1 The wisest of women builds her house,
but folly with her own hands tears it down. – Although years ago I used as a GP to visit houses in a certain ethnic group where the floor boards of a government provided house would have been torn up to light the stove or heater. I don’t think that many women would tear down their own house. But morally, psychologically and spiritually sadly it happens often!
2 Whoever walks in uprightness fears the LORD,
but he who is devious in his ways despises him.
3 By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back,
but the lips of the wise will preserve them. – What exactly does fool mean here? I don’t think that it has to do with IQ but rather with rejection of wisdom, deviousness etc!
4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. – Productivity leads to a resultant mess which needs to be cleared up!
5 A faithful witness does not lie,
but a false witness breathes out lies. – So true!
6 A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain,
but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding.
7 Leave the presence of a fool,
for there you do not meet words of knowledge.
8 The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way,
but the folly of fools is deceiving.
9 Fools mock at the guilt offering,
but the upright enjoy acceptance. – Given that a scoffer is a fool, we have four proverbs here about fools. They are lacking in wisdom, knowledge, are deceived and even worse mock God!
10 The heart knows its own bitterness,
and no stranger shares its joy. ‘ – Young’s literal Translation reads ‘The heart knoweth its own bitterness, And with its joy a stranger doth not intermeddle.’ This helps me to understand the meaning! For ‘intermeddle’ I would may be say ‘try to diminish’. You bear your regrets and bitterness alone and strangers don’t want to diminish your joyful times.
11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed,
but the tent of the upright will flourish.
12 There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death. – Wickedness leads to hell. Surely it can’t mean death at the end of physical life because good and bad die physically! Not a conclusion which makes me happy but causes me with Solomon and Jesus to warn so that people can repent!
13 Even in laughter the heart may ache,
and the end of joy may be grief. – Meanwhile, back to daily living, where even the recently married, driving with great joy, can be killed at a rail crossing! That is sadly the way grief can rip joy apart sometimes.
Prayer: Thank You that, if we let You, You walk with us through both our joy and our sorrow, Father.
As I read it! 