Proverbs 21

The most powerful man in the country is not the last word. The verse says God can turn a king's decision the way a farmer turns water, and it says it about kings specifically.

Self-assessment is not assessment. The verse grants that everyone believes their own case and then names who is actually doing the measuring.

Treating people rightly ranks above religious observance. The verse says it as a comparison, and the comparison is not close.

Pride shows in the eyes and sits in the heart, and even the ordinary work of a wicked man is named alongside them. The verse widens from posture to output.

Steady beats fast. The verse puts the same word on both halves, so the contrast is not between planning and not planning but between two tempos.

Wealth built on lies is vapor, and the verse says the people chasing it are chasing something worse. The second line is genuinely difficult.

Their own violence is what takes them down, and the verse gives the reason in the second line: they would not do justice.

Crookedness shows up as a road, not as an incident. The verse contrasts a whole way of going with a body of work.

Peace in a bad spot beats conflict in a good one. The verse is about a home at war, and it is not a description of women.

The appetite comes first and the treatment of people follows. The verse traces a line from what a man wants to who gets hurt.

The same lesson costs different people different amounts. The verse sorts by teachability, exactly as 19:25 did.

Somebody watches the house of the wicked and it comes down. Who that somebody is depends on a word the translators had to supply.

Deafness comes back around. The verse is a warning aimed at the comfortable, and its subject is the man who stopped listening rather than the God who answers.

Money quiets people, and the verse reports that it works. It does not say it should.

Doing right is a pleasure to the person who is right, and the verse treats that as the actual difference between the two halves.

Drifting off the road has a destination, and the verse names it with an unsettling image: a gathering of the dead, and the man resting among them.

Loving the good time is the problem, not having one. The verse names an appetite and follows it to an empty account.

The trap set for the righteous closes on the one who set it. The verse observes a reversal in how things land, using a word that carries more freight in English than it does here.

The same trade, made worse. A corner of the roof has become open country, and the verse adds anger to contention.

The wise keep something back and the fool gets through it. The verse is about reserves rather than income.

Chase right dealing and loyal love, and you arrive at a life rather than at a reward. The repeated word in both halves is deliberate.

Thinking beats fortification. One man with sense gets over a wall that an army was built to stop.

Watch what you say and you will spare yourself a great deal. The verse repeats one verb on purpose.

The verse hands a man a title. It is one of the few places the book stops describing a type and names him.

He is not killed by having no wants. He is killed by wanting things his hands will not go and get.

One man wants without stopping, the other gives without holding back. The verse puts two appetites side by side.

The offering was already unacceptable. Bringing it as part of a scheme makes it worse, and the verse says so with an exclamation.

The liar's testimony dies with him. The second line is difficult, and it probably contrasts a witness who actually heard something with one who did not.

One man manages his expression, the other manages his road. The verse contrasts a performance with a direction.

No amount of cleverness wins an argument with God. The verse stacks three words for smart and cancels all of them at once.

Do the preparation. Then know that the preparation is not what saves you. The verse holds both halves without letting go of either.