Proverbs 15:23 Explained in Context

Read It With

• Proverbs 15:20–23

Read Proverbs 15:23 with 15:20–23. Read alone, “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in…” could turn a compressed observation, warning, comparison, or command into a guarantee or complete policy. The full unit establishes: uses contrastive parallelism to place “A wise son maketh a glad father” against “a foolish man despiseth his mother”; by 15:23, it opens with “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth” and develops the line through “and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!”. Together the unit concentrates on wisdom, folly, teachability, and moral perception, family teaching, responsibility, and mutual care, planning, counsel, providence, and limited control within “First Solomonic sentence-saying collection.”

Why It Needs Context

The line's necessary work is contextual: it opens with “A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth” and develops the line through “and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!”. The surrounding unit supplies the comparison, affected people, and outcome required for interpretation.