Chapter 15
2021 - This one:
1 A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. [Pro 15:1 ESV]
An answer is always in response, as to a question. The implication here is that someone is trying to start trouble, and the way to prevent is not to get defensive, which is what the question is trying to provoke in the first place. A harsh word is a "word that hurts". It is something said with the intention of hurting. It is the kind of statement that should be answered softly. Never initiate a quarrel by making a harsh statement. Interesting that the proverb tells us the proper response to a hurtful statement that should never be made in the first place.
Possible FB post?
2021-This verse:
2 The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. [Pro 15:2 ESV]
I was thinking that wise people make use of knowledge - as in science, learning, study - but the foolish just say whatever seems right to them at the time without any regard for whether they can support their position. It should be obvious in this day when male and female are only the traditional, patriarchal, oppressive genders, and there are many more. Wokeness abounds, and none of it is based on science. If we are wise, we will put our emphasis, and base our understanding, on knowledge, not on folly.
Possible FB post.
11 Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD; how much more the hearts of the children of man! [Pro 15:11 ESV]
No secrets. None at all. No such thing as alone time.
Note on these words: Sheol and Abaddon are both used to represent what we generally call hell. They describe very similar places - if not the same place. Both places are "bad". I wonder - though I didn't find anything saying so - if one is the bad place for men and the other is the abyss, or pit, where the fallen angels are confined. Sheol is associated with the word Hades...and I think Hades is where the sinful dead are, as contrasted with Paradise, where the saved dead were confined before the resurrection. Sheol is Strong's 7585: shᵉʼôwl, sheh-ole'; or שְׁאֹל shᵉʼôl; from H7592; hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean retreat), including its accessories and inmates:—grave, hell, pit. Abaddon, used several times also in Job, is Strongs H11: ʼăbaddôwn, ab-ad-done'; intensive from H6; abstract, a perishing; concrete, Hades:—destruction. Wilhelm Gesenius, author of the Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon well known in some circles, also includes the word pit as part of the explanation of Abaddon. Strongs says both words are proper nouns about a location. A specific place. The ESV, RSV, and NASB all "transliterate" these two words, capitalized, as Sheol and Abaddon. But the KJV, NKJV translate them as "Hell and destruction". Hell is capitalized as the beginning of the sentence in KJV but destruction is not, so I would say KJV did not consider either as a proper noun. In the NKJV, this is changed to both words capitalized, recognizing them as proper nouns, but keeping the words themselves the same. The NIV translates them Death and Destruction, both capitalized, but we certainly wouldn't immediately recognize them as place names. So...after all that, I am off on this side trail because of the reading in 1Peter 3 yesterday about Jesus descending into prison, and what that might mean. While Proverbs in my Blue Letter Bible seems to indicate that the book is translated from a Hebrew text, 1 Peter was - I think - originally written in formal Greek. Peter didn't use either Sheol or Abaddon, but the Greek word phylake, which is a feminine noun, not a proper place name. It is about "a guarded place". Strongs G5438: φυλακήphylakḗ, foo-lak-ay'; from G5442; a guarding or (concretely, guard), the act, the person; figuratively, the place, the condition, or (specially), the time (as a division of day or night), literally or figuratively:—cage, hold, (im-)prison(-ment), ward, watch.
22 Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed. [Pro 15:22 ESV]
28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. [Pro 15:28 ESV]
Never really noticed this one before. Slow down. Think first. No matter how much heat is in the moment.
2021 - For so many years, if I had an emotional reaction to what someone said, what I really heard was "Remove all filters and engage mouth". What an emotional reaction should have done was scream "Look out, hit the brakes, there's danger here!" And I write this sentence as if I'm over this now. I am not, but I am getting better at using emotion for my benefit instead of letting it push me into trouble!
This chapter is organized as those before, back to the beginning of 10.