Proverbs 22:1

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
name	שֵׁ֭ם Shem	H8034	an appellation · noun, common masculine singular absolute
chosen	נִבְחָ֣ר niv.Char	H977	properly · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
great	רָ֑ב Rav	H7227	abundant (in quantity · adjective, masculine singular absolute
riches	מֵעֹ֣שֶׁר me.'O.sher	H6239	wealth · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
loving	טֽוֹב Tov	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
favour	חֵ֣ן chen	H2580	graciousness · noun, common masculine singular absolute
silver	מִכֶּ֥סֶף mi.Ke.sef	H3701	silver (from its pale color) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
gold	וּ֝מִזָּהָ֗ב u.mi.za.Hav	H2091	gold · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine 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

Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
Luke 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
1 Kings 1:47 And moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, God make the name of Solomon better than thy name, and make his…
Acts 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor…
Philippians 4:3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow…
Hebrews 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

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

Commentary

John Gill on Proverbs 22:1

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,.... The word "good" is not in the text, but is rightly supplied, as it is by the Targum, Septuagint, and Vulgate Latin versions; for it is not any name that is more eligible than riches; nor is it a need name among any sort of persons; for to have a good name with some turns to a man's reproach rather than to his credit; but a good name among good men, a name in the house of God, which is better than sons and daughters; a new name, the name of the children of God, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it; this is to be preferred to a multitude of riches: it is not to be procured by them, and is where they are not, or are lost, but th…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 22:1-2

Pro 21:1 1 A good name has the preference above great riches; For more than silver and gold is grace. The proverb is constructed chiastically; the commencing word נבחר (cf. Pro 21:3), and the concluding word טוב, are the parallel predicates; rightly, none of the old translators have been misled to take together חן טוב, after the analogy of שׂכל טוב, Pro 3:14; Pro 13:15. שׁם also does not need טוב for nearer determination; the more modern idiom uses שׁם טוב, (Note: e.g., Aboth iv. 17: there are three crowns: the crown of the Tra, the crown of the priesthood, and the crown of royalty; but כתר שׁם טוב, the crown of a good name, excels them all.) the more ancient uses שׁם alone (e.g., Ecc 7:1),…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 22:1

A wise person will never compromise his reputation in pursuit of money.

Rashi on Proverbs 22:1

A name is chosen A good name above great wealth. good favor over silver and gold Good favor is chosen.

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

Better than silver and gold is good grace. He signifies that grace when one is praised by the good for his good work, and indeed, for the conferred gifts of merit, the Father who is in heaven is glorified.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

A good name is more excellent than money, and good favor is better than heaps of silver. Faith itself redounds to itself, sufficiently rich and more than rich in its possession. There is nothing which is not the possession of the wise person except what is contrary to virtue, and wherever he goes he finds all things to be his. The whole world is his possession, since he uses it all as his own.
— Ambrose of Milan, LETTER 15

A good name is better, etc. He speaks of a good name, not one praised by the masses of the ignorant, but praised by the testimony of the faithful, even if few. For he did not shun having a good name, but sought to be praised only by the good, who says: If I were still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ (Galatians I). Therefore, a good name is the name of religion, which is rightly preferred to worldly riches; for even if one were to gain the whole world, he would rightly despise it, only so that his name might be written in heaven, and his memory fixed eternally both among angels and among holy men.
— 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

Holiness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Name · Va — Va
Reputation · GOOD — GOOD

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).