A Friend Loves at All Times
1 Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife. 2 A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have a part in the inheritance among the brothers. 3 The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but Yahweh tests the hearts. 4 An evildoer heeds wicked lips. A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue. 5 Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished. 6 Children’s children are the crown of old men; the glory of children is their parents. 7 Excellent speech isn’t fitting for a fool, much less do lying lips fit a prince. 8 A bribe is a precious stone in the eyes of him who gives it; wherever he turns, he prospers. 9 He who covers an offense promotes love; but he who repeats a matter separates best friends. 10 A rebuke enters deeper into one who has understanding than a hundred lashes into a fool. 11 An evil man seeks only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. 12 Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly. 13 Whoever rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. 14 The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out. 15 He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh. 16 Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, since he has no understanding? 17 A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity. 18 A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes collateral in the presence of his neighbor. 19 He who loves disobedience loves strife. One who builds a high gate seeks destruction. 20 One who has a perverse heart doesn’t find prosperity, and one who has a deceitful tongue falls into trouble. 21 He who becomes the father of a fool grieves. The father of a fool has no joy. 22 A cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. 23 A wicked man receives a bribe in secret, to pervert the ways of justice. 24 Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth. 25 A foolish son brings grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him. 26 Also to punish the righteous is not good, nor to flog officials for their integrity. 27 He who spares his words has knowledge. He who is even tempered is a man of understanding. 28 Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is counted wise. When he shuts his lips, he is thought to be discerning.
The chapter is preoccupied with what people do to each other, and it ends by pointing out that a fool who says nothing passes for wise.
It opens with a meal, as chapter 15 closed with one: Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife. The comparison is now sharper. Not herbs against a fattened calf, but a dry crust against a house full of food. The variable is again the atmosphere. The collection keeps insisting that this is what decides whether a table is worth sitting at.
The strongest cluster concerns how quarrels start and how they are ended. He who covers an offense promotes love; but he who repeats a matter separates best friends. Covering here means declining to bring it up again. Repeating is the ordinary destructive act — not slander, simply mentioning it once more. Then the mechanical image: The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out. The first trickle through an earth wall is small, correctable, and the last moment at which anything can be done.
What happens when it is not stopped is stated in the run's bleakest verse: A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city. Disputes are like the bars of a fortress. Reconciling with a wronged relative is compared to taking a walled town, and the comparison runs in the direction of despair. The collection is not pessimistic about people in general. It is realistic about how hard family estrangement is to undo.
Against all of that stands the verse everyone knows: A friend loves at all times; and a brother is born for adversity. The two halves are not the same claim. The friend's mark is constancy across circumstances. The brother's is that the relationship exists for the bad times specifically. He was born for it, which makes trouble the occasion he was always going to be needed for rather than an interruption.
Two verses deal with justice and one is quoted in the law's own language: He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh. Both errors, equally. And a bribe is described exactly as it looks to the man paying it: a precious stone in the eyes of him who gives it; wherever he turns, he prospers. No comment is added. The flat verdict that it perverts justice comes later.
The chapter's last verse is its driest: Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is counted wise. It is a joke and it is also serious advice. It stands at the end of a chapter that has spent twenty-seven verses on the damage words do.
settled What this mark means