Proverbs 10

Proverbs 10:1

It is a great comfort to parents to see their children profiting by their instructions and examples, and growing up in wisdom, piety, and virtue. But it is a grief and burden to them when they are foolish, stubborn, and profligate

Proverbs 10:2

Ill gotten riches afford no solid comfort in life, but draw on a wasting or poisoning curse: but Jesus’ righteousness imputed, and a holy, just, and merciful, conduct, procure safety and deliverance from the greatest dangers

Proverbs 10:3

The Lord, who has all fulness in his hand, will always grant necessary supplies for both soul and body to them who are justified in Christ, and live in a just and merciful manner. But he will deprive the wicked of their ill-gotten possessions by some stroke of his providence, or remove them from it by death

Proverbs 10:4

Negligence and sloth, and even fraudulent methods of gain, bring men to poverty; but active diligence tends to enrich men both in temporal and spiritual

Proverbs 10:5

To seize upon, and improve, opportunities of obtaining spiritual or temporal things, particularly in the time of youth, is a mark of true wisdom: but he that slothfully neglects them brings misery and shame upon himself and his parents

Proverbs 10:6

The justified in Christ are, to their everlasting honour and safety, blessed in him with all the blessings of time and eternity: and outward blessings often attend the just and merciful on earth. But their own iniquity shall violently overwhelm and confound those who wickedly defraud and oppress their neighbours

Proverbs 10:7

The pious and virtuous shall, at least after death, be remembered with honour and praise, men blessing God for their good example and useful conversation: but wicked livers shall either be forgotten or remembered with abhorrence

Proverbs 10:8

They who are truly wise will thankfully receive and practice laws from God, or good advices from men: but self-conceited persons, who will not learn of others, but love to hear themselves talk, shall bring themselves into contempt, sin, and misery; nay, into hell

Proverbs 10:9

He, who in dealing with God and men walks in candour, simplicity, and godly sincerity, is safe under the divine protection in his way to eternal life, and avoids manifold miseries and snares in this world: but he who indulges himself in hypocrisy towards God, and in inconstancy and devout towards men, shall be detected and made a public reproach

Proverbs 10:10

He, who under pretence of kindness betrays his neighbour, and by signs mocks him, or tempts others to injure him, is a common grievance, and shall at last become miserable: but a noisy and perpetual talker ruins himself by his words, and deserves to be beaten for his impertinence

Proverbs 10:11

Good discourse always tends to the profit, comfort, and refreshment, of those that receive it; but wicked men, to their own ruin, pour forth virulent and mischievous language; or, if their language be fair, it but conceals the mischief which they intend to effect when opportunity serves

Proverbs 10:12

Where there is hatred in the heart, almost every thing, however innocent, will be used to raise quarrels or disturbances: but love overlooks affronts and injuries, pacifies the mind of the injured, and composes contentions, for which too much ground had been given

Proverbs 10:13

Where wisdom abounds in the heart, the discourse of the lips will be sensible and edifying; but nothing but sore afflictions here, or the torments of hell hereafter, can bring obstinate fools to any serious reflection

Proverbs 10:14

They who know the value of true wisdom labour to enlarge their knowledge, and to keep it up till they have proper opportunities for using it: but fools rashly blab out what tends to their own or others’ ruin

Proverbs 10:15

Hishes make men confident and secure, and even protect them against man- 7 M fold injuries in this world; whereas poverty depresses men’s spirits, and exposes them to injury and abuse

Proverbs 10:16

The industry of the righteous in outward things issues in the comfortable maintenance of himself and others; and his care for his soul issues in life spiritual and eternal: but whatever a wicked man has by inheritance, or by his own acquirement, hardens him in sin, and is abused to gratify his sinful lusts

Proverbs 10:17

He is in the way to eternal life, who receives, lays up in his heart, and practises the instructions of God’s word, and readily regards advices, and even reproofs, given him by others; but he, who neglects to give reproof, encourages men in their mistakes; and he, who refuses to take and improve instructions and reproofs, obstinately rushes upon his own destruction

Proverbs 10:18

He, who conceals his hatred by great professions of friendship before one’s face, and he who artfully vents slander behind one’s back, is with all his cunning, an impious fool in God’s reckoning, and his wickedness shall be publicly exposed

Proverbs 10:19

Even in much speaking there are ordinarily to be found words idle or wicked. It is therefore prudent to be sparing in our words, and to consider well, both when and where, and what, and how, we speak. 20, 21. Prudent and pious discourse is pure and substantial; it edifies, instructs, and nourishes the hearers; but the heart of the wicked, being only evil, and that continually, is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; nothing good can proceed from it; but they persist and perish in the devices of their own foolishness, neither knowing, nor caring to know, the way of life and peace

Proverbs 10:22

It is not men’s anxious labour and care that make them rich, either in temporal or spiritual things; but the blessing of God upon their lawful endeavours confers riches, and enables to enjoy them comfortably, without pressure of guilt, tormenting fear, or perplexing care

Proverbs 10:23

Senseless sinners take pleasure in, and make a jest of, the most horrid impieties they can commit: but they that are wise carefully avoid mischief, and all sporting with it or delighting in it

Proverbs 10:24

The miseries which wicked men fear under the awakenings of conscience shall come upon them; and whatever blessings the righteous desire and pray for shall be granted them in due season

Proverbs 10:25

However the wicked may bluster for a while, and threaten to overthrow every thing that stands in their way, they quickly and terribly ruin themselves, and rush into misery; but the righteous being built on Christ the Rock of ages, and fixed in piety and virtue, stand fast for ever. No storms can shake their confidence, or deprive them of their durable and immovable felicity

Proverbs 10:26

As vinegar sets the teeth on edge, and smoke is vexatious to the eyes, so sluggish, negligent, and dilatory, persons vex and provoke them who send or employ them in any important business

Proverbs 10:27

A religious observance of God’s laws, and preserving of our body in temperance, soberness, and chastity, tends to prolong our life: but wickedness of itself, and by God’s righteous judgments on account of it, brings on diseases, and hastens the sinner to his grave and to hell

Proverbs 10:28

The hope of the godly, founded on Jesus’ promise and blood, brings delight and satisfaction to the soul, and issues in everlasting felicity; but the hope of the wicked shall issue in disappointment and eternal misery

Proverbs 10:29

Upright walking in Christ, and the exercising of piety and virtue, increase a person’s strength for duty and courage in it: but the workers of iniquity shall be plagued with terrors, and overwhelmed in misery

Proverbs 10:30

Nothing so establishes persons or families, as a relation to Christ as their righteousness, and a course of piety, justice, and mercy: but the wicked, however successful they may be for a time, shall never be able to fix themselves in their prosperity, but be rooted out from the enjoyment of it

Proverbs 10:31

The godly, out of the good treasure of their heart, bring forth good discourse, which tends to make the hearers wise unto salvation: but he that uses his tongue to abuse, cozen, or raise dissension, or to blaspheme God and spread error, shall, in the end, have it silenced in hell

Proverbs 10:32

The righteous know, and accustom themselves to speak, things truly useful and edifying: but the wicked abandon their lips to falsehood, flattery, fraud, and calumny, or such like subtle but detestable arts of doing mischief