--- title: "Proverbs 18 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible" description: "Read Proverbs 18 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 1 Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. 2 A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18" --- [ Read](/kjv/proverbs/18)[ Commentary](/study/proverbs/18)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/proverbs/18) Audio 1 Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh *and* intermeddleth with all wisdom.* 2 A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. 3 When the wicked cometh, *then* cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach. 4 The words of a man’s mouth *are as* deep waters, *and* the wellspring of wisdom *as* a flowing brook. 5 *It is* not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment. 6 A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. 7 A fool’s mouth *is* his destruction, and his lips *are* the snare of his soul. 8 The words of a talebearer *are* as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.*** 9 He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. 10 The name of the LORD *is* a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.* 11 The rich man’s wealth *is* his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit. 12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour *is* humility. 13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth *it*, it *is* folly and shame unto him.* 14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear? 15 The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. 16 A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men. 17 *He that is* first in his own cause *seemeth* just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him. 18 The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth between the mighty. 19 A brother offended *is harder to be won* than a strong city: and *their* contentions *are* like the bars of a castle. 20 A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; *and* with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. 21 Death and life *are* in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. 22 *Whoso* findeth a wife findeth a good *thing*, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. 23 The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly. 24 A man *that hath* friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend *that* sticketh closer than a brother. [Proverbs 17](/study/proverbs/17) [Proverbs 19](/study/proverbs/19) ## Commentary To verse 1 The text and the marginal readings indicate the two chief constructions of this somewhat difficult verse. Other renderings are (1) He who separateth himself from others seeks his own desire, and rushes forward against all wise counsel: a warning against self-will and the self-assertion which exults in differing from the received customs and opinions of mankind. (2) he who separates himself (from the foolish, unlearned multitude) seeks his own desire (that which is worthy to be desired), and mingleth himself with all wisdom. So the Jewish commentators generally. Between (1) blaming and (2) commending the life of isolation, the decision must be that (1) is most in harmony with the temper of the Book of Proverbs; but it is not strange that Pharisaism, in its very name, separating and self-exalting, should have adopted (2). ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18","name":"Proverbs 18 - Study King James Bible with barnes notes on the whole bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Proverbs 18 with barnes notes on the whole bible commentary. 1 Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. 2 A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible","name":"barnes notes on the whole bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs","name":"Proverbs"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/barnes-notes-on-the-whole-bible/proverbs/18","name":"18"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```