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The six-chambered gate at Gezer

Era 6 · The First KingsProverbs

Proverbs 14: The Wise Woman Buildeth Her House

The ox and the clean crib, the way that seems right, and the poor and their Maker

· Lesson 14 of 42 · 15 min story

"Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands" (14:1). The Hebrew may read "Wisdom of women builds her house," an echo of Woman Wisdom's house in 9:1.

"Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox" (14:4). Productive work is messy; a clean manger means an empty field.

The six-chambered gate at Gezer
Site or place photographThe six-chambered Iron Age gate at Gezer, one of three similar gates (with Hazor and Megiddo) linked to 1 Kings 9:15. Whether they were built under Solomon or the Omrides is debated.Image credit

"The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy" (14:10). "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (14:12).

"He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor" (14:31). "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people" (14:34).

Continue the journey

Journey of a PassageProverbs 14:12 and 16:25: A saying that appears twice"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." The same Hebrew words appear at 14:12 and 16:25.
More from this lesson

Investigations that discuss this chapter

Journey of a Passage

  • Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25: A saying that appears twice →"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." The same Hebrew words appear at 14:12 and 16:25. Repetition is a feature of Proverbs: about one saying in ten recurs whole or in part. The library's Greek has both, with small differences of wording ("the depths of Hades").
  • Proverbs 14:31: "He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker" →"He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor." The witnesses agree. The saying grounds care for the poor in creation: the poor person is God's creature, so contempt for the poor is contempt for God. The idea recurs in 17:5 and 22:2.

Why this matters to the rest of Scripture

  • "Did not he that made me in the womb make him?"
  • The ox that treads the grain.
  • The same saying again.
  • "Unto one of the least of these."
  • "Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker."