TRV
John Chrysostom
Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 7,356 passages across 56 books
Commentary
Proverbs 18:19
A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.
Do you see the great strength which comes from concord? And do you see the great harm caused by contentiousness? A kingdom in revolt destroys itself. When two brothers are bound together and united into one, they are more unbreakable than any wall.
Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Christ makes the same point when he says, “By your own words you will be condemned, and by your words you will be justified.”The tongue stands in the middle ready for either use; you are its master. So also does a sword lie in the middle; if you use it against the enemy, it becomes an instrument for your safety; if you use it to wound yourself, it is not the steel but your own transgression of the law that causes your death. Let us think of the tongue in the same way, as a sword lying in the middle. Sharpen it to accuse yourself of your own sins, but do not use it to wound your brother.
Hence, God has surrounded the tongue with a double wall—with the barrier of the teeth and the fence of the lips—in order that it may not easily and heedlessly utter words it should not speak.
Hence, God has surrounded the tongue with a double wall—with the barrier of the teeth and the fence of the lips—in order that it may not easily and heedlessly utter words it should not speak.
Proverbs 19:14
House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD.
When a certain wise man says, “It is by the Lord that a man is matched with a woman,” he means this: God made marriage, and not that it is God that joins together every man that comes to be married with a woman. For we see many that come to be with one another for evil, even by the law of marriage, and this we should not ascribe to God.
Proverbs 19:17
He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
Let us lend to God almsgiving so we may receive from him clemency in exchange. Oh, how wise is this statement! “Whoever has mercy upon the poor lends to God.” Why did he not say, “Whoever has mercy upon the poor gives to God” instead of “lends”? Scripture recognizes our greediness; it understood that our insatiate desire, which looks longingly toward greediness, asks for an excess. This is why it did not say simply, “Whoever has mercy upon the poor gives to God,” so you may not think that the recompense will be customary; rather, it said, “Whoever has mercy upon the poor lends to God.” Since God borrows from us, then, he is our debtor. How do we want to have him, as judge or debtor? The debtor is ashamed before his lender; the judge does not put to shame the one who borrows.
Proverbs 20:6
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?
A human being is of great value since he is made in the likeness of God. If he adds to this the practice of mercy in practical matters he then becomes an honorable man. He, who does this wisely and faithfully, finds the work [he was created to do].
Proverbs 20:9
Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?
Let us not therefore give up in despair; for to fall is not so grievous as to lie where we have fallen. It is not so dreadful to be wounded as it is to refuse healing after being wounded. “For who shall boast that he has his heart chaste? or who shall say confidently that he is pure from sin?” These things I say not to make you more negligent but to prevent your despairing.
Proverbs 20:24
Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?
“The steps of man are directed by God.” A mortal, that is a sinner [as such], cannot [of himself] know the ways of the Lord; in fact, since he is mortal, he has [of yet] neither died nor lived with Christ. Therefore in the journey to the kingdom of heaven the steps of man are directed by the Lord.
Proverbs 21:8
The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.
“For God sends crooked ways to the perverse.” … Indeed, nothing makes people so stupid as does habitual evildoing. When a person is deceitful, when he is unjust, when he is churlish (and these, to be sure, are different forms of evildoing), when, without having been wronged in any way himself, he inflicts pain, when he connives at trickery—how will he not be exhibiting signs of utter stupidity?
Proverbs 22:20
Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,
As human beings consist of body, soul and spirit, so also Scripture consists of the body of letters, by which the ignorant man is benefited; and that is called “manual instruction.” Second, it consists of soul, that is, a higher meaning, which the one who is higher in learning understands. It also consists of spirit, that is, a more sublime and spiritual contemplation which those who are perfect understand and speak.
Proverbs 23:1
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
“If you sit at the dinner table of a prince, understand with prudence what is set before you.” Christ is anticipated here as the prince. His table and food are the words of his doctrine and his eternal goods which he has prepared for those who love him. Each Christian sits at his dinner table. The one who understands with prudence what Jesus has taught with his works and words extends his hand, which means that with his works he begins to show that he is an imitator of Christ, made humble, a peaceful lover of all and patient in tribulations. The one who does not do this but instead gazes with eagerness at the pleasures of the world must give up any desire for eternal goods which at any rate he will never own. The pleasures of the world are characteristic of a false life, and those who love them will never enjoy eternal possessions.
Proverbs 23:27
For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
Solomon compared the love of [such a] woman with the deep pit. She calls a halt only when she sees that her lover has been stripped of all his possessions. Even more so, she does not stop then but decks herself out more elaborately and insults him in his humiliation, and draws ridicule upon him, and causes him so much misfortune that words are inadequate to describe it.
Proverbs 24:3
Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:
[Solomon] calls Christ wisdom, intelligence and reason. The house is [Christ’s] church which he built and whose storerooms he filled with every kind of precious and splendid riches. The storerooms are the hearts of those who believe in Christ and live in imitation of him—those hearts, I mean, which abound in goodness in thoughts, words and deeds. For this reason, they are made worthy of eternal blessedness.
Proverbs 24:6
For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.
[Solomon] calls war a matter full of disorder, a matter in need of many hands. Or, he may be warning us not to rush to war inconsiderately. Behold, he says, When a decision must be taken, is it not always beneficial to have wisdom in the middle of things?
Proverbs 24:11
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;
“Redeem those who are ready to be slain; spare no effort.” [Solomon] did not say, “Enquire curiously, and learn who they are,” and yet for the most part they who are led away to execution are wicked. This especially is charity. For he that does good to a friend does it not altogether for God’s sake; but he that does good to one unknown acts purely for God’s sake. Do not spare your money; even if it is necessary to spend all, yet give.But we, when we see persons in extreme distress, bewailing themselves, suffering things more grievous than ten thousand deaths, and oftentimes unjustly, we [I say] are sparing of our money and unsparing of our brothers. We are careful of lifeless things but neglect the living soul!
Proverbs 24:21
My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:
“Fear God, my son, and the king,” that is, fear Christ, the true God and king. Or by “king” [Solomon] means the one who, before ruling over others, rules himself. “Do not be disobedient to any of them.” Indeed, the one who denies respect to the king elected by God dishonors God. The impious will be immediately punished: certainly nobody knows that hour or day. Often for those still living an unexpected punishment is taken. Therefore only the judge knows the opportunity and reason of the punishment to be inflicted, or somebody who is a very close friend. So never have a friend except for the Lord and the king: certainly if they are not friends of the Lord and the king, they are their enemies. In truth, do not consider as friends those who are not the friends of the king and the Lord.
Proverbs 26:11
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Don’t you know that people so unconcerned about their own salvation and vacillating between attention to it and headlong course into the devil’s net are compared in sacred Scripture with dogs? It says, remember, “The person who turns away from his sin and then goes back to it is like a dog returning to its vomit.”
Proverbs 26:12
Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
This is not a small fault either to consider oneself wise and to refer everything back to one’s own judgment.… Paul addresses this same reproach to the pagan philosophers: “Professing to be wise, they become fools.” This is the reason for their folly. The author of the Proverbs said on his part, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Again, it is Paul who gives this advice: “Do not be wise in your own opinion.”
Proverbs 26:27
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.
“He that digs a pit for his neighbor shall fall into it.” And this happened even then. For they wished to destroy [Jesus] in order to suppress his preaching, but just the opposite took place. His preaching flourished by the grace of Christ, whereas all their schemes have been snuffed out and have perished. Further, they have lost their homeland, and freedom, and security and worship, and have been deprived of all honor and glory, and become slaves and captives.Accordingly, since we know these things, let us never plot against others, because we have learned that by so doing we are sharpening the sword against ourselves and wounding ourselves more deeply than others.
Proverbs 27:1
Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
Let us not then be procrastinating until tomorrow. For we “know not what the next day may bring forth,” nor let us say “we shall conquer this habit “little by little,” since this “little by little” will never come to an end. Therefore, dismissing that excuse, let us say, “If we do not reform the practice of swearing today, we will not delay until later, when ten thousand things press upon us. Though it were necessary to die, or to be punished, or to lose all that we have, we will not give the devil the advantage of slackness nor the pretext of delay.” Thus if God should perceive your soul inflamed and your diligence quickened, then he also himself will lend his assistance to change you.
Proverbs 28:1
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
How do [the wicked] flee when no one pursues? He has that within which drives him on—an accuser in his conscience, and this he carries about everywhere. Just as it would be impossible to flee from himself, so neither can he escape the persecutor within; but wherever he goes, he is scourged and has an incurable wound! But not such is the righteous.