Chapter 19 contains twenty-nine couplets and runs across wealth, poverty, false witness, anger, parenting, and the relationship between human planning and divine sovereignty.
The chapter opens with a direct comparison: better is the poor who walks in integrity than the one who is perverse in his lips and is a fool. Then one of the chapter's most psychologically acute observations: the foolishness of man perverts his way, and his heart frets against the LORD , people create their own problems and then blame God for them.
On wealth and poverty: wealth makes many friends, but the poor is separated from his neighbor. All the brothers of the poor hate him , how much more do his friends go far from him? He pursues them with words, yet they are not to be found. This is a blunt observation about the social isolation that comes with financial hardship , not a moral judgment, but a description of how people actually behave.
On giving to the poor: he that has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, and what he has given will God repay. Generosity to the needy is described not as charity but as a transaction with God , a loan that God himself will honor.
On anger and its management: the discretion of a man defers his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment.
On a prudent wife: house and riches are the inheritance of fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD , she is not something a man acquires by his own effort but a gift from God.
A slothful man hides his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth , the laziness is so extreme it impairs even basic self-care.
On divine sovereignty and human plans: there are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand. The fear of the LORD tends to life; he that has it shall abide satisfied and shall not be visited with evil.
The chapter closes with a warning: judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.
Coming Up in Chapter 20
Next, Solomon confronts work and appetite: wine mocks, the sluggard invents excuses, and counsel in the heart must be drawn out like water from a deep well Chapter 20 contains thirty couplets spanning alcohol, work ethic, honesty in commerce, vengeance, divine oversight, and the seasons of life. It opens with a warning about alcohol: wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whoever.
