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Proverbs

About this book
Chapter 10

1 The proverbs of Solomon: A wise child makes a father rejoice, but a foolish child is a grief to his mother. 2 Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. 3 The Lord satisfies the appetite of the righteous, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked. 4 The one who is lazy becomes poor, but the one who works diligently becomes wealthy.⁠ 5 The one who gathers crops in the summer is a wise son, but the one who sleeps during harvest is a shameful son. 6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the speech of the wicked conceals violence. 7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing,⁠ but the reputation of the wicked will rot.⁠ 8 The wise person accepts instructions, but the one who speaks foolishness will come to ruin. 9 The one who conducts himself in integrity will live securely, but the one who behaves perversely will be found out. 10 The one who winks his eye causes trouble, and the one who speaks foolishness will come to ruin. 11 The speech of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the speech of the wicked conceals violence. 12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.⁠ 13 Wisdom is found in the words of the discerning person, but the one who lacks sense will be disciplined. 14 Those who are wise store up knowledge, but foolish speech leads to imminent destruction. 15 The wealth of a rich person is like a fortified city, but the poor are brought to ruin by their poverty. 16 The reward that the righteous receive is life; the recompense that the wicked receive is judgment. 17 The one who heeds instruction is on the way to life, but the one who rejects rebuke goes astray. 18 The one who conceals hatred utters lies, and the one who spreads slander is certainly a fool. 19 When words abound, transgression is inevitable, but the one who restrains his words is wise.⁠ 20 What the righteous say is like the best silver, but what the wicked think is of little value. 21 The teaching of the righteous feeds many, but fools die for lack of sense. 22 The blessing from the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow to it. 23 Carrying out a wicked scheme is enjoyable to a fool, and so is wisdom for the one who has discernment. 24 What the wicked fears will come on him; what the righteous desire will be granted. 25 When the storm passes through, the wicked are swept away, but the righteous are an everlasting foundation. 26 Like vinegar to the teeth and like smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him. 27 Fearing the Lord prolongs life, but the life span of the wicked will be shortened. 28 The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectation of the wicked perishes. 29 The way of the Lord is like a stronghold for the upright, but it is destruction to evildoers. 30 The righteous will never be moved, but the wicked will not inhabit the land. 31 The speech of the righteous bears the fruit of wisdom, but the one who speaks perversion will be destroyed. 32 The lips of the righteous know what is pleasing, but the speech of the wicked is perverse.

Texts in conversation

Compare Proverbs 10:19 and Sirach 20:8

Hebrew Bible · Deuterocanon

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Summary

Proverbs says that talking too much can lead to making mistakes, but that wisdom is shown by speaking with restraint. Sirach builds on this wisdom saying, describing how a wise person shows their insight by choosing what they say carefully.

Passages

Proverbs 10:19

Hebrew Bible
17 The one who heeds instruction is on the way to life, but the one who rejects rebuke goes astray. 18 The one who conceals hatred utters lies, and the one who spreads slander is certainly a fool. 19 When words abound, transgression is inevitable, but the one who restrains his words is wise. 20 What the righteous say is like the best silver, but what the wicked think is of little value. 21 The teaching of the righteous feeds many, but fools die for lack of sense.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Proverbs

Sirach 20:8

Deuterocanon · Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
6 There is one who keeps silent, for he has no answer to make; And there is one who keeps silent, knowing when to speak. 7 A wise man will be silent until his time has come, but the braggart and fool will miss his time. 8 He who uses many words will be abhorred. He who takes authority for himself will be hated in it. 9 There is a prosperity that a man finds in misfortunes; and there is a gain that turns to loss. 10 There is a gift that will not profit you; and there is a gift that pays back double.
195–180 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Sirach

References

"... As a contrast with the rich person whose words are “loathsome,” Ben Sira takes the case of a pauper who “will speak giving insight”. The word is the hiphil masculine participle from the root (“have insight,” “be prosperous”); the cognate noun (“insight”) occurs in 13:23. The exact syntactic function in 13:22 is uncertain. It could refer to what is spoken, since the form occurs thirteen times in the Masoretic text as a title for various psalms, possibly in the sense of “didactic poem” or “skillful composition.” However, the uncertainty over the meaning as a psalm title makes this suggestion suspect, and so it seems better to understand the word as describing the action of a person “giving insight.” In the book of Proverbs the participle refers to “one giving insight” or “an insightful person”; for example, Proverbs 10:19 teaches: “One who restrains his words is an insightful person” (compare Prov 15:24) ..."
Jeremy Corley, Ben Sira's Teaching on Friendship (Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2020), 149.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Proverbs 10:19 and Sirach 20:8

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