CHAPTER 15
1A soft answer turns back wrath,
but a hurtful word stirs anger.
2The tongue of the wise improves knowledge,
but the mouth of dullards bubbles with folly.
3The eyes of the LORD are everywhere,
watching the evil and the good.
4Healing speech is a tree of life,
but perverse speech breaks the spirit.
5A dolt will spurn his father’s reproof,
but who heeds rebuke gains shrewdness.
6Great treasure is in the righteous man’s house,
but the yield of the wicked is blighted.
7The lips of the wise spread knowledge—
not so, the heart of fools.
8The wicked’s sacrifice is the LORD’s loathing,
but the prayer of the upright, His pleasure.
9The LORD’s loathing is the way of the wicked man,
but He loves the pursuer of righteousness.
10Harsh reproof for him who forsakes the path,
who hates rebuke will die.
11Sheol and Perdition are before the LORD,
how much more so the hearts of men.
12A scoffer does not love it when one rebukes him,
to the wise he will not go.
13A glad heart will brighten the face,
but by the heart’s pain the spirit is lamed.
14A discerning heart seeks knowledge,
but the mouth of dullards chases folly.
15All the days of the poor man are miserable,
but a cheerful man has a perpetual feast.
16Better a pittance in the fear of the LORD
than great treasure with turmoil.
17Better a meal of greens where there is love
than a fatted ox where there is hatred.
18A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but a patient man quiets quarrel.
19The sluggard’s way is like a hedge of thorns,
but the path of the upright is smooth.
20A wise son gladdens his father,
but a foolish man scorns his mother.
21Folly is joy to the senseless,
but a man of discernment walks straight.
22Plans are thwarted where there is no counsel,
but with many advisors they are carried out.
23There is joy for a man in an apt answer,
and how good is a timely word!
24A path of life upward for the man of insight,
that he may swerve from Sheol below.
25The house of the proud will the LORD uproot,
but He sets firm the widow’s boundary stone.
26An evil man’s plots are the LORD’s loathing,
but the sayings of the pure are sweet.
27He blights his house whose gain is ill gotten,
but the hater of bribes shall live.
28The righteous man’s heart utters truth,
but the mouth of the wicked bubbles with evils.
29The LORD is far from the wicked,
but the prayer of the righteous He hears.
30What brightens the eyes gladdens the heart,
and good news puts sap in the bones.
31An ear hearing rebuke for life
in the midst of the wise will abide.
32Who casts off reproof despises himself,
but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.
33The LORD’s fear is wisdom’s foundation,
and humility comes before honor.
CHAPTER 15 NOTES
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4. perverse speech breaks the spirit. The Hebrew wording is crabbed, and there could be a textual problem in this verset. Here is a very literal rendering: “and a perversion in it is a break in the spirit.” The translation for clarity repeats “speech” (more literally, “tongue”) from the first verset because “in it,” bah, refers to “speech.”
6. the yield. The received text has “in the yield,” but some Hebrew manuscripts, the Septuagint, and the Syriac do not show “in.”
11. Sheol and Perdition are before the LORD, / how much more so the hearts of men. This line departs from the predominant antithesis between the two versets to employ an a fortiori pattern: proposition (first verset) followed by how much more so (second verset). The effect here is quite striking. The vast depths of the realm of death (Sheol and Perdition are synonyms, not distinct entities) lie transparently exposed to the LORD’s scrutiny, which therefore can penetrate the human heart with incomparably greater ease. This structure thus produces a powerful statement of how completely God knows all our most innermost thoughts.
13. by the heart’s pain the spirit is lamed. More literally, “the heart’s pain is a lamed spirit.”
15. a cheerful man. The literal sense is “good-hearted,” but in biblical idiom, to be of good heart does not mean kindness or benevolence but rather a good mood.
16. treasure. The Hebrew ʾotsar means either storehouse or, by metonymy, what it contains.
20. a foolish man scorns his mother. In light of the parallelism with the first verset, this does not mean that he deliberately scorns his mother because he is a fool but rather that his being a fool has the effect of humiliating his hapless mother.
22. Plans are thwarted. This verse, like several others in this chapter, pronounces a piece of prudential wisdom that verges on truism or banality.
23. an apt answer. Literally, “his mouth’s answer.”
25. boundary stone. These were used to mark the borders of a person’s property. Thus the possessions of the vulnerable widow are safeguarded by God.
26. but the sayings of the pure are sweet. The Hebrew of the received text reads “and the sweet sayings are pure,” wetehorim ʾimrey-noʿam. This translation adopts the reading of the Septuagint, which appears to reflect a Hebrew text that showed weʾimrey tehorim yinʿamu.
28. utters truth. The Masoretic Text reads “utters to answer,” but the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Targum all seem to reflect a Hebrew text that read ʾemunim, “truth,” “true things,” “trustworthiness,” instead of la’anot.
33. wisdom’s foundation. The Masoretic Text has musar ḥokhmah, “the reproof of wisdom,” which is conceivable but odd. This translation adopts a small, widely proposed emendation, musad, “foundation,” for musar. This would bring the verset in line with several statements in Proverbs that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.