From our Sunday service on May 17, 2026, Proverbs 24:10-34. This is part 4 of our Sayings of the Wise series. Watch the full message: The Sayings of the Wise #4 on YouTube.
These last sayings of the wise bring us to the close of a collection Solomon meant to be learned, lived, and shared. They are meant to form the way we face pressure, treat our neighbors, use our work, and respond to evil. The thread that runs through them is the same lesson we have been carrying through this series: God wants His people to know that they should live wisely in all areas of their life.
Saying 25: Stand Up in the Day of Adversity
If we faint when the day of adversity comes, our strength is small. The picture is of pressure closing in, of a time when people are being crushed and even drawn toward death. Wisdom does not treat that moment as somebody else’s problem. We are morally obligated to help those who are being seized and brought to slaughter. To delay, or to pretend we did not know, is a failure to do what we owe our neighbor:
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?
Proverbs 24:10–12
God is not deceived by the claim that we simply did not understand what was happening. People have stood by while their neighbors were taken to death and later said they did not know. Solomon will not let us hide behind willful ignorance. If we have eternal life in Christ, we cannot make our own comfort the reason we refuse to act. Christ gave Himself for us, and He calls us to take up our cross and follow Him. If the day ever comes when our neighbor’s life is in danger, a wise person is prepared to stand, even at great cost.
Saying 26: Eat Honey, Because It Is Good
We are told to eat honey because it is good and sweet, and then to understand wisdom in the same way:
My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.
Proverbs 24:13–14
Honey is both beneficial and pleasant. Wisdom is like that. It helps the soul, and there is no true downside to gaining it. We may not use every piece of it on the day we learn it. The reward may come later, when a difficulty arrives and the wisdom is already in hand. That is why a wise person keeps seeking it now.
Saying 27: A Just Man Falleth Seven Times
The collection then warns the wicked not to wait in ambush against the righteous or spoil the place where he rests:
Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place: For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
Proverbs 24:15–16
The two falls are not the same. The righteous may be thrown by something outside himself, or may stumble unintentionally, and then get back up, repair what he can, and go on. The wicked falls because of his own evil. A life of crime is not a small mistake from which a person easily recovers. An evil person may get away with his crimes for a while, but one day he will be caught, and he will not be able to undo what he has done.
Saying 28: Rejoice Not When Thine Enemy Falleth
That distinction leads immediately to a warning for the righteous. We must not rejoice when an enemy falls, or let our hearts be glad when he stumbles:
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.
Proverbs 24:17–18
God sees that kind of satisfaction, and it is evil in His eyes. We should not celebrate the ruin of a life, even when the person has done wrong. We should mourn that someone has been destroyed by the fruit of his own sin rather than treat his fall as a festival. The saying even warns that the Lord may turn His wrath away from that person if our celebration would become a stumbling in us. A wise person does not make another person’s fall an occasion for joy.
Saying 29: Fret Not Thyself Because of Evil Men
The same perspective keeps us from being infuriated or envious because of evil men:
Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked; For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.
Proverbs 24:19–20
They have no lasting reward. We have a future with God; they have only what they can grasp now. That is why we need not be consumed with anger at their present success or jealous of what looks like ease. Wisdom remembers the end of the matter rather than measuring everything by the moment in front of us.
Saying 30: Fear the Lord and the King
Solomon closes the original thirty sayings with a call to fear the Lord and the king, and not to meddle with those who are given to change:
My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?
Proverbs 24:21–22
The warning is against joining people who want to overthrow the order God has allowed. No one comes to power apart from His sovereignty. It is foolish to assume that those eager to tear a government down will certainly make things better. Their calamity can rise suddenly, and we do not know how great the ruin may be. A wise person stays far from that kind of movement.
Saying 31: No Respect of Persons in Judgment
The additional sayings continue in the same practical direction:
These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
Proverbs 24:23
A wise person looks at the evidence and the seriousness of the offense, not at a face, a family, a class, or a personal preference. The same danger appears when we excuse one person and deal harshly with another for the same wrong. When we are called to judge, we should treat everyone equally according to the facts.
Saying 32: Rebuke the Wicked
Those who call the wicked righteous will be denounced, and nations will abhor them:
He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.
Proverbs 24:24–25
If we speak well of evildoers, we make ourselves a target for public anger. A wise person calls evil what it is, regardless of who commits it, knowing that honesty about evil makes the right people our allies.
Saying 33: Kiss the Lips That Give a Right Answer
People are refreshed by a straight and honest reply:
Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.
Proverbs 24:26
Pretending, evading, and wearing a mask may seem safer, but walking around a question is exhausting for the person who needed a real word. We will have more genuine friends if we stop being fake and simply tell the truth. Those who answer honestly are a breath of fresh air in a world of facades.
Saying 34: Prepare Thy Work, Then Build Thine House
A person is told to prepare his work in the field and afterward build his house:
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house.
Proverbs 24:27
The need for food and a living comes before optional comfort. The temptation is to seek a comfortable house first, but wisdom says to make the field fit so that there will be food and income. It is unwise to spend first on conveniences while basic needs are still insecure. A wise person does the necessary work now, knowing that later comfort depends on first things being in place.
Saying 35: No Petty Revenge
The same wisdom refuses petty revenge. We are not to bear false witness against a neighbor without cause, or say that we will do to him as he has done to us:
Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips. Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.
Proverbs 24:28–29
Neighbors can be difficult, and living near people will bring real inconveniences. That frustration does not give us permission to lie when someone else has a grievance, or to take repayment into our own hands. We leave room for God to repay, and we pass over a transgression when we can. A wise person will be patient with his neighbor rather than use a convenient moment for spite.
Saying 36: The Field of the Slothful
The last saying comes from a walk past a neglected field. The ground is covered with thorns, the wall is broken, and the sight itself becomes instruction:
I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.
Proverbs 24:30–34
The ruin did not happen in a day. It came through many small delays. Poverty then arrives in a way that is hard to escape. The writer realizes that he is not as different from that man as he first supposed. A wise person is proactive. He does the little thing today so that it does not become a disaster later. Great failures often come from a series of lazy choices rather than from a single sudden blow.
These sayings are not meant only to be admired. The question is whether we will live by them. Wisdom fears the Lord, speaks honestly, judges fairly, works diligently, and refuses revenge, jealousy, rebellion, favoritism, and laziness. God wants His people to live wisely in all areas of life. Will you choose to live wisely today, or will you leave these things for another day?
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