Luxury is unseemly for a fool—how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!
Parallel translations
- WEB Delicate living is not appropriate for a fool, much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
- KJV Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.
- NKJV Luxury is not fitting for a fool, Much less for a servant to rule over princes.
- NASB Luxury is not fitting for a fool; Much less for a slave to rule over princes.
- NLT It isn’t right for a fool to live in luxury or for a slave to rule over princes!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Luxury ill suits a fool, and rule by a servant over princes is worse still. Things out of their proper order bring disorder.
Overview
This proverb observes that luxury is unfitting for a fool, and even more incongruous is a slave ruling over princes, picturing the social upheaval of misplaced position. It reflects a concern for fittingness and order under God's design. Without endorsing rigid social hierarchy as an absolute, it warns that wealth and power in unworthy hands tend toward folly and ruin, while true honor follows godly character.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Prov 30:21–22Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up:
- Prov 26:1Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor does not befit a fool.
- Luke 16:23In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.
- Luke 16:19Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
- Isa 22:12–14On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
- Hos 9:1Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.
- Hos 7:3–5They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies.
- Isa 3:5The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable.
- Isa 5:11–12Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.
- 2 Sam 3:39And I am weak this day, though anointed as king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too fierce for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil!”
- 1 Sam 25:36When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.
- Jas 4:9Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.
- Amos 6:3–6You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence.
- 2 Sam 3:24–25So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he is getting away!
- Eccl 10:5–7There is an evil I have seen under the sun—an error that proceeds from the ruler:
- Esth 3:15The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.
- Prov 17:7Eloquent words are unfit for a fool; how much worse are lying lips to a ruler!
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 19:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.