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Proverbs

About this book
Chapter 24

1 Do not envy evil people do not desire to be with them; 2 for their hearts contemplate violence, and their lips speak harm. 3 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; 4 by knowledge its rooms are filled with all kinds of precious and pleasing treasures. 5 A wise warrior is strong, and a man of knowledge makes his strength stronger; 6 for with guidance you wage your war, and with numerous advisers there is victory. 7 Wisdom is unattainable for a fool; in court he does not open his mouth. 8 The one who plans to do evil will be called a scheming person. 9 A foolish scheme is sin, and the scorner is an abomination to people. 10 You have slacked off in the day of trouble— your strength is small! 11 Deliver those being taken away to death, and hold back those slipping to the slaughter. 12 If you say, “But we did not know about this,” won’t the one who evaluates hearts discern it? Won’t the one who guards your life realize and repay each person according to his deeds?⁠ 13 Eat honey, my child, for it is good, and honey from the honeycomb is sweet to your taste. 14 Likewise, know that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you have found it, you have a future, and your hope will not be cut off. 15 Do not lie in wait like the wicked against the place where the righteous live; do not assault his home. 16 Indeed a righteous person will fall seven times, and then get up again, but the guilty will collapse in calamity. 17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and when he stumbles do not let your heart rejoice,⁠ 18 lest the Lord see it, and be displeased, and turn his wrath away from him. 19 Do not fret because of evil people or be envious of wicked people, 20 for the evil person has no future, and the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished. 21 Fear the Lord, my child, as well as the king, and do not associate with rebels,⁠ 22 for suddenly their destruction will overtake them, and who knows the ruinous judgment both the Lord and the king can bring?⁠ 23 These sayings also are from the wise: To show partiality in judgment is terrible: 24 The one who says to the guilty, “You are innocent,” peoples will curse him, and nations will denounce him. 25 But there will be delight for those who convict the guilty, and a pleasing blessing will come on them. 26 Like a kiss on the lips is the one who gives an honest answer. 27 Establish your work outside and get your fields ready; afterward build your house. 28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your words. 29 Do not say, “I will do to him just as he has done to me; I will pay him back according to what he has done.”⁠ 30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of one who lacks sense. 31 I saw that thorns had grown up all over it; the ground was covered with weeds, and its stone wall was broken down. 32 Then I scrutinized it. I was putting my mind to it—I saw; I took in a lesson: 33 “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to relax, 34 and your poverty will come like a bandit, and your need like an armed robber.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Proverbs 24:21 and 1 Peter 2:17

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

Proverbs teaches respecting God and the king, warning that opposing authority can lead to disaster. 1 Peter echoes this language while reshaping it, keeping respect for the emperor and teaching that reverence belongs only to God.

Passages

Proverbs 24:21

Hebrew Bible
19 Do not fret because of evil people or be envious of wicked people, 20 for the evil person has no future, and the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished. 21 Fear the Lord, my child, as well as the king, and do not associate with rebels, 22 for suddenly their destruction will overtake them, and who knows the ruinous judgment both the Lord and the king can bring? 23 These sayings also are from the wise: To show partiality in judgment is terrible:
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Proverbs

1 Peter 2:17

New Testament
15 For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good. 16 Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil, but as God’s slaves. 17 Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king. 18 Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse. 19 For this finds God’s favor, if because of conscience toward God someone endures hardships in suffering unjustly.
80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Peter

References

"... The contrast of first and last clauses indicates that the initial command to honor all implies such honor is not to be reserved for the mighty; no creature of God is unworthy of it, whatever his or her station in pagan society. The identification of the Christian community as ἀδελφότης, a word otherwise not used in the New Testament, points to the new familial relationship among believers, and hence for the necessity of love to prevail (compare 1:22; 4:8). In the command to revere God, the author employs a verb that, except when used in a quotation in 3:14, he uses exclusively in relation to God. The repetition of the verb in relation to the emperor is also based on Christian tradition and reflects the order of commands in Proverbs 24:21, but with the specific omission of the command to "fear the king" found there. The change, hardly for reasons simply of style, may well reflect a rise in emperor worship in Asia Minor and certainly represents a different, and devalued, understanding of imperial authority than that found in Romans 13:1-7 ..."
Paul J. Achtemeier, 1 Peter: A Commentary on First Peter (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 188.

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 24:21 and 1 Peter 2:17

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