Albert Barnes Commentary Proverbs 10:16

"The labor of the righteous [tendeth] to life; The increase of the wicked, to sin." — Proverbs 10:16 (ASV)

A warning against the conclusion to seek wealth first of all, which people of lower natures might draw from (Proverbs 10:15).

“Quaerenda pecunia primum est;
Virtus post nummos?”

Horace, . i. 53.

Such an inference is met by the experience, that while wealth gotten by honest industry is not only, like inherited riches, a defense, but also a blessing, the seeming profit (rather than “fruit”) of the wicked tends to further sin (1 Timothy 6:10), and so to punishment. Compare Romans 6:21.