He Who Trusts in His Own Heart Is a Fool
15 As a roaring lion or a charging bear, so is a wicked ruler over helpless people. 16 A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment. One who hates ill-gotten gain will have long days. 17 A man who is tormented by blood guilt will be a fugitive until death. No one will support him. 18 Whoever walks blamelessly is kept safe; but one with perverse ways will fall suddenly. 19 One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. 20 A faithful man is rich with blessings; but one who is eager to be rich will not go unpunished. 21 To show partiality is not good, yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread. 22 A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn’t know that poverty waits for him. 23 One who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than one who flatters with the tongue. 24 Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, “It’s not wrong,” is a partner with a destroyer. 25 One who is greedy stirs up strife; but one who trusts in Yahweh will prosper. 26 One who trusts in himself is a fool; but one who walks in wisdom is kept safe. 27 One who gives to the poor has no lack; but one who closes his eyes will have many curses. 28 When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.
Bad government is described as an animal loose among people, and the run ends by naming self-trust as folly.
As a roaring lion or a charging bear, so is a wicked ruler over helpless people. Two predators, and the people are described as helpless. Not opposed, not rebellious, simply unable to defend themselves. The verse after it supplies the diagnosis: A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment. Oppression is classed as stupidity rather than as strength. The alternative offered is not gentleness but competence.
Work and money run through the middle of the run in a series of contrasts that are all about speed. One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty. Chasing is the operative word, and it recurs. One who is eager to be rich will not go unpunished. A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn't know that poverty waits for him. The collection is not against wealth. It is against haste, and it keeps describing the fast route as the one that arrives somewhere else.
One verse states how cheaply integrity is sold: To show partiality is not good, yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread. The price is named deliberately low. This is not a man bought with a fortune. It is a man who bends for something small, which is the commoner case.
Another is the collection's defense of unwelcome truth-telling: One who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than one who flatters with the tongue. The word afterward carries it. In the moment the flatterer wins, and the book concedes that. What it claims is that the account settles later. It asks for patience in the meantime.
The run's conclusion is the sentence that sits under the whole book: One who trusts in himself is a fool; but one who walks in wisdom is kept safe. The phrase is literally about trusting one's own heart. It names the thing the book has been circling since it warned against leaning on your own understanding Proverbs 3:5. Self-trust is not called a risk or an immaturity. It is called folly, which is this collection's strongest word.
settled What this mark means