The book’s shape changes here. After nine chapters of sustained fatherly discourse, Proverbs 10 opens Solomon’s own long collection of short, independent sayings — most of them a single verse, most of them built on the same antithetical pattern: the righteous set against the wicked, one line at a time.
A study in Proverbs 10 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 15 min read
A Wise Son Maketh A Glad Father
“The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.”
Proverbs 10:1-2
A second title, “the proverbs of Solomon,” opens this new section of the book, marking a genuine shift — the extended discourses of chapters 1 through 9 give way here to something closer to a collection, one self-contained observation after another.
“The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.”
Proverbs 10:3-4
“A slack hand” and “the hand of the diligent” describe the same body part put to two different uses — this proverb locates the difference between poverty and wealth less in circumstance than in what a person’s own hands actually do with what they are given.
“He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.”
Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 178
White pairs this proverb with Romans 12:10-11’s call to be “not slothful in business; fervent in spirit,” drawing out “the intimate relation existing between our habits of life” and the health of both mind and body — diligence, in her reading, is never only about money.
He That Gathereth In Summer Is A Wise Son
“He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.”
Proverbs 10:5-6
The same ant-like diligence already praised in Proverbs 6 reappears here in human form — timing matters as much as effort, gathering done specifically while the gathering is actually possible.
“The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot. The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.”
Proverbs 10:7-8
“Shall rot” is a deliberately unpleasant word choice — not simply forgotten, but decaying, the specific opposite of a memory that stays fresh and blessed long after the person themselves is gone.
“He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known. He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.”
Proverbs 10:9-10
“Winketh with the eye” pictures a small, deniable gesture used to signal something dishonest without ever having to say it out loud — deception this quiet still counts, in this proverb’s accounting, as fully real.
“The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.”
Proverbs 10:11
“A well of life” names exactly what good speech is capable of — not merely harmless, but genuinely life-giving, the same kind of resource a well was to anyone in a dry land.
Love Covereth All Sins
“Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.”
Proverbs 10:12
Peter quotes this exact line in 1 Peter 4:8, applying it directly to the church’s own life together — two opposite forces named here, one that multiplies conflict and one that is able to genuinely absorb it.
“In the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding. Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.”
Proverbs 10:13-14
“Lay up knowledge” pictures something deliberately stored for later, not spent the moment it is gained — the wise are described here practicing a kind of patience with their own understanding that the foolish never learn.
“The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty. The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin.”
Proverbs 10:15-16
This proverb states a plain social fact rather than a moral judgment — wealth genuinely does function as protection, and poverty genuinely does leave a person exposed, an observation the rest of Scripture will go on to qualify but never simply deny.
“He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth.”
Proverbs 10:17
“Refuseth reproof erreth” treats correction as a kind of steering — refusing it does not simply leave a person standing still, it actively sends them off course.
In The Multitude Of Words There Wanteth Not Sin
“He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.”
Proverbs 10:18-19
“Wanteth not sin” describes an almost statistical certainty — not that every word spoken is sinful, but that sheer volume of speech makes sin’s presence somewhere in it nearly unavoidable, which is exactly why restraint itself counts as wisdom.
“The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.”
Proverbs 10:20-21
“Feed many” extends the well-of-life image from earlier in this chapter outward — righteous speech is not pictured benefiting only its speaker, but actually nourishing everyone within its reach.
“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.”
Proverbs 10:22
“No sorrow with it” distinguishes this wealth from every other kind this book has already described — not riches gained by rigged scales or violence, both already condemned elsewhere in Proverbs, but blessing with no hidden cost attached.
“But he who gives all and does all for Christ will know the fulfillment of the promise, ‘The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.’”
Ellen G. White · Prophets and Kings, p. 60
White contrasts this promise with the danger facing “men who stand, as it were, on a lofty pinnacle” — those tempted toward self-glorification. Riches added without sorrow belong, in her reading, specifically to the person who has given everything to Christ rather than trusted in their own elevated position.
The Fear Of The Wicked, It Shall Come Upon Him
“It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom. The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.”
Proverbs 10:23-24
“As sport” is a chilling description of casual wrongdoing — mischief pursued for entertainment rather than gain, treated by this proverb as more dangerous precisely because it is so lightly held.
“As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.”
Proverbs 10:25
A whirlwind and a foundation are opposite kinds of things entirely — one violent and temporary, the other quiet and permanent, and this proverb insists the wicked and the righteous end up belonging to two genuinely different categories of existence, not merely two different moral grades.
“As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to them that send him. The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.”
Proverbs 10:26-27
Vinegar on teeth and smoke in the eyes are both small, immediate irritations rather than dramatic disasters — a precise picture of exactly how frustrating an unreliable messenger actually feels to the person who depended on him.
“The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. The way of the LORD is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.”
Proverbs 10:28-29
The exact same “way of the LORD” produces two opposite outcomes here, strength for one group and destruction for the other — the path itself has not changed, only the relationship of the traveler to it.
“The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.”
Proverbs 10:30
“Never be removed” is language later echoed almost directly in Matthew 5:5’s “blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” — permanence promised here to the righteous, generations before the Beatitudes would say something very similar.
The Mouth Of The Just Bringeth Forth Wisdom
“The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.”
Proverbs 10:31-32
The chapter opened with a father’s joy over a wise son and closes here with a mouth bringing forth wisdom — the same quality named at the start as a source of family gladness has, by the chapter’s end, become this whole collection’s real subject: not wealth or status, but what a person actually says.
