Proverbs 14:23

14:18. Sin is the shame of sinners; but wisdom is the honour of the wise. 19. Even bad men acknowledge the excellency of God's people. 20. Friendship in the world is governed by self-interest. It is good to have God our Friend; he will not desert us. 21. To despise a man for his employment or appearance is a sin. 22. How wisely those consult their own interest, who not only do good, but devise it! 23. Labour of the head, or of the hand, will turn to some good account. But if men's religion runs all out in talk and noise, they will come to nothing. 24. The riches of men of wisdom and piety enlarge their usefulness. 25. An upright man will venture the displeasure of the greatest, to bring truth to light. 26,27. Those who fear the Lord so as to obey and serve him, have a strong ground of confidence, and will be preserved. Let us seek to this Fountain of life, that we may escape the snares of death. 28. Let all that wish well to the kingdom of Christ, do what they can, that many may be added to his church. 29. A mild, patient man is one that learns of Christ, who is Wisdom itself. Unbridled passion is folly made known. 30. An upright, contented, and benevolent mind, tends to health. 31. To oppress the poor is to reproach our Creator. 32. The wicked man has his soul forced from him; he dies in his sins, under the guilt and power of them. But godly men, though they have pain and some dread of death, have the blessed hope, which God, who cannot lie, has given them. 33.

Wisdom possesses the heart, and thus regulates the affections and tempers. 34. Piety and holiness always promote industry, sobriety, and honesty. 35. The great King who reigns over heaven and earth, will reward faithful servants who honour his gospel by the proper discharge of the duties of their stations: he despises not the services of the lowest.

In all labour there is profit,.... Or "abundance" (u); much is got by it, food, raiment, riches, wealth, wisdom, honour; either with the labour of the hands or head, and nothing is to be got without labour; and he that is laborious in his calling, whether it be by manual operation, working with his hands that which is good; or by hard study, much reading, and constant meditation, is like to gain much for his own use and the good of others; but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury; or "want" (w), of food and raiment, the common necessaries of life; a man that spends his time in idle talk, boasting of what he can do and does, and yet does nothing, is in a fair way to come to beggary: so all talk about wisdom, and knowledge, and religion, without making use of the proper means of improvement, tends to the poverty of the mind; and generally they are most empty of knowledge, natural or spiritual, that talk and brag most of it; empty casks make the greatest sound; good discourse, wholesome words, sound doctrine, thoroughly digested, tend indeed to edification, to the enriching of the mind; but vain words, the enticing words of men's wisdom; logomachies, striving about words to no profit; and all great swelling words of vanity, which are all mere lip labour; they tend to spiritual poverty and leanness of soul. (u) "abundantia", Tigurine version, Baynus, Mercerus, Gejerus. (w) "ad defectum", Pagninus, Montanus; "ad egestatem", Tigurine version, Piscator, Cocceius.

Proverbs 14:23 . In all labour there is profit, &c. — Diligent labour is the ready way to riches; but idle talking, wherein too many spend most of their precious time, will bring a man to poverty. Houbigant renders the verse, All labour will produce abundance, but garrulity nothing but want. “Solomon here,” says Lord Bacon, as quoted by Bishop Patrick, “separates the fruit of the labour of the tongue, and of the labour of the hands; as if want was the revenue of the one, and wealth the revenue of the other. For it commonly comes to pass that they who talk liberally, boast much, and promise mighty matters, are beggars, and receive no benefit by their brags, or by any thing they discourse of. Nay, rather, for the most part, such men are not industrious and diligent in their employment; but only feed and fill themselves with words as with wind.”

Verse 23. - In all labour there is profit. All honest industry has a reward, and all care and pain borne for a good object bring comfort and content (comp. Proverbs 10:22 ). So the Greek distich says - Ἅπαντα τὰ καλὰ τοῦ πονοῦντος γίγνεται "To him who labours all fair things belong." In contrast to the diligent are those who talk much and do nothing. But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury ( Proverbs 21:5 ). Those who work much get profit; those who talk much and do little come to want. So in spiritual matters Christ teaches that they who think that prayer is heard for much speaking are mistaken; and he adds, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" ( Matthew 6:7 ; Matthew 7:21 ). Septuagint, "In every one who taketh thought ( μεριμνῶντι ) there is abundance; he who liveth pleasantly and without pain shall be in want." Cato, 'Dist.,' 1:10 - "Contra verbosos noli contendere verbis:Sermo datus cunctis, animi sapientia paucis." "Against the wordy strive not thou in words;Converse with all, but to the favoured fewImpart thy heart's deep wisdom." Oriental proverbs: "Sweet words, empty bands;" "To speak of honey will not make the mouth sweet;" "We do not cook rice by babbling" (Lane). Turkish, "The language of actions is more eloquent than the language of words." Proverbs 14:23

There now follows a considerable series of proverbs ( Proverbs 14:23-31 ) which, with a single exception ( Proverbs 14:24 ), have all this in common, that one or two key-words in them begin with מ. 23 In all labour there is gain, But idle talk leadeth only to loss. Here the key-words are מותר and מחסור (parallel Proverbs 21:5, cf. with Proverbs 11:24), which begin with מ. עצב is labour, and that earnest and unwearied, as at Proverbs 10:22. If one toils on honestly, then there always results from it something which stands forth above the endeavour as its result and product, vid., at Job 30:11, where it is shown how יתר, from the primary meaning to be stretched out long, acquires the meaning of that which hangs over, shoots over, copiousness, and gain. By the word of the lips, on the contrary, i.e., purposeless and inoperative talk (דּבר שׂפתים as Isaiah 36:5, cf. Job 11:2), nothing is gained, but on the contrary there is only loss, for by it one only robs both himself and others of time, and wastes strength, which might have been turned to better purpose, to say nothing of the injury that is thereby done to his soul; perhaps also he morally injures, or at least discomposes and wearies others.

[Reformed Biblical] iv. 11. 2 Cor. xi. 27, with Deut. viii. 3. Matt. iv. 2-4); yet not to famish . (Ps. xxxvii. 3. Isa. xxxiii. 16. Matt. vi. 32.). And does not his unfailing care for temporal provision convey the assurance, that he will not suffer the soul to famish? "The good Shepherd knows his sheep." He "seeks them out in the cloudy and dark day," and brings them into his fold, where "they go in and out, and find pasture." (John, x. 9. Ezek. xxxiv. 12.) Awful indeed is the contrast of the wicked—their substance cast out (Job, xx. 15); themselves buried in the ruins of their own family. (Ps. xlix. 6, &c. Luke, xii. 19, 20; xvi. 23.) 4. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack (deceitful, marg.) hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. Every day's observation confirms the fact, that a slack hand im- poverishes (Chap. xix. 15; xx. 4; xxiii. 21; xxiv. 30-34. Eccles. x. 18), and the hand of the diligent enriches (Chap. xiii. 4; xxi. 5), the harvest's lord. Justly is the slothful condemned as, deceitful ; because he pretends,to serve his Master, when in truth be has been doing nothing. (Matt. xxv. 26. Jer. xlviii. 10. M.R.). He becometh poor by wasting his trust. (Chap. xviii. 9. Comp. Matt. xxv. 28, 29.) His life, which might have been a continued feast, is a continual vexation. Industry was the law of Paradise (Gen. ii. 15); and though now it bears the stamp of * By Shobi the brother of his bitter enemy. 2 Sam. xvii. 27, with x. 4. Machir also of the house of Saul. Ib. ix. 4. Comp. Ps. xxxvii. 25. † Heb. xiii. 5; five negatives in the original. ‡ Cope in loco .

[Reformed Biblical] But, if we are to "take no anxious thought for the morrow " (his true mean- ing),‡ are we to take none at all? Care is a duty, parental obligation (2 Cor. xii. 14. Comp. Gen. xxx. 30; xli. 33), and, therefore, a com- ponent part of godliness.§ Carefulness is a sin (Luke, x. 41. 1 Cor. vii. 32), a needless burden to ourselves, an unworthy distrust of God. (Matt. vi. 25-33.) The diligent use of providential means honours God. (Chap. x. 5; xxiv. 27.) But much more loudly would we call to the spiritual sluggard. Thou that art sleeping away the opportunities of grace; not "striving to enter in at the strait gate" (Luke, xiii. 24); taking thy salvation for granted; hoping that thou shalt "reap that which thou hast not sown, and gather where thou hast not strawed" (Matt. xv. 26) — Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise . Improve, after this pattern, the summer and harvest season—the time of youth, the present, * Pudeat ab exiguis animalibus non trahere mores.—SENECA, De Clementia. Lib. i. † Chap. x. 5; xxx. 25. Horace's miser quotes this example as an excuse for hoarding. But—as the poet replies—it was to use the hoard in the winter prudent care, not covet- ousness. Sat i. 32. See also Virgil's exquisite picture, AEn . iv. 402, &c. The hoarding spirit of the ants, though attested by numerous writers and naturalists, does not charac- terise those known to us ; though the habits of the species in a warmer climate would probably widely differ from our own