Old Testament
Proverbs
Proverbs is the Bible's book of practical wisdom, short sayings about money, words, work, friendship and the fear of the Lord. It does not promise an easy life. It teaches the skill of living a good one, the right way up, before God.
Proverbs 1
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 1:1
The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel:
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Proverbs 2
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 2:10
For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
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Proverbs 3
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 3:1-4
My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for they will add to you length of days, years of life, and peace. Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favour, and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
Read the passage article - Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Read the passage article - Proverbs 3:7
Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, don’t despise the LORD’s discipline, neither be weary of his correction; for whom the LORD loves, he corrects, even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 3:18
She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her.
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Proverbs 4
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 4:3-4
For I was a son to my father, tender and an only child in the sight of my mother. He taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 4:20
My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.
Read the passage article - Proverbs 4:24-27
Put away from yourself a perverse mouth. Put corrupt lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead. Fix your gaze directly before you. Make the path of your feet level. Let all of your ways be established. Don’t turn to the right hand nor to the left. Remove your foot from evil.
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Proverbs 6
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 6:23
For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light. Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
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Proverbs 10
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 10:11
The mouth of the righteous is a spring of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs.
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Proverbs 12
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 12:18
There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 12:19
Truth’s lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 12:22
Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who do the truth are his delight.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 12:25
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad.
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Proverbs 15
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 15:1
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
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Proverbs 16
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 16:9
A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 16:23
The heart of the wise instructs his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
Read the passage article - Proverbs 16:25
There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
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Proverbs 17
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 17:9
He who covers an offence promotes love; but he who repeats a matter separates best friends.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 17:22
A cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
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Proverbs 18
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 18:10
The LORD’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
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Proverbs 22
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 22:3
A prudent man sees danger and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.
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Proverbs 23
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 23:6-8
Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies, for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsel which you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 23:7
for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
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Proverbs 25
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 25:1
These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 25:11
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 25:16
Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, lest you eat too much, and vomit it.
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Proverbs 26
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 26:23
Like silver dross on an earthen vessel are the lips of a fervent one with an evil heart.
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Proverbs 27
Perfume And Incense Bring Joy To The Heart
“Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.”
Proverbs 27:17Iron Sharpens Iron
“Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.”
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 27:6
The wounds of a friend are faithful, although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 27:9
Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart; so does earnest counsel from a man’s friend.
Read the passage article - Proverbs 27:15-16
A continual dropping on a rainy day and a contentious wife are alike: restraining her is like restraining the wind, or like grasping oil in his right hand.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.
Read the passage article - Proverbs 27:19
Like water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.
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Proverbs 29
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 29:5
A man who flatters his neighbour spreads a net for his feet.
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Proverbs 30
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 30:5
“Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Discussed in: - Proverbs 30:7-9
“Two things I have asked of you. Don’t deny me before I die. Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God.
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Proverbs 31
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- Proverbs 31:8-9
Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy.”
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More about Proverbs
Proverbs is the Bible's book of everyday wisdom, and it has a very different flavour from the stories around it. There is no plot, no journey, no single hero. Instead there are hundreds of short sayings about money, work, friendship, speech, anger, and the fear of the Lord. It is less a book to read cover to cover than one to dip into, the way you might turn to an older relative who has seen a lot of life and knows how to say the useful thing simply. We find ourselves coming back to it whenever life gets practical.
For all its variety, Proverbs has a backbone. The whole book hangs on trust in God rather than in our own cleverness. Proverbs 3:5 to 6 puts it most memorably: trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. That is not anti-thinking; it is a warning against the particular pride of assuming we always know best. Alongside it sits the famous counsel of 4:23, to guard your heart, because everything you do flows from it. Wisdom here begins inwardly, with what we love and trust, before it ever shows up in behaviour.
What surprises many people is how much Proverbs cares about words. It knows that a sentence can wound or heal. Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet and good for the body, says 16:24, and 12:25 notes how anxiety weighs the heart down while a kind word lifts it. There is something tender in a book of hard-headed wisdom pausing to say that kindness in speech matters. Then there is 10:12, where love covers all wrongs, and 27:9, where the sweetness of a friend is like perfume. Proverbs takes our ordinary relationships seriously, because that is where most of life is lived.
Perhaps the best-loved image is in 27:17: as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. It captures why we are not meant to grow alone. Friends who tell us the truth, who push and refine us, are a gift, even when it is uncomfortable. So read Proverbs slowly, a few sayings at a time, and let one settle before you move on. It will not solve everything; wisdom literature never claims to. But it will hand you small, durable truths for the day in front of you, and that is often exactly what we need.
Questions about Proverbs
- What does it mean to trust in the Lord with all your heart?
- Proverbs 3:5 to 6 calls us to trust the Lord with all our heart and not to lean on our own understanding, promising that he will make our paths straight. It does not mean switching off your mind or refusing to think things through. It is a warning against the quiet pride that assumes we always know best and have no need of God. Trusting him fully means bringing our decisions to him, holding our own certainty loosely, and being willing to be led somewhere we would not have chosen. It is humility as much as faith.
- Why does Proverbs say to guard your heart?
- Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard the heart above all else, because everything we do flows from it. In the Bible the heart is not just our feelings but the centre of who we are, where our desires and loves take shape. The point is that our actions follow what we treasure inside, so the most important thing to watch over is not our outward behaviour but our inner life. What we let in, dwell on and love will eventually show itself in how we live. Tend the source, and the rest follows.
- What does 'iron sharpens iron' mean?
- Proverbs 27:17 says that as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. The picture is of two blades honing each other through friction. It is a wonderfully honest image of friendship, because sharpening is not always comfortable. The friends who refine us are often the ones willing to challenge us, to disagree, to tell us a truth we would rather not hear. Proverbs is saying we are not meant to grow in isolation. We need people close enough to rub against us a little, and humble enough to let them.
Topics in Proverbs
The themes these verses speak to. Follow one to find related verses from right across the Bible.