Proverbs 13:23–25

PROVERBS CHAPTER 13.

V. 23. Much food is in the till-age of the poor, that is, he who with much labor clears and breaks up land, tilling it with all diligence, will be rewarded with a rich harvest; but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment, for lack of uprightness, attempting to gain by fraud and violence what he ought to obtain by lawful labor.

V. 24. He that spareth his rod hateth his son, for it is not love, but the lack of love, which causes parents to forget and set aside their parental power and duty in correcting their children, if necessary, with the rod; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes, applying correction in the measure required by the occasion, chap. 3, 12; 23, 13. 14; 29, 15.

V. 25. The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul, the Lord granting him enough to satisfy all his needs; but the belly of the wicked shall want, not only because the Lord often punishes their wickedness with a lack of the necessities of life, but because their enjoyment of them is often not attended with true happiness.