It isn’t right for a fool to live in luxury or 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.
- BSB Luxury is unseemly for a fool—how much worse for a slave to 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.
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 30:21–22“For three things the earth tremble, and under four, it can’t bear up:
- Prov 26:1Like snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool.
- Luke 16:23In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.
- Luke 16:19“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.
- Isa 22:12–14In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth:
- Hos 9:1Don’t rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your God. You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor.
- Hos 7:3–5They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
- Isa 3:5The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable.
- Isa 5:11–12Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
- 2 Sam 3:39I am weak today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. May Yahweh reward the evildoer according to his wickedness.”
- 1 Sam 25:36Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing, until the morning light.
- Jas 4:9Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom.
- Amos 6:3–6Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
- 2 Sam 3:24–25Then Joab came to the king, and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, and he is already gone?
- Eccl 10:5–7There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, the sort of error which proceeds from the ruler.
- Esth 3:15The couriers went out in haste by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given out in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Shushan was perplexed.
- Prov 17:7Arrogant speech isn’t fitting for a fool, much less do lying lips fit a prince.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.