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Summary

Proverbs 17:1–5 – Quiet Peace and Tested Hearts

What happens: Better a dry crust with peace than a full house with strife. Servants who act wisely can gain honor. The Lord tests hearts like a furnace tests metal. Mocking the poor insults their Maker.

What it means: God values peace rooted in righteousness over noisy abundance. He sees through status to integrity. Hearts are refined under His gaze. Compassion honors God’s image in the vulnerable.


Proverbs 17:6–12 – Family Honor, Covering Offense, and Real Warnings

What happens: Grandchildren are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of children. Wise people cover offenses to preserve love; repeating a matter separates close friends. A rebuke sinks deeper into the wise than many blows into a fool. It is safer to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.

What it means: God builds families with honor and loyalty. Love seeks restoration rather than gossip. Teachability marks wisdom; stubborn folly is dangerous. God warns so we keep distance from destructive paths.


Proverbs 17:13–22 – Strife’s Ruin and Joy’s Medicine

What happens: Returning evil for good brings lasting trouble. Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; stop before it bursts. Twisted justice is condemned. A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries the bones.

What it means: God’s justice opposes revenge and crooked rulings. Peacekeeping protects community. Joy rooted in God strengthens life. Bitterness drains because it resists God’s hope.


Proverbs 17:23–28 – Bribes, Discernment, and Quiet Wisdom

What happens: The wicked take bribes to twist justice. The discerning set their face toward wisdom; fools chase everywhere. A wise person restrains words. Even a fool seems wise when silent.

What it means: God demands clean justice and clear focus. Wisdom is steady, not scattered. Restraint reflects fear of the Lord. Silence can guard from needless sin.


Application

  • Seek peace at home and protect unity by covering offenses.
  • Refuse gossip, bribes, and revenge; aim for fair judgments.
  • Cultivate a cheerful heart and measured words.

Bible

1Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.

2A wise servant shall have rule over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part of the inheritance among the brethren.

3The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.

4A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.

5Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.

6Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

7Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

8A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.

9He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

10A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool.

11An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.

12Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.

13Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

14The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.

15He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.

16Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?

17A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

18A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend.

19He loveth transgression that loveth strife: and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction.

20He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.

21He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow: and the father of a fool hath no joy.

22A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

23A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

24Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

25A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him.

26Also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity.

27He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

28Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

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