Proverbs 14:15

The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going. THE SIMPLE BELIEVETH EVERY WORD - whether, true or false, useful or injurious. "Charity," indeed, "believeth all things" (); but not things that are palpably untrue. It is the truth which it readily believes. It believes all that it can with a good conscience believe to the credit of another, but not anything more. Epicharmus says, 'The sinews and limbs of faith are not rashly to believe' (). BUT THE PRUDENT (MAN) LOOKETH WELL TO HIS GOING - whether it tends to grace and salvation, or to sin and perdition: he 'believeth not every word,' as, for instance, the flattering words of seducers, who commend to him false doctrine or licentious practice (cf:...

SIMPLE - In the bad sense (compare Proverbs 1:22)....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 14:1 EVERY WISE WOMAN BUILDETH HER HOUSE. Wise women order well their household matters and their families; they have an important influence, and exercise it beneficially. Γυναικὸς ἐσθλῆς ἐστὶ σώζειν οἰκίαν_._ "A good wife is the saving of a house." The versions render as above. A different pointing of the word translated "wise" (_chakhmoth_)_ _will give "wisdom" (_chokhmoth_)_, _which it seems best to read here, as the parallel to the abstract term "folly" in the second member. So we have, "Wisdom hath builded her house" (Proverbs 9:1; comp. Proverbs 1:20). Thus: "The wi

THE SIMPLE BELIEVETH EVERY WORD,.... Every thing that is said to him every story that is told him, and every promise that is made him; and so is easily imposed upon, and drawn in to his hurt: every word of God, or doctrine of his, ought to be believed; because whatever he says is true, he cannot lie; every word of his is pure, free from all error and falsehood; it is a tried word, and found to bear a faithful testimony, and, if we receive the witness of then, the witness of God is greater; besides, his word is profitable for instruction, and for the increase of peace, joy, and comfort, and is effectual to saving purposes: every word of Christ is to be believed, who is a teacher sent from God; whose mission is confirmed by miracles, and whose doctrine is not his own as man, but his Father's; he is the faithful witness, and truth itself; his words are more than human, and besides are pleas...

CHAPTER 14 THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH: THE RICH AND THE POOR The contrast now concerns the wise and the foolish, the rich and the poor. Let us see some of these contrasts. “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them” Proverbs 14:3. The foolish shoots forth his foolishness like a branch. Separation from the foolish man is commanded in the seventh verse. The wise cannot have fellowship with the foolish, as the believer is not to be yoked to the unbeliever. Fools make a mock at sin Proverbs 14:9). The word “sin” in the original means “trespass offering.” That is exactly what the foolish man does, including the religious fool; he denies both sin and the blessed provision God has made to deliver from the guilt and power of sin. But among the righteous, says

PROVERBS 14. In this, as in each of the preceding Chapter s in this section, aphorisms on the moral government of the world come first in number. There are rather more in this chapter of a political and social character, while a group that might be called psychological appears for the first time (_e.g._ Proverbs 14:10; Proverbs 14:13, and in part Proverbs 14:30). The contrast between wisdom and folly, simplicity and prudence, also yields a fairly numerous group. PROVERBS 14:1. MT cannot be translated. Proverbs 14:1 a is p

WORD: or thing....

THE SIMPLE BELIEVETH EVERY WORD— Bochart observes well upon this verse, that as prudence, without simplicity, degenerates into craft; so simplicity, without prudence, is no better than downright folly. We must follow our Saviour's counsel, and unite the serpent with the dove....

TEXT Proverbs 14:13-24 13. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; And the end of mirth is heaviness. 14. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways; And a good man shall be satisfied from himself. 15. The simple believeth every word; But the prudent man looketh well to his going. 16. A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil; But the fool beareth himself insolently, and is confident. 17. He that is soon angry will deal foolishly; And a man of wicked devices is hated. 18. The simple inherit folly; But the prudent are crowned with knowledge. 19. The evil bow down before the good; And the wicked, at the gates of the righteous. 20. The poor is hated even of his own neighbor; But the rich hath many friends. 21....

14:15 heedeth (h-10) Or 'discerneth.'...