Proverbs 19:10

BSB

Luxury is unseemly for a fool— how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!

WEB

Delicate living is not appropriate for a fool, much less for a servant to have rule over princes.

KJV

Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.

Matthew Henry

Verse 10

Proverbs 19:10

Note, 1. Pleasure and liberty ill become a fool: Delight is not seemly for such a one. A man that has not wisdom and grace has no right nor title to true joy, and therefore it is unseemly. It ill becomes those that do not delight in God to delight in any thing, nor how to manage themselves, and therefore they do but expose themselves. It becomes ungracious fools to be afflicted, and mourn, and weep, not to laugh and be merry; rebukes are more proper for them than delights. Delight is seemly for a man of business, to refresh him when he is fatigued, but not for a fool, that lives an idle life and abuses his recreations. The prosperity of fools discovers their folly and destroys them. 2. Power and honour ill become a man of a servile spirit. Nothing is more unseemly than for a servant to have rule over princes; it is absurd in itself, and very preposterous, for none are so insolent and intolerable as a beggar on horseback, a servant when he reigns, Pro 30:22. It is very unseemly for one that is a servant to sin and his lusts to rule over and oppress those that are God's freemen and made kings and priests to him.

Cross-references: Prov 30:22

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