CHAPTER 17
1Better a dry crust with tranquillity
than a house filled with feasting and quarrel.
2A clever slave rules over a son who shames,
and in the midst of brothers will share the inheritance.
3Silver has a crucible and gold a kiln,
and the LORD tries hearts.
4An evildoer listens to wicked speech,
a liar hearkens to calamitous talk.
5Who mocks the poor insults his Maker,
who rejoices in ruin will not go scot-free.
6The crown of the elders is sons of sons,
and the glory of sons, their fathers.
7Unfit for a scoundrel, overweening speech,
much less for a nobleman, lying speech.
8A bribe is a gemstone in the eyes of its user;
wherever he turns he will prosper.
9Who overlooks faults seeks love,
and who repeats a speech drives off a friend.
10A rebuke comes down on a discerning man,
more than a hundred blows on a fool.
11Sheer rebellion an evil man seeks,
but a cruel agent will be against him.
12Better meet a bear bereft of its cubs,
than a dolt in his folly.
13Who gives back evil for good,
evil will not depart from his house.
14Like opening a sluice is a quarrel’s start—
before strife flares up, let it go.
15Who acquits the wicked or condemns the just,
the LORD’s loathing are they both.
16Why is there a fee in the hand of the fool
to buy wisdom when he has no sense?
17At all times a companion is loving,
and a brother was born for the hour of trouble.
18A senseless man offers his hand,
stands bond for his fellow man.
19Who loves crime loves dissension,
who builds a high doorway seeks a downfall.
20A crooked man will come to no good,
and the perverse of speech will fall into harm.
21One begets a fool to one’s own grief,
and a scoundrel’s father will not rejoice.
22A joyful heart can effect a cure,
but a lamed spirit dries up the bones.
23Bribe from his bosom the wicked man takes
to tilt the paths of justice.
24Right in front of the discerning is wisdom,
but the fool’s eyes are on the ends of the earth.
25Vexation to his father, a foolish son,
and gall to her who bore him.
26To punish the just is surely not good,
to flog nobles for uprightness.
27Who is sparing in speech knows knowledge,
and coolheaded is the man of discerning.
28A silent dolt, too, may be reckoned wise,
who seals his lips, may be deemed discerning.
CHAPTER 17 NOTES
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1. feasting. Literally, “sacrifice,” which is to say, choice cuts left over from the sacrifices. See the comment on 7:14.
2. slave . . . / share the inheritance. This declaration does not necessarily reflect social or economic reality but is better understood as a kind of hyperbole: cleverness trumps heredity if the heir in question is a fool or a scoundrel.
5. rejoices in ruin. On the basis of the phrase used here, sameaḥ leʾeyd, modern Hebrew has appropriately adopted simḥah leʾeyd as its term for schadenfreude.
7. overweening speech. The meaning of yeter (related to the term that means “more”) is not entirely clear. It could mean something like “highfalutin,” though the King James Version’s “excellent” is rather unlikely.
8. a gemstone . . . / wherever he turns he will prosper. Some interpreters claim, on tenuous contextual grounds, that the Hebrew noun means “magic stone.” The more likely meaning is that the bribe, like a precious stone, provides a person a resource that opens doors for him. In any case, the resource is “in the eyes of” the briber, and hence the prospering is not a stated fact but what this person imagines.
10. a rebuke . . . / a hundred blows. In this instance, the comparison is vividly effective: a sensitive, discerning person will feel the bite of a verbal rebuke more than the callous fool feels a severe beating.
11. a cruel agent. This whole verse reflects the cautiously pragmatic political conservatism of Proverbs: if you are imprudent enough to willfully rebel against the government, it will send its ruthless agents to eliminate you.
12. Better meet a bear bereft of its cubs. In this instance, the “better than” (the compact Hebrew lacks the usual tov) pattern combines with the riddle form: What could be worse than encountering a bear robbed of its cubs? Running into a fool.
16. a fee. In other contexts, this Hebrew noun means “price.” It has been plausibly inferred from this line that there was some general practice of paying teachers for wisdom instruction of the kind one finds in Proverbs.
17. the hour of trouble. “Hour” has been added for the sake of intelligibility.
18. offers his hand, / stands bond. Both phrases refer to offering financial surety for someone, an act considered imprudent in Proverbs.
19. a downfall. More literally, “a break,” which is to say, disaster.
24. Right in front of the discerning. The Hebrew says literally “with the face of [or with the presence of].” The idea is that wisdom is right before the eyes of the discerning, whereas fools misguidedly look for it at the ends of the earth.
27. coolheaded. Literally, “cool of spirit.” This idiom is not otherwise attested, and hence the meaning is not entirely certain. The marginal gloss in the Masoretic Text corrects qar, “cool,” to yeqar, “precious” or “rare,” which does not help matters. Attempts to make this phrase mean “reticent” rest on shaky premises.
28. A silent dolt, too, may be reckoned wise. This proverb builds on the preceding one: a wise person is sparing in speech out of good sense and prudence, but a fool may give the appearance of wisdom by keeping his mouth shut.