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Proverbs

About this book
Chapter 13

1 A wise son accepts his father’s discipline, but a scoffer has never listened to rebuke. 2 From the fruit of his speech a person eats good things, but the treacherous desire the fruit of violence. 3 The one who guards his words guards his life; whoever is talkative will come to ruin. 4 The appetite of the sluggard craves but gets nothing, but the desire of the diligent will be abundantly satisfied. 5 The righteous person will reject anything false, but the wicked person will act in shameful disgrace. 6 Righteousness guards the one who lives with integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner. 7 There is one who pretends to be rich and yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor and yet possesses great wealth. 8 The ransom of a person’s life is his wealth, thus the poor person has never heard a threat. 9 The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked goes out.⁠ 10 With pride comes only contention, but wisdom is with the well-advised. 11 Wealth gained quickly will dwindle away, but the one who gathers it little by little will become rich. 12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is like a tree of life. 13 The one who despises instruction will pay the penalty, but whoever esteems direction will be rewarded. 14 Instruction from the wise is like a life-giving fountain, to turn a person from deadly snares. 15 Keen insight wins favor, but the conduct of the treacherous ends in destruction. 16 Every shrewd person acts with knowledge, but a fool displays his folly. 17 An unreliable messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful envoy brings healing. 18 The one who neglects discipline ends up in poverty and shame, but the one who accepts reproof is honored. 19 A desire fulfilled will be sweet to the soul, but fools abhor turning away from evil. 20 The one who associates with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm. 21 Calamity pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous. 22 A good person leaves an inheritance for his grandchildren, but the wealth of a sinner is stored up for the righteous. 23 Abundant food may come from the field of the poor, but it is swept away by injustice. 24 The one who spares his rod hates his child, but the one who loves his child is diligent in disciplining him.⁠ 25 The righteous has enough food to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked will be empty.

Texts in conversation

Compare Proverbs 13:9 and Job 21:17

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Proverbs 13 and Job 21 use the image of a lamp to describe the fate of the unrighteous, but in opposite ways. Proverbs says that they lose their light, following an ancient Near Eastern pattern. Job challenges this, questioning why they prosper.

Passages

Proverbs 13:9

Hebrew Bible
7 There is one who pretends to be rich and yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor and yet possesses great wealth. 8 The ransom of a person’s life is his wealth, thus the poor person has never heard a threat. 9 The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked goes out. 10 With pride comes only contention, but wisdom is with the well-advised. 11 Wealth gained quickly will dwindle away, but the one who gathers it little by little will become rich.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Proverbs

Job 21:17

Hebrew Bible
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain if we were to pray to him?’ 16 But their prosperity is not their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me! 17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger? 18 How often are they like straw before the wind and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind? 19 You may say, ‘God stores up a man’s punishment for his children!’ Instead let him repay the man himself so that he may be humbled!
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Job

References

"... The Wisdom Speech (Job 28) certainly fits with the style of much of the Joban poet(s). It contains the same penchant for the obscure and esoteric that marks much of the dialogue. However, the words of the Wisdom Speech seem to be out of place on the lips of the suffering Job. The Wisdom Speech harmonizes with the larger corpus of wisdom literature in its conclusion that (“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” [Job 28:28]). Proverbs affirms the same type of orthodoxy (Prov 1:7). Yet the character Job has served as an anti-wisdom until Job 26. Job specifically contradicts Bildad and Proverbs 13:9 (Job 21:17). It seems bizarre that Job would radically change his argument so quickly, yet revert to his original argument in the subsequent chapters (Job 29–31) ..."
James Kipp Swinney, “Intertextual Discourse and the Problem of God: The Intersection of the Speeches of Job and Deuteronomy” (MA diss., Abilene Christian University, 2016), 23.

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 13:9 and Job 21:17

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