Proverbs 15:16

Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Better	טוֹב tov-	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
little	מְ֭עַט Me.'at	H4592	a little or few (often adverbial or compar.) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
fear	בְּיִרְאַ֣ת be.yir.'At	H3374	fear (also used as infinitive) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
LORD	יְהוָ֑ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
great	רָ֝֗ב Rav	H7227	abundant (in quantity · adjective, masculine singular absolute
treasure	מֵאוֹצָ֥ר me.'o.Tzar	H214	a depository · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
trouble	וּמְה֥וּמָה u.me.Hu.mah	H4103	confusion or uproar · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 16:8 Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right.
Psalms 37:16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.
Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
Proverbs 28:6 Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
Ecclesiastes 2:18-23 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and thi…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 15:16-17

Solomon had said in the foregoing verse that he who has not a large estate, or a great income, but a cheerful spirit, has a continual feast; Christian contentment, and joy in God, make the life easy and pleasant; now here he tells us what is necessary to that cheerfulness of spirit which will furnish a man with a continual feast, though he has but little in the world - holiness and love. I. Holiness. A little, if we manage it and enjoy it in the fear of the Lord, if we keep a good conscience and go on in the way of duty, and serve God faithfully with the little we have, will be more comfortable, and turn to a better account, than great treasure and trouble therewith. Observe here, 1. It is o…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 15:16

trouble--agitation, implying the anxieties and perplexities attending wealth held by worldlings (Pro 16:18; Ti1 6:6).

John Gill on Proverbs 15:16

Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Not that a "little" is better than "much" of that which is good, as the things of this world are in themselves; poverty is not better than riches, simply considered; but as these are attended with different circumstances: if a man has but little of worldly substance, yet if he has "the fear of God" in his heart, and before his eyes; that fear which has God for its author and for its object, and which is itself a treasure; and may be here put for all grace, for the riches of grace saints are partakers of; such a man's little is better than another man's abundance without the fear of the Lord, as the Septuagi…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 15:7-17

A second series which begins with a proverb of the power of human speech, and closes with proverbs of the advantages and disadvantages of wealth. Pro 15:7 7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge; But the direction is wanting to the heart of fools. It is impossible that לא־כן can be a second object. accus. dependent on יזרוּ (dispergunt, not יצּרוּ, Pro 20:28; φυλάσσουσι, as Symmachus translates): but the heart of fools is unrighteous (error or falsehood) (Hitzig after Isa 16:6); for then why were the lips of the wise and the heart of the fools mentioned? לא־כן also does not mean οὐχ οὕτως (an old Greek anonymous translation, Jerome, Targ., Venet., Luther): the heart of the fool is quite…

The Church Fathers

Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, etc. As it is in the psalm: Better is a little that the righteous person has than the riches of many wicked (Ps. XXXVI). It is better, therefore, to lack wealth or even daily sustenance while preserving the fear of God, than to abandon the fear of God in the desire of acquiring more.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Fear, Godly · Described as: A treasure to saints — Described as: A treasure to saints
Poverty · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Reverence · 4:10;5:29;6:2,13;10:12,20,21;13:4;14:23;28:49,58; — 4:10;5:29;6:2,13;10:12,20,21;13:4;14:23;28:49,58;
Riches · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 15:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 15:16-17

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 15:16

John Gill on Proverbs 15:16

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 15:7-17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 15:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 15:16-17

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 15:16

John Gill on Proverbs 15:16

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 15:7-17

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 15:16

Rashi on Proverbs 15:16