Read & explore together
The Selfishness of the Unfriendly
Proverbs 18 is a collection of wise sayings about selfishness, words, justice, security and friendship. Read from start to finish, it contrasts the person who pushes others away with the person who learns, listens and stays faithful.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This wisdom passage begins with isolation and selfishness, then moves through sayings about fools, gossip, work, safety, pride, listening, disputes, the tongue, marriage, wealth, poverty and friendship. The sayings are brief, but together they form a connected picture of wise and unwise ways to live.
Proverbs 18:1–24Main takeaway
Proverbs 18 warns that self-centred pride and careless speech bring harm, while humility, justice, careful listening and loyal friendship fit wisdom.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Selfishness resists wisdomThe chapter opens with a person who isolates himself and pursues selfishness, standing against sound judgement.
Explanation
The chapter opens with a person who isolates himself and pursues selfishness, standing against sound judgement. That fits the fool in the next verse, who is not eager to understand but only to express his own opinion. Wickedness then brings contempt, shame and disgrace. The warning is about a closed, self-centred attitude.
02Words and conduct have weightSpeech is pictured in several ways. A person’s words can be like deep waters, while wisdom is like a flowing brook.
Explanation
Speech is pictured in several ways. A person’s words can be like deep waters, while wisdom is like a flowing brook. But a fool’s lips bring strife and become a snare. Gossip is attractive like a dainty morsel and sinks deep. Slack work is also serious, linked with destruction rather than wisdom.
03Where safety is foundYahweh’s name is called a strong tower where the righteous run and are safe. By contrast, the rich man imagines his wealth is an unscalable wall.
Explanation
Yahweh’s name is called a strong tower where the righteous run and are safe. By contrast, the rich man imagines his wealth is an unscalable wall. The next sayings match that contrast: pride comes before destruction, while humility comes before honour. Security is not presented as self-made confidence.
04Listen before speakingThis passage values careful hearing. Answering before listening is folly and shame. The discerning heart and wise ear seek knowledge.
Explanation
This passage values careful hearing. Answering before listening is folly and shame. The discerning heart and wise ear seek knowledge. One side of a case may sound right at first, but another voice can test it. These sayings slow a person down before speaking, judging or entering disputes.
05The chapter ends with relationshipsThe tongue has real power, and people live with its fruit. The sayings then mention marriage, harsh answers from the rich, and finally friendship.
Explanation
The tongue has real power, and people live with its fruit. The sayings then mention marriage, harsh answers from the rich, and finally friendship. That ending answers the opening warning: instead of selfish isolation, the chapter finishes by praising a friend who stays closer than a brother.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01How do the first two verses describe a person who does not want wisdom?
Notice the links between isolating oneself, pursuing selfishness, resisting sound judgement and wanting to reveal personal opinion.
02What images does this chapter use for words, and what do those images show?
Compare deep waters and a flowing brook with strife, a snare, dainty morsels and fruit.
03How does the final verse connect with the opening verse?
Set the isolated, selfish person beside the friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Proverbs 18:1–24
1A man who isolates himself pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.
2A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.
3When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.
4The words of a man’s mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.
5To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.
6A fool’s lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.
7A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.
8The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person’s innermost parts.
9One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.
10Yahweh’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.
11The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.
12Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.
13He who answers before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.
14A man’s spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?
15The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
16A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.
17He who pleads his cause first seems right— until another comes and questions him.
18The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.
19A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city. Disputes are like the bars of a fortress.
20A man’s stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.
21Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
22Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of Yahweh.
23The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.
24A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.