Deceitful scales are an abomination to Hashem. It teaches that turning from evil is itself an active good. Although deceitful scales are an abomination, do not think that by using a perfect weight one has merely avoided an abomination and only turned from evil. He has thereby fulfilled Hashem’s will, and it is reckoned to him as performing a commandment, as the Sages said: one who sits and does not transgress receives a reward like one who performs a commandment.

When presumption comes. The presumptuous person disputes wisdom’s ways and the truth with arguments and deductions, and deliberately transgresses them brazenly. He is the opposite of the modest person, who hides his face from aspiring to lofty levels and recognizes his lowly worth, as in “Moses hid his face.” Wisdom comes with the modest, for wisdom’s ways become established only in the heart of one who believes, accepts, and listens to his teachers rather than presuming to dispute them. But when presumption comes, disgrace comes with it—the opposite of honor—for the paths he chooses are contemptible and contrary to wisdom’s honorable ways.

The integrity of the upright guides them. The upright differ from the righteous. The upright person’s heart naturally follows a straight course in beliefs, opinions, and matters of understanding—as “upright” commonly describes understanding—and in traits and deeds rooted in wisdom. In wisdom’s ways, he differs from the righteous because his nature inclines toward good through the uprightness implanted within him, while the righteous person acts thus because he learned righteousness and became accustomed to it, subduing his inclination and training himself against his nature. The upright person also looks beyond the strict laws of righteousness to his heart’s uprightness and acts beyond the letter of the law, as the Sages explained concerning “you shall do what is upright and good.” Walking on the good way requires both that the road be straight and that it guide him, as in, “Hashem, lead me in Your righteousness; make Your way straight before me.” One who is not upright needs help from above to straighten his road. Even one whose road is naturally straight still needs it to guide him, because bodily needs and circumstances may obstruct him. Integrity means remaining fixed in perfection without deviation and without any ulterior motive. When this integrity is found in the hearts of the upright, it guides them, because distracting impediments will not restrain them. But the perversity of traitors devastates them. Traitors are the opposite of the upright in heart and act contrary to uprightness. Perversity corrupts uprightness and righteousness and devastates them like robbers on a crooked road, plundering the soul’s wealth and casting it into the pit of destruction.

Wealth does not benefit on the day of wrath. Although wealth is useful in peaceful times, as in “the rich man’s wealth is his fortified city,” it is useless on a day of universal wrath, such as plague or war. On the contrary, wealth may then be preserved for its owner’s harm. But righteousness saves from death even on the day of wrath. This does not repeat the statement above (10:2), which concerns natural death.

The righteousness of the innocent straightens his way. We explained (verse 3) the differences among the upright, innocent, and righteous. The upright person’s way is naturally straight, unlike the innocent person. Innocence means that one’s deeds remain constantly in one condition without wavering; if he is naturally upright, he never departs from his uprightness, but so long as he is not naturally upright, he is not assured of walking straight. The wise man explains that through the righteousness of the innocent—his habitual practice of righteousness—it becomes natural to him, and this habit straightens his way toward uprightness. But the wicked falls through his wickedness. The wicked person, the opposite of the innocent, persistently practices wickedness until it becomes acquired in his soul and fills his road with pits into which his soul falls, descending to destruction.

The righteousness of the upright saves them. The upright do not need righteousness to straighten their way, as does the innocent person, because their road is naturally straight, as explained at verse 3. Their righteous deeds instead save them from snares and the evils of the time, when traitors are trapped by calamities and ruin; the upright are saved through the merit of their righteous deeds.

When a wicked man dies, hope perishes. Hope differs from assured expectation. One expects something certain to come, like daylight or a promise, while hope concerns something uncertain. The wicked have no assured expectation, only hope, as explained concerning “the hope of the wicked perishes,” for they do not expect the reward stored for the righteous but merely hope for uncertain temporal success. At death this hope vanishes. The assured expectation of the bereaved also perishes. His children mourning him had confidently expected to inherit their father’s estate, but this too disappears, for strangers inherit his labor and his wealth is lost through an evil circumstance.

(8–9) The righteous— If the wicked prepares evil against the righteous, the outcome is that the righteous is rescued from distress and the wicked takes his place, as with Haman and Mordecai. It explains: if the wicked destroys his neighbor with a hypocritical mouth, enticing the righteous through flattery in order to destroy him, the righteous are rescued through knowledge, and the evil returns upon the informer and the one who dug the pit. It may also mean that one who flatters and fails to rebuke seeks to destroy his neighbor, as in “a man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net before his steps.”

(10–11) Through the goodness of the righteous; through the blessing of the upright. The righteous actively perform justice, while the upright possess understanding, naturally incline toward good, and go beyond the letter of the law, as explained at verse 3. The upright bestow blessing upon the city, and through their blessing the city is elevated in rank and dignity, because blessing proceeds from an additional sacred abundance within the soul of the one who blesses. The righteous bestow their material goodness through righteous deeds; through their goodness the city rejoices, because people receive good from them. With the wicked, both are reversed. Regarding the city’s joy, when the wicked perish there is song, because they actively harm others; spiritually, through the mouth of the wicked it is demolished, whether by their curse, slander, or evil speech.

One who despises his neighbor lacks a heart. Below (14:21) it says, “One who despises his neighbor sins”; each follows its context. There it concerns despising him without cause, which violates wisdom’s laws. Here it concerns responding after his neighbor first despised him. Though not a sin, it opposes understanding’s laws, as in (14:29), “One slow to anger possesses great understanding, while one short-tempered exalts folly.” Fools lack a heart, as in “fools die for lack of a heart”: they lack the ruling power over their spirit and do not use understanding to examine matters properly, doubting even matters of understanding, which requires patience and forbids immediate contempt. Therefore, a man of understanding remains silent, even when entitled to answer an insult—this being the special meaning of remaining silent.

One who goes about as a talebearer reveals a secret. A talebearer’s nature is to reveal his companion’s secret. A secret is a deposit entrusted to his spirit; just as one does not deposit property with an unreliable person, one must not entrust a secret to an untrustworthy spirit. When someone is a talebearer, know that his spirit is untrustworthy. Elsewhere it says, “One who reveals a secret goes about as a talebearer,” teaching the converse: if someone reveals secrets, we know his nature is to bear tales. But one faithful in spirit conceals a matter. Not only does he refrain from revealing a secret; he actively covers and hides the matter, and certainly does not spread his companion’s affairs through tale-bearing.

Without strategies a people falls. Below (20:18) it says, “Thoughts are established through counsel, and wage war through strategies.” Thought differs from counsel. Counsel is the decision reached through understanding concerning which course to choose. Thought considers all possibilities and is manifold; after choosing one, the settled conclusion is counsel, as in “Many thoughts are in a man’s heart, but Hashem’s counsel shall stand.” Thus, thoughts are established through counsel: until a firm counsel is adopted, a person moves like foam upon waves of thought; when he selects a definite counsel, he finds a base. This suffices for ordinary worldly matters, such as choosing a business. War, however, requires more than counsel, because the enemy also has counsel, and one’s plan may fail against his—as Hushai the Archite answered Ahithophel’s counsel. A strategy is a chain of numerous counsels, joining causes and consequences so that whichever way the enemy turns, a prepared response confronts him. Thus, “wage war through strategies,” and here, without strategies a people falls, also concerns war. War therefore requires many counselors, each proposing another plan, because every plan may have a place: if one fails against the enemy, another is used. Hence, deliverance comes through many counselors. This is also an allegory for the inner war against the internal enemy; it appears again in Chapter 24, where that inner war is explained.

(Proverbs 11:15) One who guarantees a stranger will surely suffer harm. As explained below (17:17), although a friend must help his friend in every way he can, including serving as guarantor, he should not enter a hand-clasping surety of immediate liability, through which payment may be collected directly from the guarantor.

Thus it says that one who guarantees a stranger, even through ordinary surety, will suffer harm. Even for a friend whom he is compelled to guarantee, one who hates hand-clasping is secure: he will not undertake immediate surety, through which he cannot rely even upon his friend because creditors may first collect from him.

A gracious woman. When wealth and honor are gifts of God they commonly appear together: if one uses wealth to perform kindness, charity, and good, he also inherits honor. When separated, honor remains a virtue when deserved through one’s traits and qualities, whereas wealth becomes a defect when acquired through robbery and violence or used for evil. The verse pictures these two qualities standing separately and needing someone to support them—that is, an owner who maintains them. A gracious woman supports honor: mighty men are unnecessary, for honor is not gained through tyranny, but through a good woman who finds favor by her good deeds—or allegorically, through the precious, good, wise soul, the figurative woman of this book. But tyrants, who misuse force to oppress the poor, support wealth.

A man of kindness benefits his own soul. A man of kindness habitually does good to everyone without expecting repayment and without requiring an emotional impulse such as pity or compassion. His opposite is the cruel person, who not only withholds kindness but, even when moved by the suffering of the oppressed, hardens himself and does not help. A person has two parts: his soul, the spiritual soul, and his flesh, the body. Although a man of kindness appears to harm his body by distributing his money to others, he benefits his spiritual soul, which inherits the stored good. The verb “repay” denotes an act joined with an emotion of love or hate: he repays his soul because he loves the spiritual part that is the person’s essence. But a cruel person troubles his own flesh. The cruel person not only damages his spiritual soul; do not imagine that he thereby benefits his body. He troubles his flesh as well, because others will treat him cruelly, and “one who troubles his house inherits wind.” The intermediate person, who is neither kind nor cruel, may not benefit his soul, but does not trouble his flesh.

(18–19) The wicked performs a false labor. A deed differs from labor: labor is activity directed toward something, while a deed is its completion. The wicked appears to complete his deed—for example, accumulating wealth, building a house, or planting a vineyard through oppression and violence. In truth, imagined possessions are not ends in themselves but merely activities and means toward an end. If their purpose is a successful life, what is life’s purpose? Temporal life is likewise not an end in itself. Judged by their purpose, these are false labors: in what he performs, he accomplishes nothing; he does not attain the sought end. He resembles one who sows seed and grows plants but produces no flour. But one who sows righteousness—doing what is good before God—appears to sow rather than complete a deed, because righteousness’s end is not visible at the time; like one sowing in the ground, he will reap after many days at harvest. He will reap a true reward. Thus, righteousness truly leads to life: one who sows righteousness with joy reaps a true reward, because his upright deeds lead both to life in this world—as above, “righteousness saves from death”—and to true life in the World to Come. But the wicked person’s deed is a false labor, because one who pursues evil pursues it toward his own death. Pursuit means striving to obtain something quickly. Evil that would naturally remain distant from the wicked is hurried toward him before its time. He thus pursues his bodily death through premature punishment and his soul’s death in the World to Come, as above: “The labor of the righteous leads to life; the crop of the wicked leads to sin.”

Those crooked of heart are an abomination to Hashem, but those innocent in their way are His delight.

Abomination and delight are two extremes. Between them is a middle state that is neither delight—something He desires—nor abomination, as explained at 1:1, 12:22, and 15:8.

The heart represents the ruling power in a person, directing all his faculties according to wisdom’s and righteousness’s laws.

One who always governs himself through wisdom is called wise of heart and is innocent in his way: the conduct and course he follows remain continually whole, never collapsing or departing through desires and the heart’s inclinations, because his heart rules through fear of Hashem. Such a person is pleasing in Hashem’s eyes and obtains His favor.

One crooked of heart is the opposite of one wise of heart: he disputes wisdom’s laws and directs his powers contrary to them. This is an abomination in Hashem’s eyes.

Between these extremes is one who is not crooked of heart and does not dispute wisdom’s laws, but is also not innocent in his way. Although inwardly he does not dispute wisdom, he sometimes departs from the good road when the spirit of inclination rises against him. He is neither a delight nor an abomination, for he still stands within the bonds of battle and may ultimately conquer or be conquered.

Editing

Hand to hand, the evil person will not go unpunished. Hashem’s punishments reach the evil person through direct providence, without an intermediary; He Himself punishes him by His hand. The punishment passes hand to hand, like something given directly from the giver’s hand into the recipient’s, rather than through nature’s agents. When punishment operates through intermediaries, it may fail to reach the evil person himself because his hour is favorable and his fortune supports him; it may also strike righteous descendants who did not sin, as with Achan: “Did not Achan trespass concerning the devoted thing, and wrath came upon the entire congregation of Israel? He was not the only man who perished for his sin,” because the punishment came through concealment of the Divine countenance. But when it comes directly from Hashem’s hand to the evil person, the evil will not go unpunished, while the offspring of the righteous escape. When punishment is entrusted to a destroyer, once permission is granted it does not distinguish good from evil. Not only the righteous person but even his offspring escape providential evil, as in, “God remembered Abraham and sent Lot from the upheaval.”

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout. An ornament adds grace and beauty only to one already suited to beauty. A ring placed in a pig’s snout does not beautify its face, because the whole animal is filthy; not only does it add no grace, but the pig soils the ring. So too, a beautiful woman who departs from good sense: the beauty adorning her face does not beautify her when she is inwardly ugly. “Taste” denotes the soul’s character and traits as revealed outwardly, as in “he changed his behavior before them” and “blessed is your good sense, and blessed are you.” The term is borrowed from food, whose bitter or sweet, good or bad quality the palate senses; similarly, a person’s impressions, traits, and speech reveal whether his nature is good or evil, wise or foolish. When her speech and conduct reveal evil and inner ugliness, outward beauty is useless; her corrupt character instead soils and disgraces it. Allegorically, a person may have a beautiful form, a soul prepared for intellectual attainment, learning, and understanding, yet possess evil traits and corrupt deeds. His Torah and knowledge disgrace him like a pig wearing a gold ring, as the Sages said of one who studies but does not speak gently: people say, “Woe to the teacher who taught him Torah.”

The desire of the righteous. Desire differs from hope. One who desires has no expectation of attaining the object but merely longs for it; one who hopes already has some expectation of attainment. The wicked person’s desire is evil, both because he desires evil—others’ possessions, violence, robbery, and forbidden things, as in “the soul of the wicked desires evil”—and because he will not attain it, as in “the desire of the wicked perishes.” But the desire of the righteous is only good: he desires only good, as in “for Your name and remembrance is the desire of the soul,” and Hashem grants his desire, as in “He grants the desire of the righteous” and “Hashem, You hear the desire of the humble.” It is also good because its fulfillment is pleasant to the soul. But the hope of the wicked is wrath. Even what they hope for and consider ready to attain becomes wrath in two ways: they fail to attain it and become enraged, as in “their hope is the expiration of the soul” (Job 11:20); and their very hope is evil, as in “the wicked wait for me to destroy me.” They hope for universal wrath and distress upon others, through envy or love of honor, so that only they remain tranquil; in the end the wrath falls upon them. As explained above in Chapter 10, the righteous possess assured expectation, while the wicked possess only uncertain hope. Wrath means anger passing beyond its proper boundary.

There is one who scatters and yet gains more, and one who withholds what is upright only to suffer want. The sages taught that a person should choose the middle way. Generosity lies between wastefulness and miserliness, both of which are wrong, as they said: one who distributes his wealth should not distribute more than one-fifth. Common opinion holds that, if one inclines toward an extreme, miserliness is preferable to wastefulness: the latter loses wealth, while the former at least preserves it. The wise man says the opposite. One who distributes does not always lose wealth; at times his generosity increases it, because his reputation grows among the wealthy, who lend to him and trust him, increasing the honor of his wealth. Thus, there is sometimes one who scatters and yet gains more. But one who withholds what is upright through miserliness only diminishes, for his stinginess and narrow eye drive people away, and his wealth disappears because no one conducts business with him. This may also come through Divine punishment, as Ecclesiastes describes a man to whom God gives wealth but does not empower him to enjoy it.

(25–26) A soul of blessing will be made prosperous; one who withholds grain will be cursed by the nation. The second verse explains the first. Whoever withholds grain from sale will be cursed by the nation, because by hoarding produce to raise prices he causes people to die of hunger, bringing the nation’s curse upon himself. But upon one who supplies grain and feeds people in famine, blessing comes upon his head. This blessing is so great that the soul receiving it will be made prosperous: by supplying food, his own soul is enriched. One who gives others drink will also be watered and fully satisfied. Scripture uses “made fat” of the soul, as in “I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance” and “your soul will delight in richness,” referring to the essential moisture that increases bodily strength; watering denotes complete satisfaction through drink. All this is an allegory for one who withholds wisdom and Torah instruction from students—he withholds grain. It therefore says that the “nation,” meaning the community of the faith, will curse him. One who supplies and teaches Torah receives blessing; his spiritual soul is enriched with spiritual abundance. One who waters students by teaching Hashem’s way is himself watered: Hashem teaches him knowledge and makes known the way of understanding. The metaphor of bread and water for Torah study was explained in Isaiah 55, “All who thirst, go to water; go, buy and eat.”

One who earnestly seeks good. It teaches that human nature inclines more readily toward evil than good, because evil images are planted in the soul from childhood and material powers respond more strongly to senses and desires. Therefore it says, one who earnestly seeks good, and one who searches for evil. Good must be sought at dawn—an especially intense seeking renewed each morning—whereas evil requires only ordinary searching. One who earnestly seeks good must first seek favor, causing his powers to desire good, because desire for good is not naturally implanted in the soul’s faculties; he must excavate the soul’s depths until he draws out this desire. But one who searches for evil—it comes to him by itself; he need not seek a willing impulse, because matter and desire are already prepared for evil. “Seek” also denotes prayer: he must request Hashem’s assistance, for one who comes to purify himself is helped and must seek favor from Hashem. Evil comes by itself to one who seeks it, for one who comes to defile himself is given an opening.

One who trusts in his wealth will fall. It portrays human affairs through the metaphor of a fruit tree. Its fruit is the soul’s fruit for Torah and testimony. If one engages in Torah and serves Hashem, “the righteous flourishes like a palm” and gives fruit in season. External possessions—wealth—resemble leaves that protect and shelter the fruit, freeing him from material needs that would distract him from Torah and Divine service. But one who trusts only in his wealth and considers it primary will fall like a leaf falling from a vine, for leaves without fruit are nothing. But the righteous flourish like foliage: they blossom and produce flower and bud, the beginning of fruit—that is, holy fruit of praise for wisdom and knowledge. Wealth is then like the leaf surrounding and protecting the blossom so that the fruit endures.

One who troubles his house inherits wind. He destroys his household’s order, damages its vessels, and spends beyond his means, leaving nothing to inherit or bequeath, though “a house and wealth are an inheritance from fathers”; he inherits wind. This is an allegory for the figurative house, the soul’s dwelling, of which it says (24:3), “Through wisdom a house is built, through understanding it is established, and through knowledge its rooms are filled with every precious and pleasant treasure.” Collecting wisdom’s laws within the soul—how to conduct all traits and movements toward good and away from evil—constructs the house, as a builder gathers and arranges wood and stone. Understanding wisdom’s laws and deriving one thing from another completes the building. When all is known clearly, both traits and divine conceptions fill the soul’s house with precious, beautiful vessels, as in “lips of knowledge are a precious vessel.” Properly ordered, “the house of the righteous is a mighty fortress.” But the wicked man, who doubts and disputes wisdom’s laws and certainly lacks understanding and knowledge, troubles his house; then he inherits wind. The soul’s precious wealth and vessels disappear, leaving vanity and striving after wind—the stormy wind that raises images of desire against the heart, strikes the house’s four corners, and carries it away. Hence the conclusion: a fool is servant to one wise of heart. One wise of heart has the soul’s ruling power—the heart—govern according to wisdom’s images and laws without deviation, filling his house with precious treasures. The fool is his opposite, doubting and disputing wisdom’s laws, poor in knowledge, and fit to serve the wise of heart as the poor man serves the rich.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the wise man acquires souls. The righteous person uses wisdom’s laws to practice righteousness, while the sage gathered wisdom’s laws from teachers through study. “Say of the righteous that it is good, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds” compares righteousness to a fruit-bearing tree whose fruit the righteous and their companions eat. The fruit is their deeds—actions flowing from qualities of the soul. Whoever eats this fruit eats from the tree of life and lives forever in the soul’s life; that is, one learns from his deeds and acts likewise. The sage acquires souls through words—for acquiring people is through words—drawing souls through teachings that convey wisdom’s laws. The righteous gives them life by feeding them his fruit, meaning that they imitate his deeds.

(Proverbs 11:31) Behold, the righteous is repaid on earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner. After saying (11:30), the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, referring to the soul’s life, it follows that if the righteous commits some sin, evil reaches him in this world, for (Ecclesiastes 7:20), there is no righteous man on earth who does not sin. He is therefore repaid on earth so that his reward is preserved for the world of souls, where he lives forever. All the more so will the wicked sinner be repaid for his sin; but his repayment occurs in the World to Come, for he did not eat from the tree of life and his soul dies in the world of souls.

The verse’s sense is: behold, the righteous person who sins is repaid; how much more the wicked person who sins.

We also learn that the wicked person is punished even for a minor sin, all the more so than the righteous.