Proverbs 29

Proverbs 29:5

A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.

A man, that flattereth his neighbour, goes about to do him a secret mischief; and doth, as it were, lay a net to catch and entangle him to his ruin.

Proverbs 29:8

Scornful men bring a city into a snare.

Those, that are wilfully wicked, and do scornfully reject all good counsel and reproof, are the means to draw down judgments upon the very city where they dwell.

Proverbs 29:9

Whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest.

Whether a wise man deal with him seriously and severely, or whether jestingly and merrily, all is one; he shall not be able to prevail; either for his own peace, or the other’s reformation.

Proverbs 29:10

But the just seek his soul.

But the righteous man, contrarily, seeks to preserve his life, and to save his soul.

Proverbs 29:12

If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.

Such as the ruler is, such will be his attendants: if the governor be one, whose ears are open to either flatteries or slanders, his followers will frame themselves to feed his wicked humours in all things.

Proverbs 29:13

The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes.

The innocent poor man and the crafty griping usurer meet both together, and the Lord causeth his sun to shine upon them both; maintaining both in life; doing good outwardly, even to the worst deserving.

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Where God withdraweth himself, and doth not reveal his will to any nation or people, there is no ordinary means of keeping their souls from perishing.

Proverbs 29:19

A servant will not be corrected with words: for though he understand he will not answer.

VOL. III. s He, that is of a servile and sturdy disposition, will not be corrected without blows; for though he do well enough understand a verbal reproof, yet he is no whit moved to an answerable regard of it.

Proverbs 29:24

He heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not.

He heareth men urged with adjurations, whether they have stolen the thing, or know the thief; and yet keeps his wicked counsel, and will not betray the malefactor.

Proverbs 29:25

The fear of a man bringeth a snare.

That man, whose heart is overcome with a weak and diffident fear, not daring to cast himself upon the care and providence of the Almighty, bringeth misery upon himself.

Proverbs 29:26

Many seek the ruler’s face (or, favour;) but every man’s judgment cometh of the LORD.

It is ordinary for men, when their cause is to be heard, to make friends to the judge; neglecting, in the mean time, to commit themselves and their case to the Almighty, in whose hand the judge’s heart is; whereas they ought first to begin with God, which can overrule all the actions and purposes of men. XXX. 2, 3. Surely I am more brutish than any man, &c. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. Surely, I, Agur, am sufficiently conscious to mine own ignorance and unworthiness: of myself, I do, I can know nothing; and therefore am, as of myself, utterly unable to reach unto the great mysteries of salvation.