Proverbs 10:16

fruit or, increase, R.V. It has been thought that a contrast is here drawn between the actual "labour" of the righteous which, however toilsome in itself, has its issue in life, and the "increase," the fruit of labour, of the wicked, which is sin. Comp. Proverbs 10:2 above. But "labour" may mean "the fruit of labour", or "increase", which for the righteous tends to what truly may be called "life." The same Heb. word is rendered "wages," Leviticus 19:13, and "reward," Psalms 109:20.

sin which involves death, the opposite of "life" in the first clause of the parallelism.

The Speaker's Comm. suggests that this maxim is intended to guard against a misunderstanding of Proverbs 10:15.