--- title: "Proverbs 11 - Study King James Bible with the biblical illustrator" description: "Read Proverbs 11 with the biblical illustrator commentary. 1 A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight. 2 When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. 3 Th" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/the-biblical-illustrator/proverbs/11" --- [ Read](/kjv/proverbs/11)[ Commentary](/study/proverbs/11)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/proverbs/11) Audio 1 A false balance *is* abomination to the LORD: but a just weight *is* his delight.** 2 *When* pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly *is* wisdom. 3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. 4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. 5 The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.* 6 The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in *their own* naughtiness. 7 When a wicked man dieth, *his* expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust *men* perisheth. 8 The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. 9 An hypocrite with *his* mouth destroyeth his neighbour: but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. 10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, *there is* shouting. 11 By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. 12 He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.* 13 A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.* 14 Where no counsel *is*, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors *there is* safety. 15 He that is surety for a stranger shall smart *for it:* and he that hateth suretiship is sure.** 16 A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong *men* retain riches. 17 The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but *he that is* cruel troubleth his own flesh. 18 The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness *shall be* a sure reward. 19 As righteousness *tendeth* to life: so he that pursueth evil *pursueth it* to his own death. 20 They that are of a froward heart *are* abomination to the LORD: but *such as are* upright in *their* way *are* his delight. 21 *Though* hand *join* in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. 22 *As* a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, *so is* a fair woman which is without discretion.* 23 The desire of the righteous *is* only good: *but* the expectation of the wicked *is* wrath. 24 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and *there is* that withholdeth more than is meet, but *it tendeth* to poverty. 25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.* 26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing *shall be* upon the head of him that selleth *it*. 27 He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. 28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch. 29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool *shall be* servant to the wise of heart. 30 The fruit of the righteous *is* a tree of life; and he that winneth souls *is* wise.* 31 Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner. [Proverbs 10](/study/proverbs/10) [Proverbs 12](/study/proverbs/12) ## Commentary To verse 1 [Proverbs 11:1](/kjv/proverbs/11/1) *A false balance is an abomination to the Lord.* **The heinousness of injustice done under the pretence of equity** The proverbs of this book are often figurative, and of a very strong and extensive meaning. The words of the text imply the odiousness, not only of false weights or balances, but likewise of all things of the like nature and consequence; of all unfair and unfaithful actions; of all unequal and injurious proceedings. There are two kinds of injustice; the one open and barefaced, the other secret and disguised, so cunningly clothed and adorned, that it appears like justice itself. The text manifests the odiousness of this latter kind. A false balance is always made use of under the plausible pretence of doing justice, though it has the contrary effect. This latter kind of injustice is more abominable than the other. **(1)** In its nature. This is a complication of crimes and mischiefs, the other is simple injustice. This is always vile and ungenerous. **(2)** In its consequences. We have far less security against this kind of unjust actors, so that the mischiefs of it are more certain and inevitable. Force can repel force, but it cannot repel treachery. God does, in a great measure, reserve cases of this nature for His own peculiar tribunal in the great and dreadful day. This kind of injustice is an “abomination” to Him; the word implies an extraordinary degree of hatred and detestation. (*Laurence Echard, A*.*M*.) **Uprightness** ** I.**Uprightness portrayed. **1.**Commercial integrity ([Proverbs 11:1](/kjv/proverbs/11/1)). There is an inspection of weights and measures going on daily of which few are cognisant. ([Leviticus 19:35-36](/kjv/leviticus/19/35-36)). The God of heaven is a God of detail. **2.**Lowliness of spirit (verse2). Uprightness is not uppishness. **3.**Integrity of purpose (verse3). “The crooked, winding policy of ungodly men,” says Scott, “involves them in increasing wickedness.” **4.**A right estimate of wealth (verse4). The upright man will consider how his gains will look in the day of judgment. ** II.**Uprightness rewarded. **1.**The favour of the Lord ([Proverbs 11:1](/kjv/proverbs/11/1)). **2.**Guidance ([Proverbs 11:3](/kjv/proverbs/11/3)). He who does right will be rightly led ([John 7:17](/kjv/john/7/17); [Psalms 112:4](/kjv/psalms/112/4)). **3.**Deliverance ([Proverbs 11:4](/kjv/proverbs/11/4)). **4.**The respect of others ([Proverbs 11:10](/kjv/proverbs/11/10)). **5.**The good of others ([Proverbs 11:11](/kjv/proverbs/11/11)). (*H*.*Thorne*.) **The false balance** Text taken in literal and material sense, as applying to that great world of fraud and imposition and over-reaching in which we live, and the subject is our duty as Christians in the midst of it. ** I.**The manifest truth of the assertion of the text, and the grounds on which it rests. God is a God of justice. Truth, pure and unspotted, is the very essence of the Divine character. Wherever there is deceit in the world, wherever injury, wherever oppression, there is God’s anger and loathing accompanying it. The false balance, which is an abomination to the Lord, where do we not see it around us? From the powerful guides of public opinion, each assuming to be written in the interest of justice and truth, but each, almost without exception, warping justice and truth by false statements, false inferences, predetermined conclusions, down to the petty fraud, in measure and weight, which you will find in any chance shop you enter, certain known and avowed avoidances or disguises of truth, are every day practised, and acquiesced in as inevitable. The evil is in every class. But the mischief is not universal. But Christian men and women sin by tacit acquiescence in these wrong things. ** II.**How may we rest separate ourselves from, and discourage the false balance, and uphold and cleave to the just weight? We must not begin with mere practical details. The secret of all wrong is the false balance within the heart; the real cheating begins there. Is our estimate of men and things which guides our action the real and true one, or some artificial one, that is altogether wrong, and leading us altogether wrong? Men who know what is right are sometimes mixed up with the system of fraud. Why? Because they will not let recognised religious principle hold the balance nor regulate the estimate formed of the relative importance of men and things. “I must think,” such a man says, “as others think; I must do as others do.” If we would get rid of the false balance without, and in our streets and markets, we must begin within ourselves. Were buyers honest, sellers would, by compulsion, be honest too. Here the fault begins. Practical suggestions: conscientiously regulate the bestowal of employment and patronage: there are certain signs by which even the dull of discernment may discern the tokens of fraud and pretension. Be not an admirer of the system of universal cheapness. (*Dean Alford*.) **Deception in business** Many are pleased at the dexterity with which they practise their deceptions. The fraud is undiscovered, and being undiscovered, is unfelt by those on whom it is practised, and what is never known and never felt can be no harm. So they think. But God sees it, and He estimates the action on no such principle; nor is it the principle on which you would estimate it were you the party defrauded. You have no idea, in your own case, of admitting that what is not missed is not lost; or that the cleverness of the fraud is any palliation of it. You do not think the better of the merchant with his “balances of deceit,” that the unfairness of the balance is ingeniously concealed. You do not regard it as a compensation for the property abstracted from your plundered house or warehouse, that the impression of your keys has been adroitly obtained, or the mode of entrance skilfully devised and expertly executed. You do not approve the laws of ancient Sparta which, to encourage cleverness and sleight of hand, rewarded instead of punishing the youthful thief who could steal without detection. Depend upon it, if you plume yourself on the dexterity with which you have contrived and executed a plan for cozening your neighbour, it will be no palliation with God, nor will any amount of such dexterity produce any abatement of His sentence of condemnation. It is the moral principle, or want of principle, in which the evil lies, and the very measure of thought and contrivance expended for the purpose of ensuring success in the contravention of God’s law, instead of diminishing, will serve to aggravate your guilt in His sight. The “abomination” will be only the more loathsome. 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