A wise son, who has gathered wisdom’s laws into his soul and conducts himself by them, gladdens his father, for this indicates that his father taught him the way of wisdom and discipline. A foolish son, who departs from wisdom’s way because of desire—which defines a fool—causes his mother’s sorrow. A mother draws him especially close. Therefore Scripture regularly attributes good to the father and evil to the mother: the father teaches discipline, while the mother yearns for her son and prevents the father from disciplining him with the rod.

They do not benefit. Something may be good or useful. Treasuries of money and grain, though not intrinsically good, can be useful in distress. But treasures of wickedness—accumulated through wickedness and violence—are not even useful. Below (11:4) it says, “Wealth does not benefit on the day of wrath”; wicked wealth is useless even in peace. But righteousness—good deeds between man and God—saves from death.

He will not let go hungry. During famine, when treasuries are useless because no grain can be purchased, nevertheless Hashem will not let the soul of the righteous go hungry, as in “in days of famine they shall be satisfied.” It adds “the soul of the righteous,” because Hashem grants every desire of his soul. But He thrusts away the calamity of the wicked: Hashem drives the wicked man’s ruin onward, so that once he begins to fall he will fall completely and not arise.

A deceitful palm makes one poor. “Palm” denotes only the hand’s palm, whereas “hand” denotes the entire hand. The deceitful palm—the swindler’s palm—will not make him rich but poor. One who is neither industrious nor quick to earn a livelihood through the work of his hands, but seeks support through deceit rather than labor, using only the palm with which he cheats, will be made poor by that palm. But the hand of the diligent makes rich. The diligent person is energetic in his work and labors with his whole hand and strength; his hand will enrich him.

One who gathers in summer is a discerning son. Summer follows harvest, and one who “gathers” collects the remaining kernels one by one. A son discerning in his work remains occupied even in summer, when nothing remains in the field to harvest or bring in, gathering the leftover kernels. One who sleeps during harvest is a shameful son. The sluggish, lazy son not only sleeps in summer; even during harvest, when all the grain is in the field and it is the season for fieldwork, he sleeps and does nothing. Allegorically, the discerning son studies even in old age. Though he can then originate little and only gather bit by bit—as the Sages describe one who studies when old—nevertheless, “in the evening do not rest your hand.” The shameful son sleeps even in youth, the time of harvest and gathering.

Blessings are upon the head of the righteous. Everyone blesses one who acts righteously because of the good he bestows upon all. It pictures the whole world placing its hands upon his head and blessing him. But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. By committing violence, the opposite of righteousness, the wicked man is not only left unblessed by others; he himself strives to conceal deeds that contain a curse rather than a blessing.

The remembrance of the righteous. “Name” differs from “remembrance”: name is the person’s designation, while remembrance is what people recall of him through his deeds. Even the righteous man’s remembrance remains for a blessing, for his deeds are recalled and blessed in every generation. But even the name of the wicked will rot: not only are their deeds not remembered, but their very name and essence decay and disappear, for they possess neither spiritual nor hereditary continuity.

A wise-hearted one will take commandments: A wise one is one who acts according to the principles of wisdom, as mentioned above. However it is has already been elucidated that the impulse of the heart counters the wisdom. And [so] every man (including a wise one) has a constant war with the impulse of his heart and the desires that move him to the opposite of the way of wisdom. But a man who is already accustomed to the way of wisdom, to the point that it is second nature for him, and the heart - which is the controlling power within him - no longer arouses [him] to evil at all, is called wise-hearted...

One who walks in integrity. It illustrates this through wisdom’s way versus folly’s way. One who walks innocently on wisdom’s way resembles a traveler at a crossroads who has been shown the straight road, believes the guide, and follows it. He walks securely, gaining two benefits: he does not stumble, and he travels confidently without fear. Conversely, one who rejects the good road shown to him and makes his ways crooked onto a winding road will be made known through suffering; alternatively, he will become visible to highway robbers and wild animals found on crooked roads. Having described these opposites, it describes two intermediate cases. Opposite the person who actively makes his ways crooked and is exposed, one who winks his eye travels on the straight road but gestures toward the second road and searches to determine which is correct. Although unharmed because he remains on the straight road, he nevertheless causes sorrow in his heart through doubt, as in Isaiah 50, “You shall lie down in sorrow.” Likewise, one merely foolish of lips, who does not even look for the crooked road because inwardly he trusts the report identifying the good road and follows wisdom’s way, yet externally voices foolish doubts, will also struggle.

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. Wisdom’s way is the way of life because it leads to true life; its opposite is the way of death. Whoever draws and drinks wisdom’s water lives forever. The fountain from which this life flows has three forms: intellect may grasp the good way, as below (16:22), “The understanding of its possessor is a fountain of life”; or it may come through a life-giving Torah received from sages who learned wisdom’s ways in Torah books, as below (13:14), “The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life.” Trusting received tradition requires fear of Hashem, wisdom’s discipline, as explained above (1:7); hence “fear of Hashem is a fountain of life” (14:27). One may also learn wisdom’s particular ways by observing a righteous person and imitating him, learning from his mouth how to act in each case; hence, “the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.” The righteous differs from the sage. The righteous need not be a sage who has systematically studied wisdom’s laws and can formulate “the teaching of the wise,” an ordered doctrine covering life and death, good and evil. Through practical reason and habitual righteousness in particulars, he can decide only the individual cases that arise. The fountain of life is therefore in his mouth, not in his systematic teaching. The sage, however, can formulate general laws embracing all wise conduct—called “the teaching of the wise”—and laws for escaping the way of death and its snares through fear of Hashem. Therefore “escaping the snares of death” is stated of the teaching of the wise and fear of Hashem. But the mouth of the wicked not only cannot teach through their conduct; on the contrary, conceals violence, as explained above at verse 6.

Hatred arouses disputes. Quarrel differs from dispute. Quarrel is the act of contending and may occur over nothing; the matter over which people quarrel is called strife. If its cause is money or wrongdoing that generates a legal claim before a judge, it is called a dispute—the issue being adjudicated—and it remains unclear who is right. An obvious offense receives a more specific name such as trespass, betrayal, or judgment. The wise man says: the true cause of these disputes is not the issue itself but the emotional state of the parties. Friends, or people without mutual hatred, do not insist upon small matters such as neighbor damages. Hatred in the soul arouses disputes: mutual hostility and resentment awaken controversies that would otherwise sleep. But the soul’s attribute of love covers all offenses, even serious ones; certainly it prevents disputes from arising over minor matters.

Wisdom is found on the lips of one who understands. The sage differs from the discerning person. The sage receives wisdom’s laws from his teachers and follows them without investigating their reasons; the discerning person investigates, understands, and derives one thing from another. The sage keeps wisdom confined in his heart and must consult it whenever a case arises to determine whether his act accords with the laws received from his teachers. The discerning person understands each matter’s reason and has built further conclusions upon it, so wisdom’s laws are habitual on his lips. “Lips” differ from mouth and tongue: lips signify external speech without thought. Thus wisdom is pictured as lying ready on the discerning person’s lips, so that he need not think about it, for it is always prepared before him. But a rod is for the back of one lacking a heart. The heart is the ruling power of the soul, directing its faculties according to wisdom’s laws. One consistently following an alternative opposed to wisdom is called crooked of heart. But one with no governance at all, acting moment by moment according to whatever enters his mind, now one way and now another, so that the ruling power never guides him toward wisdom or folly, is called lacking a heart. Such a person needs a rod to direct him. A human being with free choice is guided by his heart; a horse or donkey, lacking a heart that governs its traits, requires an external force—as in “a whip for the horse and a bridle for the donkey.” One lacking a heart resembles an animal and needs a rod to compel him not to twist his paths and cause harm.

The wise store away knowledge. It was explained regarding “to know wisdom” (1:2) that wisdom is received by tradition and cannot be known through proofs of understanding or sensory perception. Nevertheless, one may attain knowledge of it by accepting its laws as clearly true in his heart, observing them, and contemplating them with understanding until they become clear knowledge. The wise store knowledge away from harmful people lest they turn it toward evil. This also includes divine knowledge attained by sages, which must be hidden and guarded, since such secrets are not transmitted to everyone. Below (12:23) it says, “A shrewd man conceals knowledge.” Concealing differs from storing: one who stores something does not hide it completely, but places it where not everyone sees it, though it remains revealed. Concealing knowledge is an act of shrewdness, not wisdom. The wise do not hide it from worthy people, as in “the tongue of the wise improves knowledge” (15:2) and “the lips of the wise scatter knowledge” (15:7). Storing also implies guarding knowledge from the unworthy. But the mouth of a fool stores imminent ruin. The fool doubts everything and therefore can possess no knowledge—clear certainty—about anything. He even stores away and does not reveal an imminent, visible ruin because he doubts it. Thus the wise refrain from revealing good lest it be harmed, while fools guard visible harm from being revealed.

The rich man’s wealth is his fortified city. Wealth is an accumulation of money and many valuable things; a city here is a fortified city. The rich man needs no fortified city in which to escape adversaries, because his wealth is his strong city, sheltering him from the reversals of time—human adversaries—and from hunger, cold, and every deprivation. Accordingly, the ruin of the poor is their poverty. A poor man is one who once possessed wealth and lost it; his diminished wealth resembles enemies conquering his fortified stronghold. This is his ruin, for he lacks shelter from time’s reversals. Allegorically, the soul’s inner wealth is the wisdom gathered in the heart. It is the soul’s strong city against its internal enemies—desires and the evil inclination. But when people lack the wealth of wisdom, folly attacks and conquers the city.

The labor of the righteous leads to life; the crop of the wicked leads to sin.

There is a difference between labor and a completed deed:

• Activity devoted to something and preparing its means is called labor.

• Completing the thing is called a deed.

For example, sowing, plowing, and all preceding activities are called labor relative to the crop; when the crop is finished, the deed is complete.

Accordingly, it says:

• Even the righteous person’s labors lead to life: the intermediate means through which he prepares the goal are themselves directed toward life, and all the more so the goal—the righteous deed itself.

• For the wicked, even the crop of wickedness leads to sin: even the finished crop, the goal of his deed, produces sin and deficiency; it is a false end.

One who keeps discipline is on the path of life. Discipline differs from rebuke. Discipline operates through compulsion, binding the soul so that fear of punishment keeps it within its boundary. Rebuke uses rational argument and evidence to demonstrate the benefit of the good way. Ordinarily, discipline prevents a person from taking the evil way through fear of punishment, while rebuke leads him along the good way because he understands its benefit. It therefore teaches something greater: one who keeps discipline is not only prevented from the way of death, but is also led onto the path of life, because turning from evil begins the performance of good. But one who abandons rebuke leads astray. Not only does he fail to walk the path of life; he also strays onto the way of death. The two ways stand opposite one another, and abandoning the way of life means straying onto its opposite.

(18–19) One who conceals hatred, etc.; in an abundance of words. Maimonides, commenting upon “All my days I grew among the sages and found nothing better for the body than silence,” divides speech into four types: forbidden speech, discretionary speech, commanded speech, and permissible speech. The discerning person speaks only one-quarter of what might be spoken. The evil form of speech—spreading slander about another—contains several evils. One conceals hatred with lying lips: he necessarily hides his hatred and falsely claims to love the other; consequently, he spreads slander, and because his hatred is concealed, people believe it. Several evils are therefore included, and he is a fool, acting contrary to wisdom through the evil of his heart. Even one who does not engage in forbidden speech nevertheless finds that in an abundance of words, transgression does not cease, because most kinds of speech, even discretionary conversation, lead to sin. Therefore, one who restrains his lips is discerning: he restrains them completely and speaks only words of wisdom.

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. As explained consistently, the tongue signifies inward speech and reasoned matters contemplated through understanding, whereas the lips denote outward speech. Linguists associate the tongue with understanding, the mouth with wisdom, and the lips with knowledge, agreeing with our explanation. The tongue signifies matters of understanding. The lips, entirely external, indicate speaking matters that have become habitual and issue automatically; this occurs only with knowledge, known as clearly as sensory facts and therefore spoken without reflection. The mouth is intermediate, indicating wisdom received from teachers—neither internally understood like matters of understanding nor externally habitual like matters of knowledge. The tongue of the righteous is his contemplation of righteousness through understanding. It resembles choice silver without dross. Every human understanding ordinarily contains dross, since one must examine every opposing possibility before finding the proper conclusion, and the discarded alternatives are the dross. The righteous person, however, is habituated to righteousness and contemplates it through practical reason trained by action. Whenever a particular case arises, experience immediately teaches him how to act without doubt; he instantly strikes the proper target, producing pure silver without dross. But the heart of the wicked is of little worth. The wicked are distant from righteousness, and their heart—the ruling power—never maintains one course but continually skips to another evil trait. Their heart is almost as though nonexistent, without settled rule; certainly it cannot decisively understand the good way, for it possesses no definite way at all.

The lips of the righteous shepherd many. As explained, the lips signify outward speech. Through the righteous person’s tongue, he contemplates the course he should choose for himself, as in the preceding verse; his mouth, in matters of wisdom, is a fountain of life, as in verse 11. His lips represent the habitual teachings he voices; they shepherd many by teaching them his ways and paths. But fools die for lack of a heart. A fool doubts wisdom’s ways, the opposite of the knowledge symbolized by the righteous person’s lips, which express clearly known matters. Not only does the fool lack clear knowledge with which to teach wisdom’s ways openly to the many; he cannot even shepherd himself. He dies for lack of a heart, lacking the ruling faculty that would guide his desires according to wisdom’s ways and laws, because he doubts them.

Hashem’s blessing makes rich. Wealth obtained through human striving is not true wealth, and its owner eats the bread of sorrows: while eating, he grieves, remembering the toil and labor through which he obtained it and worrying that it may diminish. He therefore restricts his food as though doing so would increase his wealth. Since it is not true wealth, he remains poor in his own mind. Hashem’s blessing, however, produces true wealth, and sorrow adds nothing with it. He need not grieve in order to add to his wealth through anxious restraint; he eats joyfully and generously because blessing is present in all he possesses.

It is like sport to a fool to perform depravity. The fool departs from wisdom’s ways because of his heart’s inclination and desires.

It explains that according to whether the rule of his heart follows wisdom or folly, his nature changes until his deeds are no longer attributed to conscious choice, but to habit and a second nature implanted within him:

• The fool commits depravity without thought, knowledge, or preparation, just as a person necessarily laughs when something amusing appears, rather than through deliberation and choice.

• Likewise, wisdom is natural to a man of understanding. One who has gathered every matter of understanding into his soul—which defines comprehensive understanding and distinguishes it from an individual act of understanding—has wisdom ready upon his lips, as explained above on (Proverbs 10:13), Wisdom is found on the lips of one who understands. Consequently, wisdom and conduct according to its ways arise automatically through habit, like laughter that comes naturally by itself.

What the wicked man dreads will come upon him. Dread is something he fears, hides from, and devises strategies to escape; this distinguishes it from other expressions of fear. Even what the wicked man dreads and uses every strategy to escape will nevertheless come upon him, for his strategies will not help. But He grants the desire of the righteous. Hashem grants even what they merely desire in their hearts, without their needing to do anything to attain it. Thus the wicked man suffers the evil he strove to escape, while the righteous man not only escapes evil but receives goodness for which he did not strive at all, because Hashem grants it providentially, as explained below (11:23; 13:21).

When the storm passes, the wicked man is gone. The wicked man has no firm root in existence, only accidental endurance, like something weakly rooted that wind carries away when a storm passes. While years proceed normally, he endures by nature; during upheaval, the storm carries him away and sweeps him from his place. But the righteous is the foundation of the world. He endures in existence through the perfection of his soul and Hashem’s providence. During a storm, the wind and events of time not only fail to move him; he serves as a firm foundation not merely for himself but for the entire world, as Noah did. Thus Bereishit Rabbah (section Noah) interprets “When the storm passes” as the generation of the Flood, and “the righteous is the foundation of the world” as Noah; related verses below (12:7; 14:1) are interpreted there similarly.

Like vinegar to the teeth. It disparages the lazy messenger. He resembles something sour eaten to stimulate appetite, but which instead dulls the teeth; although appetite is awakened, the person cannot chew. Likewise, like smoke to the eyes: sparks may be kindled to illuminate a house, but though light is produced, the smoke dims the eyes so one cannot see. So is the lazy person to those who send him: not only do they fail to obtain the purpose of his mission; he also ruins the objective. Everything said about laziness also allegorically applies to one who neglects the universal mission for which he was sent into this world—the perfection of his soul.

Fear of Hashem adds days. Although fear ordinarily shortens life, fear of Hashem adds to a person’s days. But the years of the wicked are shortened through Hashem’s punishments. On the first side it says “days,” which also implies days of goodness and tranquility; “years” often denotes years of distress. The wicked do not spend their days in goodness, and their years are also shortened.

The assured expectation of the righteous is joy. Assured expectation differs from hope. One expects something certain to come, or something promised for a known time; one hopes for something uncertain and unpromised. The righteous possess assured expectation because their reward is undoubtedly promised, and therefore they rejoice. This differs from prolonged expectation that makes the heart sick, because expectation of Hashem’s kindness is continually fulfilled and does not disappoint. But the hope of the wicked will perish. The wicked have no assured expectation, only a hope that they may become wealthy or the like, which is uncertain; in truth, their hope perishes.

Hashem’s way is a stronghold for the innocent. Ruin is the opposite of strength: strength is the soul’s courage and firmness, while ruin is inner collapse. Hashem’s way and governance are a stronghold for the innocent, for in His ways they see how He supports the fallen, watches over the oppressed, and conducts all His paths with kindness, truth, righteousness, mercy, and grace. The innocent person who practices these traits finds strength by observing that Hashem governs existence in the same manner. But it is ruin to workers of iniquity, because their ways of wrongdoing oppose God’s ways and the world’s continued existence.

The righteous will never be moved. Being moved results from a cause, such as weak legs or sloping ground. Even when the righteous man slips because he did not stand in a good position, he will not remain moved forever, for “seven times the righteous falls and rises.” But the wicked will not dwell in the land. Even while dwelling upon level ground rather than a slope, with an apparently fixed residence, they will not remain there, for the wicked will be shaken out of it.

The mouth of the righteous yields wisdom. It was explained (verse 11), regarding “the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,” that the righteous person did not gather wisdom’s laws through systematic received study like the sage; rather, through his righteousness he became habituated to following them. He can therefore teach how to act wisely in each particular case, although he lacks the sage’s general doctrine and system. Wisdom’s source is consequently in his mouth, where it produces fruit. When asked how to conduct a particular matter, wisdom sprouts and yields in his mouth the correct answer. He also possesses an advantage over the sage, in that the tongue of perversity will be cut off. The tongue signifies the ways of understanding. If someone brings a perverse tongue—rational demonstrations in the way of investigation that contradict wisdom—the sage cannot withstand him, because the sage is not necessarily discerning: wisdom is received by tradition, and he cannot establish it with evidence and proofs against an investigator who denies its principles. The righteous person, however, counters him with proofs from experience and observation. He has tested each particular matter until attaining clear knowledge like sensory demonstration. The tongue of perversity is thereby cut off, and the arms of its reasoning cannot stand before him.

The lips of the righteous know favor. I explained at verse 21, “the lips of the righteous shepherd many,” that the righteous person has attained knowledge of the particulars of wisdom’s ways and knows them clearly. This is denoted by “lips,” which utter them outwardly as evident matters. “Favor” means both what is pleasing to Hashem and the appeasement of anger. The righteous person knows how to state what is pleasing to Hashem and to people—whatever brings honor to its doer and honor from other people. He knows this clearly; therefore it says “know” and refers to the “lips.” But the mouth of the wicked speaks perversity. Their mouth, through which they speak of conduct contrary to wisdom—the mouth alluding to wisdom—is perversity, as though they had received laws opposite to wisdom’s ways.