Summary: Wise person listens to instructions, but scoffer/mocker refuse correction. Be slow in speech, think twice before we speak, to avoid offending other people. The lazy person desires much but achieves nothing due to his laziness, but the diligent person will surely become rich. The righteous person hates falsehood and lies. Do not live luxuriously on credit, showing off the riches, yet owing huge debt. Pride will cause strife, but the wise listens to advice and reach agreeable solution. Wealth gained dishonestly will not last, but wealth gained through work and fair business will grow more and more. Do not set unrealistically high hope or ambition to avoid frustration.
A wise son heeds his father’s instruction,
but a mocker does not respond to rebukes. (Proverbs 13:1) (NIV)
A wise son hears his father’s instruction,
but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. (Proverbs 13:1) (RSV)
A wise son heeds his father’s instruction,
But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. (Proverbs 12:1) (NKJV)
A wise person will listen to the instruction of a wiser person. A wise person is receptive to reproof, correction, and alternative viewpoints. A wise person is open-minded to consider other people's ideas. A scoffer/mocker is too proud to accept rebuke, reproof or correction. This proud scoffer/mocker is right in his own eyes, and reluctant to accept other points of views, alternative ideas. To be receptive to instruction and reproof, we must have the humility and the open mind.
2 2 A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth,
But the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence.
3 3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life,
But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. (Proverbs 13:2-3) (NKJV)
2 2 From the fruit of his mouth a good man eats good,
but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.
3 3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life;
he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. (Proverbs 13:2-3) (RSV)
2 From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things,
but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence.
but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence.
3 Those who guard their lips preserve their lives,
but those who speak rashly will come to ruin. (Proverbs 13:2-3) (NIV)
but those who speak rashly will come to ruin. (Proverbs 13:2-3) (NIV)
The output and words of the good man are good things, such as good deeds, profitable business, successful career, respect and honour. The bad, unfaithful, treacherous man, on the other hand, has many evil desires which will bring violence and troubles to himself and other people.
The good man who is wise to guard his lips and careful with his words will not be offending his friends and enemies. When confronted with enemies, his careful words will mitigate and lower the anger of his enemies, causing himself less trouble, even preserving his own life.
He who guards his lips will think twice before he speaks, and careful with his speech. He is aware of the potential of adverse impact if wrong words and intonation are used.
Those who speak rashly and react too hastily will end up saying the wrong things, offending friends and relatives. Often offending other people may himself to ruin and destruction, to be unfriended by friends, to be hated by enemies.
4 4 A sluggard’s appetite is never filled,
but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. (Proverbs 13:4) (NIV)
4 4 The soul of the sluggard craves, and gets nothing,
while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. (Proverbs 13:4) (RSV)
4 4 The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing;
But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. (Proverbs 13:4) (NKJV)
The sluggish and lazy person may have many wishes and wants, but is too lazy to work hard to earn the money, eventually not getting his wishes and wants. The lazy person is a procrastinator, lazing around, fantasizing, but not seriously putting his hands and minds into what he aims to do. All the ambitions of the lazy person is just an empty daydream, which could be realized if he works at it, but unfortunately he is too lazy to do it.
On the contrary, the diligent and hardworking person is willing to invest his time and energy into his work and business, hence achieving success, earning the money to get what he wants and wishes. With diligence and good financial intelligence, the diligent is surely gathering riches and wealth.
The misery and shame of the slothful. See how foolish and absurd they are; they desire the gains which the diligent get, but they hate the pains which the diligent take; they covet every thing that is to be coveted, but will do nothing that is to be done.
5 5 A righteous man hates lying,
But a wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame.
6 6 Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless,
But wickedness overthrows the sinner. (Proverbs 13:5-6) (NKJV)
5 5 A righteous man hates falsehood,
but a wicked man acts shamefully and disgracefully.
6 6 Righteousness guards him whose way is upright,
but sin overthrows the wicked. (Proverbs 13:5-6) (RSV)
The righteous person hates lying and falsehood. He likes to say the right things, hear the right things. He makes decisions based on facts and figures, not based on rumours, gossips, and slanders. On the contrary, the wicked person feels shameless to lie and slander, to spread false news, to spread untrue rumour and gossips.
The righteous person lives in godly and upright ways, good ways that are pleasing to God and other people. But the wicked person lives a life of sin, such as falsehood.
7 7 There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing;
And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches. (Proverbs 13:7) (NKJV)
7 7 One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;
another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth. (Proverbs 13:7) (RSV)
7 7 One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;
another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth. (Proverbs 13:7) (NIV)
The lesson of humility and low profile. One man lives luxuriously, drives luxury cars, stays in an expensive house, wears high fashion, wears expensive watch and jewellery, and yet has huge debts. Another man lives more simply, drives a good non-luxury car, stays in a comfortable house, wears normal-priced clothes and watch, and yet has big amount of cash in the bank. There is no need to brag and show off one's riches. Not wise to compare and keep up with Joneses. Do not overspend on credit. But rather live in simple yet comfortable manner, in realistic lifestyle, save up the extra money rather than wasting on expensive, luxury items.
Pertaining to spiritual riches. Grace is the riches of the soul; it is true riches; but men commonly misrepresent themselves, either designedly or through mistake and ignorance of themselves. 1. There are many presuming hypocrites, that are really poor and empty of grace and yet either think themselves rich, and will not be convinced of their poverty, or pretend themselves rich, and will not own their poverty. 2. There are many timorous trembling Christians, that are spiritually rich, and full of grace, and yet think themselves poor, and will not be persuaded that they are rich, or, at least, will not own it; by their doubts and fears, their complaints and griefs, they make themselves poor.
8 8 The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth,
but a poor man has no means of redemption.[a] (Proverbs 13:8) (RSV)
8 8 A person’s riches may ransom their life,
but the poor cannot respond to threatening rebukes. (Proverbs 13:8) (NIV)
In time of war, when the enemies have captured the city, the enemies will focus on the rich, seizing their property, money and riches. The lives of the rich people are endangered during captivity. The poor hear not rebuke, are not censured, reproached, accused, nor brought into trouble, as the rich are; for nobody thinks it worth while to take notice of them. When the rich Jews were carried captives to Babylon the poor of the land were left, 2 Kgs. 25:12
9 9 The light of the righteous rejoices,
But the lamp of the wicked will be put out. (Proverbs 13:9) (NKJV)
9 9 The light of the righteous shines brightly,
but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out. (Proverbs 13:9) (NIV)
For the righteous, there is much joy and rejoicing. The road ahead (the future) for the righteous is bright and positive. The righteous can see a good future ahead. On the contrary, the wicked faces lack of joy. depression and stress. For the wicked, his road ahead is dim and not easy.
10 10 Where there is strife, there is pride,
but wisdom is found in those who take advice. (Proverbs 13:10) (NIV)
10 10 By pride comes nothing but strife,
But with the well-advised is wisdom. (Proverbs 13:10) (NKJV)
10 10 By insolence the heedless make strife,
but with those who take advice is wisdom. (Proverbs 13:10) (RSV)
Because of pride, a person refuse to listen to other people's ideas and points of view. Because of pride, a person refuse to peaceable agreement. Because of pride, a person refuses to discuss and negotiate. Pride will cause strife, arguments, and quarrels.
On the contrary, the wise person is humble and willing to listen to advice of other people. The wise and humble person is willing to see from other people's viewpoints and consider other people's ideas, hence, avoiding strife. The wise person has much higher chance of coming to an agreeable solution when there are conflicts or differing opinions.
11 11 Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished,
But he who gathers by labor will increase. (Proverbs 13:11) (NKJV)
11 11 Wealth hastily gotten[b] will dwindle,
but he who gathers little by little will increase it. (Proverbs 13:11) (RSV)
11 11 Dishonest money dwindles away,
but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. (Proverbs 13:11) (NIV)
Easy come, easy go. Do not be involved in get rich quick schemes. This type of investment and scams will eventually fail. Do not be involved in speculative stocks and speculative indices play. These are highly risky, easy to make money, even easier to lose money. Do not use margin financing to invest or speculate in stocks. This is extremely high risk, with potential of making huge money with little money, with the danger of losing all money and even owing large debts if the stock price go down significantly. Bottomline, do not covet for money, do not be greedy.
Do not use dishonest means to make fast money. Do not the customers. Do not use unfair business practice. Because somehow fast money gained through dishonest means will not last.
But be diligent and hardworking in our work and our business. We can make money gradually, and save up the extra money in the bank, and also invest the extra money. We can surely become richer and wealthier using honest work, honest business practice.
12 12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12) (RSV)
12 12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12) (NIV)
A hope that is continually not fulfilled is depressing. Do not put our hope and ambition too high. Our hope and ambition should be realistic and achievable. There is no point in hoping for the impossible. Having too high a hope or too high an ambition will be frustrating. Be contented with what we have. Sufficient and adequate is good enough.
Nothing is more grievous than the disappointment of a raised expectation, though not in the thing itself by a denial, yet in the time of it by a delay: Hope deferred makes the heart sick and languishing, fretful and peevish; but hope quite dashed kills the heart, and the more high the expectation was raised the more cutting is the frustration of it. It is therefore our wisdom not to promise ourselves any great matters from the creature, not to feed ourselves with any vain hopes from this world.
When our desire is fulfilled, it brings much joy and gladness. We feed so alive and vibrant when the desire is fulfilled, or the ambition is achieved. So in order to make ourselves happier, set our desire, hope and ambition to realistic ones, so that they are achievable.
Wednesday, Feb 5, 2014.
Michael Yeap.
NIV: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+13&version=NIV
RSV: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+13&version=RSV
NKJV: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+13&version=NKJV
Commentaries:
1) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.1
2) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.2
3) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.3
4) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.4
5) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.5
6) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.6
7) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.7
8) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.8
9) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.9
10) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.10
11) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.11
12) http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/matthew-henry/Prov.13.12
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