Hope Deferred Makes the Heart Sick
1 A wise son listens to his father’s instruction, but a scoffer doesn’t listen to rebuke. 2 By the fruit of his lips, a man enjoys good things, but the unfaithful crave violence. 3 He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. 4 The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied. 5 A righteous man hates lies, but a wicked man brings shame and disgrace. 6 Righteousness guards the way of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner. 7 There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing. There are some who pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth. 8 The ransom of a man’s life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats. 9 The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out. 10 Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is with people who take advice. 11 Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow. 12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life. 13 Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded. 14 The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death. 15 Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard. 16 Every prudent man acts from knowledge, but a fool exposes folly. 17 A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy gains healing. 18 Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline, but he who heeds correction shall be honored. 19 Longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil. 20 One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm. 21 Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous. 22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous. 23 An abundance of food is in poor people’s fields, but injustice sweeps it away. 24 One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him. 25 The righteous one eats to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked goes hungry.
A chapter largely about money and discipline contains the most sympathetic sentence in the book about waiting.
Wealth is the running subject, and the collection's handling of it is more varied than a first reading suggests. Some sayings are straightforward: dishonest wealth dwindles, and he who gathers by hand makes it grow — a phrase for accumulation in small increments rather than at a stroke. Others are wry. There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing. There are some who pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth. Both directions of pretense are noted, and neither is commended.
One verse names something the rest of the book seldom does. The ransom of a man's life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats. Money can buy a man out of danger, which is an advantage. It also makes him worth threatening, and a poor man is never kidnapped. That is not a moral about wealth. It is an even-handed statement of what having it involves.
And one is a protest. An abundance of food is in poor people's fields, but injustice sweeps it away. The land produced. The crop was there. Something else took it, and the something is named as injustice rather than as misfortune. A collection that says repeatedly that diligence brings plenty stops here to record that sometimes it does not, and why.
The famous verse sits in the middle: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life. What is unusual is the sympathy. Nothing here tells the waiting man to be patient or to want less. It states, as a fact about human beings, that waiting for a good thing makes a person ill, and it names the arrival of that thing with the book's highest image.
The chapter closes on discipline, and the hardest of its sayings should be read with the rest of the book in view. One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him. The claim is about neglect: withholding correction is classed as hatred because it leaves a child to the consequences the whole book has been describing. The same collection insists that a father who provokes and embitters is in the wrong, and that correction is what a father gives the son in whom he delights Proverbs 3:12. Discipline here is an act of attention, and the verse before it says what happens without it — Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline.
settled What this mark means