brink of utter ruin,
    among the gathered assembly.”
Drink water out of your own cistern,
    running water out of your own well.
Should your springs overflow in the streets,
    streams of water in the public squares?
Let them be for yourself alone,
    not for strangers with you.
Let your spring be blessed.
    Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe and a graceful deer—
    let her breasts satisfy you at all times.
    Be captivated always with her love.
For why should you, my son, be captivated with an adulteress?
    Why embrace the bosom of another?
For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes.
    He examines all his paths.
The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him.
    The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
He will die for lack of instruction.
    In the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.

Proverbs 5 A Graceful Doe

My son, if you have become collateral for your neighbor,
    if you have struck your hands in pledge for a stranger,
you are trapped by the words of your mouth;
    you are ensnared with the words of your mouth.
Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself,
    since you have come into the hand of your neighbor.
Go, humble yourself.
    Press your plea with your neighbor.
Give no sleep to your eyes,
    nor slumber to your eyelids.
Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
    like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
Go to the ant, you sluggard.
    Consider her ways, and be wise;
which having no chief, overseer, or ruler,
    provides her bread in the summer,
    and gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you sleep, sluggard?
    When will you arise out of your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to sleep—
so your poverty will come as a robber,
    and your scarcity as an armed man.
A worthless person, a man of iniquity,
    is he who walks with a perverse mouth,
who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
    who motions with his fingers,
in whose heart is perverseness,
    who devises evil continually,
    who always sows discord.
Therefore his calamity will come suddenly.
    He will be broken suddenly, and that without remedy.
There are six things which Yahweh hates;
    yes, seven which are an abomination to him:
arrogant eyes, a lying tongue,
    hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked schemes,
    feet that are swift in running to mischief,
a false witness who utters lies,
    and he who sows discord among brothers.
My son, keep your father’s commandment,
    and don’t forsake your mother’s teaching.
Bind them continually on your heart.
    Tie them around your neck.
When you walk, it will lead you.
    When you sleep, it will watch over you.
    When you awake, it will talk with you.
For the commandment is a lamp,
    and the law is light.
    Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
to keep you from the immoral woman,
    from the flattery of the wayward wife’s tongue.
Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart,
    neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.
For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread.
    The adulteress hunts for your precious life.
Can a man scoop fire into his lap,
    and his clothes not be burned?
Or can one walk on hot coals,
    and his feet not be scorched?
So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife.
    Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.
Men don’t despise a thief
    if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry,
but if he is found, he shall restore seven times.
    He shall give all the wealth of his house.
He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding.
    He who does it destroys his own soul.
He will get wounds and dishonor.
    His reproach will not be wiped away.
For jealousy arouses the fury of the husband.
    He won’t spare in the day of vengeance.
He won’t regard any ransom,
    neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.

SoundCloud Proverbs 6 WEB Spoken and Sung


“Keep Your Heart With All Diligence”
 ~ Proverbs 4:20-23 ~

わが子よ、わたしの
言葉に心をとめ、
わたしの語ることに
耳を傾けよ。

それを、あなたの
目から離さず、
あなたの心の
うちに守れ。

それは、これを
得る者の命であり、
またその全身を健やかに
するからである。

油断することなく、
あなたの心を守れ、
命の泉は、これから
流れ出るからである。


My son, 
give attention to my words
Incline your ear to my sayings.

Do not let them depart 
from your eyes
Keep them in the midst of your heart

For they are life 
to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.

Keep your heart 
with all diligence,
For out of it spring 
the issues of life.

Keep Your Heart With All Diligence

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