Read Pray Love: Proverbs 10:6-10 (Week 3)
As you read through, think about, reflect, and meditate on the Scripture this week, here are a few things to keep in mind about Proverbs.

Genre: Proverb (short wise saying)

As a proverb, these sayings are intentionally kept short (in Hebrew) to provide readers with a general truth about life. Remember that Proverbs are NOT Promises from God; they simply describe some pattern about life that is generally true.

Also, sometimes proverbs are intentionally cryptic (especially in the grammar), so that it forces readers to think and debate what the proverb is teaching, what the limits of the application are, and what situations the proverb might apply to. Please feel free to discuss and debate this amongst your groups.

Historical or Literary Observations (Insights):

The main feature to continue to look out for in proverbs (and all other Hebrew poetry) is Parallelism. (the second line of the proverb completes the idea of the first line in some way.)

So far in our look through Proverbs and Psalms, we have seen several different kinds of parallelism. There is the synonymous kind where the same idea is taught using matching “word-pairs” (i.e. silver-gold, father-mother, “delight in Law” = “meditate day and night”). There is also the antithetical kind where the same truth is being taught from different perspectives (righteous vs. wicked, wise vs. fool, man with integrity vs. man taking crooked paths). This second kind is by far the more common kind of Parallelism in Proverbs.

Interpretation:
10:6 Blessings crown the head of the righteous, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.

ESV Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

• The word translated “blessings” is a different Hebrew word from the one in Psalm 1 translated “blessed.” The one in this proverb refers to gifts, praise, and words of blessing, meaning these things are generally given to the righteous.
• The translation of this verse is actually grammatically confusing, especially in the second line. There are two ways to translate this verse, and the different translations are pretty split.
• One group of translations takes “violence” as the subject of the second line (NIV, KJV, ASV). The other group takes “mouth of the wicked” as the subject and takes the verb to be “conceals”
• Another difficulty comes in the word translated either “conceals” or “overwhelms.” The basic meaning of the word is “covers,” and it is used to speak of Pharoah’s soldiers drowning in the Red Sea as they are covered by water; it’s easy to see where NIV gets “overwhelms” for this translation. In other passages, it is used to speak of covering in terms of hiding, so it is easy to see where ESV and NASB get their translations.
• Taking into consideration the contrast with the previous line, I think that NIV has it correct this time, saying that generally blessings come upon the righteous while violence covers the wicked.
• However, to complicate matters, this exact phrase “the mouth of the wicked conceals violence,” shows up in Proverbs 10:11 where the contrast with the previous line makes more sense translated that way.

10:7 The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.

• This word blessing is the same as the previous proverb, meaning that the memory of the righteous is a gift/blessing (for others), but the name/memory of the wicked will rot.
• Memory and name here serve as a parallel word pair.
• The picture behind the word “rot” is “eaten by worms or bugs.”

10:8 The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin.
NAS The wise of heart will receive commands, but a babbling fool will be thrown down.
NET The wise person accepts instructions, but the one who speaks foolishness will come to ruin.

• The key contrast is between those with a wise heart and those with foolish lips; these images serve to represent wise people vs. foolish people.
• Chattering or babbling fool has less to do with non-stop talking (although that it part of the picture), but ultimately more to do with the kind of stuff that comes from the foolish person’s mouth.
• The beauty of this proverb is that the contrast is not direct but there are a lot of assumed contrasts the reader must connect.
• Generally speaking, those who are wise are quick to listen to instruction (and so are preserved) whereas those who are foolish are instead quick to reject instruction and quick to keep talking about their foolish ideas, and so are “thrown down.”/ “come to ruin.”

10:9 The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.

• The word translated “integrity” means blamelessness/completeness, meaning that both the inside character and outside character match what God desires.
• The word translated “securely” comes from the word “trust,” in Hebrew, meaning that the one who walks in integrity walks in trust, walks in safety, walks without worry = securely.
• The contrast is the one who takes twisted/crooked paths will be found out (implying that the proper consequences shall befall him)
• The language for “takes crooked paths” and means someone who conscientiously chooses and actually distorts and perverts his ways (according to NET)

10:10 He who winks maliciously causes grief, and a chattering fool comes to ruin.
NET The one who winks his eye causes trouble, and the one who speaks foolishness will come to ruin.

• To “wink maliciously” is to secretly conspire to do evil (see Proverbs 6:13).
• The second line is the exact same line as in the previous Proverbs 10:8.
• This parallel construction is not a contrast, but it is instead listing two behaviors that are both to be avoided. Possibly, the idea is that the second one is worse than the first.

Application:

Remember to ask each member of your group, “What came to mind as you were reading and thinking about the passages throughout this week?”

Possible topics for discussion: How does these passages apply to your life? Or how might they apply in general, etc.? Which proverb is your favorite this week?