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href="../proverbs/22-3.htm" title="Proverbs 22:3">◄</a> Proverbs 22:4 <a href="../proverbs/22-5.htm" title="Proverbs 22:5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">By humility <i>and</i> the fear of the LORD <i>are</i> riches, and honour, and life.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/proverbs/22.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/proverbs/22.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/proverbs/22.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/proverbs/22.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/proverbs/22.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/proverbs/22.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/proverbs/22.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/proverbs/22.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/proverbs/22.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/proverbs/22.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/proverbs/22.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/proverbs/22.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/proverbs/22.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/proverbs/22.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/proverbs/22.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/proverbs/20-27.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/proverbs/22.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a 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href="/commentaries/sermon/proverbs/22.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/proverbs/22.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/proverbs/22.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/proverbs/22.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/proverbs/22.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(4) <span class= "bld">By humility and the fear of the Lord.—</span>Rather, <span class= "ital">by </span>(or, the reward of) <span class= "ital">humility is the fear of the Lord. </span>He guides the humble and teaches them His fear. (Comp. <a href="/psalms/25-9.htm" title="The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.">Psalm 25:9</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Honour, and life.</span>—Comp. <a href="/proverbs/21-21.htm" title="He that follows after righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor.">Proverbs 21:21</a>.<p><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/benson/proverbs/22.htm">Benson Commentary</a></div><span class="bld"><a href="/proverbs/22-4.htm" title="By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honor, and life.">Proverbs 22:4</a></span>. <span class="ital">By humility — </span>Hebrew, <span class="greekheb">עקב ענוה</span>, <span class="ital">because of humility; </span>or, as some render the expression, <span class="ital">the reward of humility, </span>that reward which God has graciously promised, and will confer on humility, which is a grace of great price in his eyes, <a href="/isaiah/57-15.htm" title="For thus said the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.">Isaiah 57:15</a>; <a href="/james/4-6.htm" title="But he gives more grace. Why he said, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.">James 4:6</a>; <span class="ital">and the fear of the Lord — </span>By which he distinguishes true and Christian humility from counterfeit and merely moral humility: for the former arises from a deep sense of God’s greatness, purity, and perfection, compared with our meanness, impurity, and manifold imperfections, whereas this latter is quite of another nature, and proceeds from other sources; <span class="ital">are riches, and honour, and life — </span>The comforts of this life, and the happiness of the next, both which are promised to godliness: see on <a href="/proverbs/15-33.htm" title="The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility.">Proverbs 15:33</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/proverbs/22.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>22:1 We should be more careful to do that by which we may get and keep a good name, than to raise or add unto a great estate. 2. Divine Providence has so ordered it, that some are rich, and others poor, but all are guilty before God; and at the throne of God's grace the poor are as welcome as the rich. 3. Faith foresees the evil coming upon sinners, and looks to Jesus Christ as the sure refuge from the storm. 4. Where the fear of God is, there will be humility. And much is to be enjoyed by it; spiritual riches, and eternal life at last. 5. The way of sin is vexatious and dangerous. But the way of duty is safe and easy. 6. Train children, not in the way they would go, that of their corrupt hearts, but in the way they should go; in which, if you love them, you would have them go. As soon as possible every child should be led to the knowledge of the Saviour. 7. This shows how important it is for every man to keep out of debt. As to the things of this life, there is a difference between the rich and the poor; but let the poor remember, it is the Lord that made the difference. 8. The power which many abuse, will soon fail them. 9. He that seeks to relieve the wants and miseries of others shall be blessed. 10. Profane scoffers and revilers disturb the peace. 11. God will be the Friend of a man in whose spirit there is no guile; this honour have all the saints. 12. God turns the counsels and designs of treacherous men to their own confusion. 13. The slothful man talks of a lion without, but considers not his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion within, and from his own slothfulness, which kills him. 14. The vile sin of licentiousness commonly besots the mind beyond recovery. 15. Sin is foolishness, it is in the heart, there is an inward inclination to sin: children bring it into the world with them; and it cleaves close to the soul. We all need to be corrected by our heavenly Father. 16. We are but stewards, and must distribute what God intrusts to our care, according to his will.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/proverbs/22.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>Better, (compare the margin) The reward of humility (is) the fear of the Lord, "riches, and honor, and life. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/proverbs/22.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>4. humility and the fear of the Lord—are in apposition; one produces the other. On the results, compare Pr 3:16; 8:18.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/proverbs/22.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> <span class="bld">By humility; </span> or, <span class="ital">because of humility</span>; or, as many others render it, <span class="ital">the reward of humility</span>; that reward which God hath graciously promised and will give to humility; which is a grace of great price in God’s eyes. See <span class="bld"><a href="/isaiah/57-15.htm" title="For thus said the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.">Isaiah 57:15</a> <a href="/james/4-6.htm" title="But he gives more grace. Why he said, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.">Jam 4:6</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">The fear of the Lord; </span> by which he distinguisheth true and Christian humility from counterfeit and moral humility, because that ariseth from a deep sense of God’s greatness, and purity, and perfection, compared with our meanness, and filthiness and manifold imperfections, whereas this is quite of another nature, and from other grounds. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Life; </span> the comforts of this life, and the happiness of the next, both which are promised to godliness, <span class="bld"><a href="/1_thessalonians/4-8.htm" title="He therefore that despises, despises not man, but God, who has also given to us his holy Spirit.">1 Thessalonians 4:8</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/proverbs/22.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>By humility and the fear of the Lord,.... Some render it, "the reward of humility, which is the fear of the Lord" (r); so the Targum; an humble man is blessed with it. Jarchi's note is, <p>"because of humility, the fear of the Lord comes;'' <p>humility leads on to the fear of the Lord; he that behaves humbly towards man comes at length to fear the Lord, and be truly religious: though these are rather to be considered as the graces of the Spirit of God, which go together where there is one, there is the other; he that is humbled under a sense of sin, and his own unworthiness, fears the Lord; and he that fears the Lord, and his goodness, will walk humbly before him; they both flow from the grace of God, are very ornamental, and attended with the following happy consequences; <p>are riches, and honour, and life; spiritual riches, the riches of grace and glory; honour with God and men now, and everlasting life in the world to come. <p>(r) "praemium mansuetudinis, quae est reverentia Jehovae", Schultens; "merces humilitatis timor Domini", Baynus; "praemium humilitatis est timor Domini": Tigurine version; so Vatablus, Mercerus, Cocceius. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/proverbs/22.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/proverbs/22.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">4</span>. <span class="ital">By humility</span> &c.] Rather, <span class="bld">The reward of humility</span> <span class="ital">and</span> (or, <span class="ital">even</span>) <span class="bld">of the fear of the Lord</span>. The copula <span class="ital">and</span> is dispensed with in the Heb. because of the similarity, amounting almost to identity, of <span class="ital">humility</span> and <span class="ital">the fear of Jehovah</span>. Comp. <a href="/matthew/5-3.htm" title="Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.">Matthew 5:3</a>; <a href="/matthew/5-5.htm" title="Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.">Matthew 5:5</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/proverbs/22.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">By humility and the fear of the Lord,</span> etc. This does not seem to be the best rendering of the original. The word rendered "by" (<span class="hebrew">עֵקֶב</span> <span class="accented">ekeb</span>), "in reward of," is also taken as the subject of the sentence: "The reward of humility ['and,' or, 'which is'] the fear of God, is riches," etc. There is no copulative in the clause, and a similar asyndeton occurs in ver. 5; so there is no reason why we should not regard the clause in this way. Thus Revised Version, Nowack, and others. But Delitzsch makes the first hemistich a concluded sentence, which the second member carries on thus: "The reward of humility is the fear of the Lord; it [the reward of humility] is at the same time riches," etc. Vulgate, <span class="accented">Finis modestiae timor Domini, divitiae et gloria et vita</span>; Septuagint, "The generation (<span class="greek">γενεὰ</span>) of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and wealth," etc. It is preferable to translate as above, taking the two expressed virtues as appositional, thus: "The reward of humility, the fear of the Lord." Humility brings with it true religion, which is expressed by "the fear of the Lord." The feeling of dependence, the lowly opinion of self, the surrender of the will, the conviction of sin, all effects which are connected with humility, may well be represented by this term, "the fear of God," which, in another aspect, is itself the source of every virtue and every blessing; <span class="cmt_word">it is riches, and honour, and life.</span> These are God's gifts, the guerdon of faithful service (see notes on Proverbs 3:16 and Proverbs 21:21; and comp. <a href="/proverbs/8-18.htm">Proverbs 8:18</a>). The Easterns have a pretty maxim, "The bending of the humble is the graceful droop of the branches laden with fruit." And again, "Fruitful trees bend down; the wise stoop; a dry stick and a fool can be broken, not bent" (Lane). Proverbs 22:4<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/proverbs/22.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>4 The reward of humility is the fear of Jahve,<p>   Is riches, and honour, and life.<p>As ענוה־צדק, <a href="http://biblehub.com/psalms/45-5.htm">Psalm 45:5</a>, is understood of the two virtues, meekness and righteousness, so here the three Gttingen divines (Ewald, Bertheau, and Elster), as also Dunasch, see in 'ענוה יראת ה an asyndeton; the poet would then have omitted vav, because instead of the copulative connection he preferred the appositional (Schultens: praemium mansuetudinis quae est reverentia Jehovae) or the permutative (the reward of humility; more accurately expressed: the fear of God). It is in favour of this interpretation that the verse following (<a href="/proverbs/22-5.htm">Proverbs 22:5</a>) also shows an asyndeton. Luther otherwise: where one abides in the fear of the Lord; and Oetinger: the reward of humility, endurance, calmness in the fear of the Lord, is...; Fleischer also interprets 'יראת ה as <a href="http://biblehub.com/proverbs/21-4.htm">Proverbs 21:4</a>, חטאת (lucerna impiroum vitiosa), as the accus. of the nearer definition. But then is the nearest-lying construction: the reward of humility is the fear of God, as all old interpreters understand 4a (e.g., Symmachus, ὕστερον πραΰ́τητος φόβος κυρίου), a thought so incomprehensible, that one must adopt one or other of these expedients? On the one side, we may indeed say that the fear of God brings humility with it; but, on the other hand, it is just as conformable to experience that the fear of God is a consequence of humility; for actually to subordinate oneself to God, and to give honour to Him alone, one must have broken his self-will, and come to the knowledge of himself in his dependence, nothingness, and sin; and one consequence by which humility is rewarded, may be called the fear of God, because it is the root of all wisdom, or as is here said (cf. <a href="/proverbs/3-16.htm">Proverbs 3:16</a>; <a href="/proverbs/8-18.htm">Proverbs 8:18</a>), because riches, and honour, and life are in its train. Thus 4a is a concluded sentence, which in 4b is so continued, that from 4a the predicate is to be continued: the reward of humility is the fear of God; it is at the same time riches... Hitzig conjectures 'ראוּת ה, the beholding Jahve; but the visio Dei (beatifica) is not a dogmatic idea thus expressed in the O.T. עקב denotes what follows a thing, from עקב, to tread on the heels (Fleischer); for עקב (Arab. 'aḳib) is the heels, as the incurvation of the foot; and עקב, the consequence (cf. Arab. 'aḳb, 'ukb, posteritas), is mediated through the v. denom. עקב, to tread on the heels, to follow on the heels (cf. denominatives, such as Arab. batn, zahr, 'ân, עין, to strike the body, the back, the eye). <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/proverbs/22-4.htm">Proverbs 22:4 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../proverbs/22-3.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Proverbs 22:3"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Proverbs 22:3" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../proverbs/22-5.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Proverbs 22:5"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Proverbs 22:5" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>