CHAPTER 22

A Good Name, and the Words of the Wise

Chapter 22 opens with some of the book's most quoted verses on reputation, humility, and raising children, then pivots at verse 17 into a new, more sustained section explicitly called 'the words of the wise,' which will run through chapter 24. The tone shifts slightly here — shorter, punchier proverbs give way to a bit more direct exhortation, aimed particularly at protecting the vulnerable and staying clear of dangerous company.

1 ‘A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold’ — reputation and relationship are ranked above wealth outright, a value judgment the whole book has been building toward since chapter 3.

2 ‘The rich and the poor meet together: Jehovah is the maker of them all’ — economic status, however consequential day to day, is relativized by the shared fact of a common Creator — a quiet but firm leveling.

3 ‘A prudent man seeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it’ — repeated later at 27:12; foresight and avoidance are credited as genuine wisdom skills, not caution to be embarrassed about.

4 ‘The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah is riches, and honor, and life’ — humility and reverence, not ambition, are named as the actual roots from which lasting prosperity, honor, and life grow.

5 ‘Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse: he that keepeth his soul shall be far from them’ — the crooked path is pictured as literally hazardous terrain, while self-vigilance is what actually provides distance from its dangers.

6 ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it’ — one of the most familiar verses in the whole book; best read as a general principle of pattern, not an ironclad guarantee, it still insists early, intentional formation shapes a lifetime.

7 ‘The rich ruleth over the poor; and the borrower is servant to the lender’ — a plain economic observation about the real power dynamics debt creates, offered as a caution to be weighed before entering such arrangements.

8 ‘He that soweth iniquity shall reap calamity; and the rod of his wrath shall fail’ — the agricultural sowing-and-reaping image (echoed in Galatians 6:7) applies wrongdoing's consequences with the same certainty as a harvest follows planting.

9 ‘He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor’ — generosity is described almost as a way of seeing — a 'bountiful eye' that notices need and responds to it.

10 ‘Cast out the scoffer, and contention will go out; yea, strife and ignominy will cease’ — removing one habitually contentious person is credited with restoring peace to an entire group — conflict is sometimes concentrated in a single source.

11 ‘He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king will be his friend’ — inward integrity paired with gracious speech is shown capable of earning favor even at the highest levels of society.

12 ‘The eyes of Jehovah preserve him that hath knowledge; but he overthroweth the words of the treacherous man’ — God's attentive gaze is shown protecting the knowledgeable while actively undoing the schemes of the deceitful.

13 ‘The sluggard saith, There is a lion without: I shall be slain in the streets’ — a wry, almost comic picture of laziness dressing itself up as reasonable fear — an absurd excuse invented to avoid simply going to work.

14 ‘The mouth of strange women is a deep pit; he that is abhorred of Jehovah shall fall therein’ — the warnings of chapters 5–7 are compressed into a single line, the outcome tied explicitly to a person already estranged from God by other choices.

15 ‘Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him’ — foolishness is described as a native starting condition needing active correction, not a rare defect — discipline here is framed as remedial, not punitive for its own sake.

16 ‘He that oppresseth the poor to increase his gain, and he that giveth to the rich, shall come only to want’ — both exploiting the poor and currying favor with the already-wealthy are named, surprisingly, as equally foolish routes to eventual poverty.

17 ‘Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thy heart unto my knowledge’ — a new section opens with a fresh call to attention, signaling a shift in the collection's source and style from this point through chapter 24.

18 ‘For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, if they be established together upon thy lips’ — wisdom retained internally and then expressed consistently in speech is described as something genuinely enjoyable to carry, not merely dutiful.

19 ‘That thy trust may be in Jehovah, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee’ — the ultimate purpose of the whole collection is stated directly here: not mere cleverness, but trust in God, is the intended destination.

20 ‘Have not I written unto thee excellent things of counsels and knowledge’ — the teacher again vouches for the quality of what follows (compare 8:6), inviting confidence in the material about to be given.

21 ‘To make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mayest carry back words of truth to them that send thee?’ — the aim includes usefulness beyond the individual — equipping the reader to reliably represent truth to others who depend on their account.

22 ‘Rob not the poor, because he is poor; neither oppress the afflicted in the gate’ — the first of the 'words of the wise' proverbs proper is a direct command protecting the vulnerable specifically because of, not despite, their vulnerability.

23 ‘For Jehovah will plead their cause, and despoil of life those that despoil them’ — God is named as the poor's personal advocate, promising to take up their case directly against anyone who exploits them.

24 ‘Make no friendship with a man that is given to anger; and with a wrathful man thou shalt not go’ — a direct warning about choice of companionship, naming uncontrolled anger specifically as a trait to avoid in close relationships.

25 ‘Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul’ — the reasoning behind verse 24 is spelled out plainly: proximity to a habit tends to produce imitation, whether intended or not.

26 ‘Be thou not one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts’ — the recurring warning against reckless financial guarantees (compare 6:1; 11:15; 17:18) appears once more, framed here as a matter of personal identity to avoid altogether.

27 ‘If thou hast not wherewith to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?’ — the practical, almost blunt consequence of ignoring verse 26's warning is spelled out — losing even the most basic possessions.

28 ‘Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set’ — boundary stones marking inherited land were a serious matter in ancient Israel; the command protects established property rights and generational inheritance from quiet encroachment.

29 ‘Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men’ — the chapter's closing line ties diligence directly to advancement — genuine skill and steady effort are shown, in the long run, opening doors to real influence.