Prov. 15:9-17, Wise Love

I believe it will also be helpful to record all the uses of “love” in Proverbs.  Again, pay attention to the object of love. 

·       1:22: How long, you simple (naïve) ones, will you love simplicity (naivete).

·       3:12: For whom the LORD loves He corrects (Dt. 8:5; Hb. 12:6; Rev. 3:19).

·       4:6: Love her (wisdom) and she will keep you.

·       5:19: Always be enraptured with her (your wife) love.  This reminds us of an important aspect of “love” which is that we must be good recipients of love, whether of a wife, a friend, or the LORD.

·       7:18ab: The harlot entices the simpleton, Come, let us take our fill of love until morning, let us delight ourselves with love.

·       8:17ab,21,36: Wisdom says, I love those who love me.  Again, That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, that I may fill their treasuries.  And again, All those who hate me love death.

·       9:8: Rebuke a wise man and he will love you.

·       10:12: Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.

·       12:1ab: Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge; he who hates correction is stupid (yes, this is the actual NKJV translation).

·       13:24: He who loves (his son) disciplines him promptly.

·       14:20: The poor man is hated by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends.

·       15:9,12,17: The LORD loves him who follows righteousness.  A scoffer does not love the one who corrects him.  Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred.

·       16:13: Kings love him who speaks what is right.

·       17:9,17,19ab: He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.  A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.  He who loves transgression loves strife.

·       18:21,24: Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.  There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

·       19:8: He who gets wisdom loves his own soul.

·       20:13: Do not love sleep lest you come to poverty.

·       21:17ab: He who loves pleasure will be a poor man.  He who loves wine and oil will not be rich.

·       22:11: He who loves purity of heart, and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend.

·       27:5-6: Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed.  Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

·       29:3: Whoever loves wisdom makes his father rejoice.