32 The lips of the upright man have knowledge of what is pleasing, but twisted are the mouths of evil-doers.
The Preacher made search for words which were pleasing, but his writing was in words upright and true.
Giving you salvation from the evil man, from those whose words are false;
The words of sinners are destruction for the upright; but the mouth of upright men is their salvation.
There are some whose uncontrolled talk is like the wounds of a sword, but the tongue of the wise makes one well again.
The heart of the upright gives thought to his answer; but from the mouth of the evil-doer comes a stream of evil things.
A foolish man's lips are a cause of fighting, and his mouth makes him open to blows. The mouth of a foolish man is his destruction, and his lips are a net for his soul. The words of one who says evil of his neighbour secretly are like sweet food, and go down into the inner parts of the stomach.
For this cause, O King, let my suggestion be pleasing to you, and let your sins be covered by righteousness and your evil-doing by mercy to the poor, so that the time of your well-being may be longer.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 10
Commentary on Proverbs 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
Hitherto we have been in the porch or preface to the proverbs, here they begin. They are short but weighty sentences; most of them are distichs, two sentences in one verse, illustrating each other; but it is seldom that there is any coherence between the verses, much less any thread of discourse, and therefore in these chapters we need not attempt to reduce the contents to their proper heads, the several sentences will appear best in their own places. The scope of them all is to set before us good and evil, the blessing and the curse. Many of the proverbs in this chapter relate to the good government of the tongue, without which men's religion is vain.
Pro 10:1
Solomon, speaking to us as unto children, observes here how much the comfort of parents, natural, political, and ecclesiastical, depends upon the good behaviour of those under their charge, as a reason,
Pro 10:2-3
These two verses speak to the same purport, and the latter may be the reason of the former.
Pro 10:4
We are here told,
Pro 10:5
Here is,
Pro 10:6
Here is,
Pro 10:7
Both the just and the wicked, when their days are fulfilled, must die. Between their bodies in the grave thee is no visible difference; between the souls of the one and the other, in the world of spirits, thee is a vast difference, and so there is, or ought to be, between their memories, which survive them.
Pro 10:8
Here is,
Pro 10:9
We are here told, and we may depend upon it,
Pro 10:10
Mischief is here said to attend,
Pro 10:11
See here,
Pro 10:12
Here is,
Pro 10:13
Observe,
Pro 10:14
Observe,
Pro 10:15
This may be taken two ways:-
Pro 10:16
Solomon here confirms what his father had said (Ps. 37:16), A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked.
Pro 10:17
See here,
Pro 10:18
Observe here, Malice is folly and wickedness.
Pro 10:19
We are here admonished concerning the government of the tongue, that necessary duty of a Christian.
Pro 10:20-21
We are here taught how to value men, not by their wealth and preferment in the world, but by their virtue.
Pro 10:22
Worldly wealth is that which most men have their hearts very much upon, but they generally mistake both in the nature of the thing they desire and in the way by which they hope to obtain it; we are therefore told here,
Pro 10:23
Here is,
Pro 10:24-25
It is here said, and said again, to the righteous, that it shall be well with them, and to the wicked, Woe to them; and these are set the one over against the other, for their mutual illustration.
Pro 10:26
Observe,
Pro 10:27-28
Observe,
Pro 10:29-30
These two verses are to the same purport with those next before, intimating the happiness of the godly and the misery of the wicked; it is necessary that this be inculcated upon us, so loth are we to believe and consider it.
Pro 10:31-32
Here, as before, men are judged of, and, accordingly, are justified or condemned, by their words, Mt. 12:37.