When willful wickedness comes, etc. but with the modest is wisdom comes wisdom.

The innocence of the upright leads them Heb. תנחם, will guide them.

but the distortion of the treacherous robs them Heb. ישדם, like ישדדם

but in the destruction In the destruction that they perpetrate, they are caught; the verse is transposed. [It means] “and the treacherous in the destruction will be caught.”

When a wicked man dies, hope is lost The hope of all who trust in him.

and the expectation of his children is lost Heb. אונים. The expectation of his children, who are the products of his strength, is lost, for no good will come to them in his merit. But when the righteous die, their children have trust in their righteousness.

A righteous man is extricated from trouble when the wicked man dies, and this is connected to the preceding verse.

With his mouth, the flatterer The flatterer who entices his friend on an evil way, destroys him with his mouth.

but with knowledge, righteous men are extricated But the righteous man is extricated from [the flatterer] with the knowledge of the Torah, which warned concerning him (Deut. 13: 9): “You shall not consent to him, etc.”

the ceiling is raised The ceiling of the Temple will be preserved at its height from falling. As long as the kings of Judah were upright, their prayer preserved the Temple.

but a man of understanding is silent when the one devoid of sense despises him, like Saul, as it is written (I Sam. 10:27): “And they despised him and brought him no gift; and he was as one who kept his peace.”

Without strategy When trouble befalls Israel, and they do not put their heart to understand, to fast and to repent, the people will fall.

will be broken by it The wicked man who gave his heart as surety to idolatry.

but he who hates hand-claspers Those who clasp hands with the enticers to follow their counsel. But our Rabbis expounded this in regard to surety in monetary matters.

draws near to honor Heb. תתמך. The people of Israel constantly draw near to the honor of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Torah. (

but strong men draw near to riches that it should not be lost to them.)

does himself good He does good to his kin. A kind man lit. a man of kindness, a man who is kind.

but a cruel one troubles his own flesh But the cruel one troubles his kin.

A wicked man earns illusory wages The wage of a wicked man lies to him. He thinks that his prosperity will remain, but all is lost.

but he who sows charity [receives] a true reward But he who sows charity, it is a wage of truth, for he is surely confident that he will receive his wage at the end.

שכר cornial in Old French. [This appears to mean a weir in several dialects; i.e., a fence placed in the water to catch fish.] Manuscripts of Rashi yield: eclusse or esklusa, which is e’cluse [in modern French]; in German wasserschleuse, a lock or a sluice gate). Like a man who locks a canal in order to gather fish, and he is confident that he will find many fish there. A similar instance is (Isa. 19:10): “all who make dams (שכר) for still ponds.”

The truth of charity Heb. כן, the truth of charity is that its end is for life, as in (Num. 27:7): “The daughters of Zelofchad speak right (כן).”

From hand to hand From the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, to his hand shall come to him his wage, and he will not be cleansed of the evil that he committed.

[As] a gold ring in a swine’s snout that bemires it in the dungheap, so is a Torah scholar who turns away from the good way.

from whom sense has departed Who has departed from the Torah.

the hope of the wicked is wrath They are assured and hope for Gehinnom.

There is one who scatters his money for such things as charity, and he is given more.

and one who withholds himself from [giving] what is proper, only for a loss it will be to him.

A generous person [lit. a soul of blessing,] who is generous with his money, and every expression of blessing is fuison in Old French, excess.

and he who sates who sates the poor.

shall himself become sated as well He shall be sated with good.

He who keeps back grain [who refrains] from teaching Torah.

He who desires good Who wishes to lead the people in the good way and reproves and chastises them.

seeks acceptance He desires that the Holy One, blessed be He, accept them and and be reconciled with them. Appaisement in Old French, besanftigen in German.

He who inherits the wind will trouble his household A lazy man, who always inherits the wind and does not toil in Torah or in work, will ultimately trouble the members of his household, for they will have nothing to eat.

The fruit of a righteous man The reward of the fruit of the righteous man’s deeds is a tree of life for the world.

and the wise man acquires souls Whoever is wise acquires souls for himself. he teaches them the good way, and they are his as though he had acquired them, as the matter is stated (Gen. 12:5): “And the souls that they acquired in Haran.”

Behold! The righteous man will be requited on earth Why should the wicked man feel confident when he prospers? Does he not see that the righteous man is requited the payment of the sins he has committed while he is still on earth, during his lifetime?

surely a wicked man and a sinner Surely the wicked will ultimately be requited, either during his lifetime or after his death.