Proverbs 19:1

Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool. BETTER (IS) THE POOR THAT WALKETH IN HIS INTEGRITY, THAN (HE THAT IS) PERVERSE IN HIS LIPS, AND IS A FOOL. Honourable poverty is preferable to ill-gotten or ill-used wealth. The Hebrew for "fool" [ kªciyl (H3684)] implies the fatness and crassitude which accompany, wealth. "The poor that walketh in his integrity" also talketh in a manner free from 'perversity,' and therefore is no "fool," but a wise man; and conversely, by the law that each clause is to be supplied from the other parallel clause, He that is not poor but rich, and that is "perverse in his lips," also "walketh" not "in integrity." The poor, though men of integrity are despised: the rich, though perverse, and therefore fools, are esteemed wise, and their lot is desired. The rever...

CHAPTER XIX _The worth of a poor upright man. Riches preserve friends. False_ _witnesses. False friends. A king's wrath. The foolish son. The_ _prudent wife. Slothfulness. Pity for the poor. The fear of the_ _Lord. The spendthrift son. Obedience to parents._ NOTES ON CHAP. XIX Verse Proverbs 19:1. _BETTER_ IS _THE POOR_] The upright poor man is always to be preferred to the rich or _self-sufficient_ fool....

The “perverse” man is the rich fool, as contrasted with the poor man who is upright. Proverbs 19:1 are missing in the Septuagint....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 19:1 BETTER IS THE POOR THAT WALKTH IN HIS INTEGRITY. The word for "poor" is, here and in Proverbs 19:7, Proverbs 19:22, _rash, _which signifies "poor" in opposition to "rich." In the present reading of the second clause, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool, there seems to be a failure in antithesis, unless we can understand the fool as a rich fool. This, the repetition of the maxim in Proverbs 28:6 ("Than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich"), would lead one to admit. The Vulgate accordingly has, Quam dives torquem

BETTER [IS] THE POOR THAT WALKETH IN HIS INTEGRITY,.... In the uprightness of his heart before God and men; who is sincere in the worship of God, and in the profession of his name, and walks in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless; and is upright, harmless, and inoffensive in his conversation with men; and studies to exercise a conscience void of offence to both, and continues herein. A man may be a poor man with respect to worldly things, and yet be rich towards God; may be a truly gracious good man, honest, sincere, and upright in heart and life: and such an one is better THAN [HE THAT] IS PERVERSE IN HIS LIPS, AND IS A FOOL; that is, than a rich man, as the Syriac and Vulgate Latin versions supply it, and as the antithesis requires; "that is perverse in his lips", or "whose ways are perverse", as the Syriac version; that acts the deceitful part both by words and...

CHAPTER 19:1-19 FURTHER PROVERBS ON PERSONAL INSTRUCTION One may be poor, but walking in integrity, he is far ahead of him who is perverse in his lips and is a fool. Then we find proverbs about fretting against the Lord; warning against false witness and speaking lies and other matters. We call special attention to Proverbs 19:12 . _ The King's wrath is as the roaring of a lion._ But his favour is as dew upon the grass. It may be applied to Him who is The Lamb of God and also the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Some day He will roar in His displeasure and manifest the wrath, so well deserved by the world. But even then His grace will be revealed, for in wrath He will remember mercy, the mercy promised to Israel. “I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth its roots as Lebanon”...

PROVERBS 19. A shrewd turn of sarcasm in Proverbs 19:3 suggests the attitude of practical wisdom towards that questioning of the moral government of the world which we find in Job. PROVERBS 19:1. FOOL: read rich, as in Proverbs 28:6. Proverbs 19:2 a. Both RV and RVm are unsound grammatically. The lit. rendering shows that the clause is defective, Also without knowledge of the soul. is not good. Some verb expressing action is required. Proverbs 19:2 b. sinneth: read _mg._ The idea is more haste less speed.

BETTER. See note on Proverbs 8:11. THE POOR. a needy one. Hebrew. _rush._ See note on Proverbs 6:11. Same as in verses: Proverbs 19:7; Proverbs 19:22. not the same as in verses: Proverbs 19:4; Proverbs 19:17. HE THAT IS. Figure of speech _Ellipsis_ (App-6), better supplied thus: "Than [the rich that is] perverse", &c. LIPS. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), for what is spoken by them....

_a fool_ We are left to read in the word _rich_, from the contrast implied by the parallelism: upright poverty is better than perverse folly, by whatever advantages of wealth, of birth, or of rank, it may be accompanied. The proverb recurs, with variations, Proverbs 28:6....

BETTER IS THE POOR, &C.— _Better is a poor man who is upright in his way, than a rich man who is perverse in his path._ Houbigant. Thus preserving the antithesis, and following the Syriac....