11 A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,
but a just weight is his delight.
2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with the humble is wisdom.
3 The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.
5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,
but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.
6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them,
but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.
7 When the wicked dies, his hope will perish,
and the expectation of wealth1 perishes too.
8 The righteous is delivered from trouble,
and the wicked walks into it instead.
9 With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor,
but by knowledge the righteous are delivered.
10 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices,
and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.
11 By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted,
but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.
12 Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
but a man of understanding remains silent.
13 Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets,
but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered.
14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls,
but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
15 Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm,
but he who hates striking hands in pledge is secure.
16 A gracious woman gets honor,
and violent men get riches.
17 A man who is kind benefits himself,
but a cruel man hurts himself.
18 The wicked earns deceptive wages,
but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.
19 Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live,
but he who pursues evil will die.
20 Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord,
but those of blameless ways are his delight.
21 Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished,
but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.
22 Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout
is a beautiful woman without discretion.
23 The desire of the righteous ends only in good,
the expectation of the wicked in wrath.
24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
25 Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
and one who waters will himself be watered.
26 The people curse him who holds back grain,
but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.
27 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor,2
but evil comes to him who searches for it.
28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,
but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.
29 Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind,
and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and whoever captures souls is wise.
31 If the righteous is repaid on earth,
how much more the wicked and the sinner!
Section Overview
Consistent with the entire central section of Proverbs 10–29, the sayings in chapter 11 bring together a hodgepodge of topics: justice, securities and pledges, humility, wise and foolish speech, the power of knowledge and the curse of folly, wealth and poverty, the motives of the heart, a variety of portraits of wise and foolish people, and the repeating images of the way and the path. Chapters 10–12 emphasize righteousness and wickedness, while wisdom and folly are clearly in the background. The emphasis on these two pairs is reversed in chapters 13–15. On the whole, Proverbs 11 creates a collage of characters, situations, behaviors, and attitudes that repeatedly train us to recognize the many ways in which wisdom/righteousness and folly/wickedness can play out in daily life.
This is also one of many chapters in the central section with only faint signs of organization and clusters amid a broader sense of arbitrariness. As in a forest where small groups of common trees appear amid an overall sense of random growth, the effect, rather than boring us, actually invites our gaze.
Section Outline
II.A. Solomon’s Intro to Wisdom: Contrasts of the Wise-Righteous and Wicked-Fools (10:1–15:33)
1. Righteous or Wicked (10:1–12:28) . . .
d. Security, Virtue, and Righteousness (11:1–8)
e. The Neighbor and the City (11:9–14)
f. Dangerous Pledges (11:15)
g. Generous Giving (11:16–17)
h. Consequences for the Righteous and Wicked (11:18–21)
i. Miscellaneous Saying about a Woman (11:22)
j. Miscellaneous Saying (11:23)
k. Blessings and Curses in the Community (11:24–26)
l. True and False Hopes (11:27)
m. Consequences for the Wise/Righteous and Foolish/Wicked (11:28–31)
Response
Identity and Security
Two overarching themes can be traced in this chapter. First, the text confronts us with the many ways we labor to establish our sense of identity and our physical security in this world: wealth, greed, abuse of the weak, deceit, and fraud—to name but a few. Richard Lints has described “selfhood,” “security,” and “consumption” as some of the main idols of our contemporary culture.109 We want to know who we are and want to be safe and happy. So, looking inward, we guard, hoard, and consume things we believe will satisfy our desires. No surprise here: they do not!
It is worth taking a moment to think of the life of Abraham, who longed for God to fulfill his promise to make him a “great nation” and to make his “name great” (Gen. 12:2). Indeed, God is just as concerned as we with our security and identity—more so, in fact. But his ways of delivering those things are different from our natural instincts. Sometimes radically so.
Between Genesis 12 and Genesis 22 God visits Abraham eight times to deliver his promise to him. At each turn Abraham believes God but also reveals an incurable self-interest in securing these things himself. He trusts and does not trust. For example, when told to depart and leave his whole family and house behind, Abraham takes Lot and his family with him, just in case (Gen. 12:4)—relying on some of his riches (cf. Prov. 11:4, 28). On his journeys Abraham lies to both Pharaoh and Abimelech about Sarah’s identity to protect himself, just in case (Gen. 12:11–16; 20:1–2). When God reassures him that the promised seed will not be Lot’s or Eliezer’s child (Gen. 15:1–4), Abraham takes Hagar into his bed, just in case (Gen. 16:1–4). At root Abraham is like us in our struggle to trust God to provide our security and fulfill our deepest desires.
More positively, we can think too of Gideon, sent into battle with an army of three hundred (diminished from an original twenty-two thousand) before emerging victorious (Judges 7). Or Jonathan, who charged at the Philistines when outnumbered in battle. Or Elijah before the prophets of Baal. All of these are narratives of confidence and trust when everything visible told the faithful to assume the opposite. Security and identity, Lints says, are found not by looking inward but by gazing outward, “away from ourselves.”110 Or, as Jesus said so memorably, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:39; cf. Prov. 11:24).
Welfare of the City
A second theme in this chapter is found in the number of sayings that provide for life and flourishing in the neighborhood, community, and city (vv. 9–15, 24–26, 29–30). This same theme is seen later in the Bible, when Israel is on its way to seventy years of exile and the prophet Jeremiah admonishes them to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:7).
But Christians today are on many sides of this question about our obligation to invest in our cities, schools, government, and broader culture. We may contrast the recently popular Benedict option, which imagines a cautious retreat from culture to protect Christian freedoms and education of children, with the vision of intense public engagement and a call to “social justice.” Indeed, John Calvin and Martin Luther disagreed sharply on these matters. Calvin encouraged Christians to discover God in the “theater” of his revelation: education, the arts, government, science, and more. Luther encouraged hard work but was reserved about the church’s call to shape culture. We will take their debate up again in Proverbs 31.
For now we should notice that wisdom in Proverbs is designed to bring flourishing to the whole spectrum of life and culture. Proverbs loves the prospering city. But Proverbs is not naïve about the nature of civic life in a world in which sin, rebellion, and evil are at close at hand.
In this chapter alone we observe several principles of public engagement. First, we find an ideal vision: the city as a place of blessing, rejoicing, and exaltation (11:10–11). Contrary to popular Christian notions of flying away from life on earth to a heavenly paradise, Proverbs reflects the vision of Genesis 1 and Revelation 22, in which human culture evokes joy, order, and harmony. God loves diverse, creative, busy, and productive societies here on earth.
Second, in a fallen world, the life of the city will always be in need of just leaders and just citizens (Prov. 11:1, 6, 14, 15, 26)—people who will sacrifice comfort and safety to hold back the tide of evil. Proverbs remains aware of the human proclivity to manipulate the marketplace and the public courts, and this injustice and abuse of power inevitably create distrust, fear, and anxiety. Every citizen is faced with three choices: (1) joining in with the corruption (“Everyone else is doing it!”), (2) doing one’s best to hide from it all, or (3) seeking to oppose injustice and bring about social trust and order. This final choice is the one favored by Proverbs—but not by looking through rose-colored glasses. Resisting evil will incite opposition and put one at risk, and wisdom will be necessary at every turn.
Third, the vision of Proverbs for the city is not based on an abstract notion of justice. Instead its worldview arises out of a theology in which all humans are our fellow creatures. The “blameless,” “righteous,” “wicked,” “crooked,” “steadfast,” “wise,” and “fool” are all people we know, for good or for bad. They are people—divine image bearers. Moreover, the twofold emphasis on the “friend/neighbor” (vv. 9, 12; cf. 3:29) reminds Israel of laws like those in Leviticus 19:15–18 that specifically mention the “poor,” the “great,” “your people,” “your brother,” and “the sons of your own people.” This series of laws culminates in the second great commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:18). These are people that we know and whose lives are impacted by our decisions to do good or evil.
Later in Proverbs the doctrine of a common Creator will be tied more explicitly to our obligation to care for our neighbor (cf. Prov. 20:12; 22:2). This is one of the great stumbling blocks the Jews have in confronting the teachings of Jesus. Not conditioned by the social biases of his day, Jesus calls for loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:43–47; cf. Luke 10:25–37).Proverbs 11
Proverbs 12