Righteousness Exalts a Nation
18 The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. 19 The evil bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. 20 The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends. 21 He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has pity on the poor is blessed. 22 Don’t they go astray who plot evil? But love and faithfulness belong to those who plan good. 23 In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty. 24 The crown of the wise is their riches, but the folly of fools crowns them with folly. 25 A truthful witness saves souls, but a false witness is deceitful. 26 In the fear of Yahweh is a secure fortress, and he will be a refuge for his children. 27 The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life, turning people from the snares of death. 28 In the multitude of people is the king’s glory, but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince. 29 He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly. 30 The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones. 31 He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him. 32 The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge. 33 Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, and is even made known in the inward part of fools. 34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. 35 The king’s favor is toward a servant who deals wisely, but his wrath is toward one who causes shame.
The run says plainly that poor men lose their friends, and then says that how they are treated is a verdict on God's honor.
Two verses stand side by side and are usually quoted apart. The first is an observation with no comment attached: The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends. The book is not approving of this. It is stating what happens, as it stated earlier that poverty is the destruction of the poor Proverbs 10:15. Its realism about money is part of what makes its counsel usable.
The second supplies the judgment: He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has pity on the poor is blessed. A few verses later the ground of that is given in the strongest terms the collection uses about the poor: He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him. Treatment of a poor man is treated as treatment of the God who made him. A transaction between two people is a statement about a third.
Anger is the run's other main subject and it is handled with unusual precision. He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly. Slowness is credited to understanding rather than to temperament, which makes it a competence rather than a disposition. And the physical claim that follows is remarkable for its date: The life of the body is a heart at peace, but envy rots the bones. An interior state is said to have bodily consequences. The collection asserts it twice.
The verse that has traveled furthest is Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. Two things in it are worth marking. It moves from individual conduct to national standing, which this collection rarely does. And the second half is deliberately universal: any people, not Israel alone. The claim is that the moral order the book has been describing applies to nations that never heard of it.
One saying in the middle is easily passed over and is the sharpest thing in the run: In all hard work there is profit, but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty. Talking about work is set against doing it. The collection knows which one produces the feeling of having accomplished something.
settled What this mark means