Proverbs 22
Verse 1 Favour - A good report among men, especially good men, and that hearty kindness which attends it. Verse 2 Meet - They live together, and need one another. The maker - Not only as they are men, but as they are poor or rich, which difference comes from God's providence. They have one common creator, and Lord, and judge, and the one cannot despise nor grudge at the other without reflecting upon God. Verse 3 The evil - The judgment of God threatened, and approaching. Hideth - Retires to his strong tower, by prayer and repentance, puts himself under the protection of the almighty. Pass on - Carefully and securely. Verse 6 Depart - Not easily and ordinarily. Verse 7 Is servant - Is at his mercy, and forced to comply with his pleasure. Verse 8 The rod - That power which he used with fury shall be taken from him. Verse 9 He - Who looks upon the wants and miseries of others with compassion. Verse 12 Preserve - God by the watchful eye of his providence maintains and defends. Knowledge - Men of knowledge, knowing and good men. The matters - All his hopes, enterprizes, and concerns. Verse 14 The mouth - Her fair and flattering speeches. Verse 15 Bound - Is fixed and settled there, as being born with him, and rooted in his very nature. Verse 16 That giveth - That prodigally casts away his estate upon those who do not need it. Verse 17 My knowledge - The knowledge of God, which I am here delivering. Verse 18 Fitted - Fitly expressed: thou wilt be able to discourse profitably of them. Verse 20 In counsels and knowledge - In counsels which proceed from found knowledge. Verse 21 Answer - That thou mayst be able to give solid, and satisfactory answers. Verse 22 In the gate - Under pretence of justice. Verse 23 Spoil the soul - Take away not only their goods but their lives too. Verse 29 Before kings - He is fit to be employed in the affairs of princes.