Albert Barnes Commentary Proverbs 3:27-35

"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, When it is in the power of thy hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, And to-morrow I will give; When thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbor, Seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, If he have done thee no harm. Envy thou not the man of violence, And choose none of his ways. For the perverse is an abomination to Jehovah; But his friendship is with the upright. The curse of Jehovah is in the house of the wicked; But he blesseth the habitation of the righteous. Surely he scoffeth at the scoffers; But he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory; But shame shall be the promotion of fools." — Proverbs 3:27-35 (ASV)

A marked change in style. The continuous exhortation is replaced by a series of maxims.

From them to whom it is due – literally, as in the margin. The precept expresses the great Scriptural thought that the so-called possession of wealth is but a stewardship. The true owners of what we call our own are those to whom, with it, we may do good. Not to relieve them is a breach of trust.

(Proverbs 3:28) Procrastination is especially fatal to the giving impulse. The Septuagint adds the caution: for you know not what the morrow will bring forth.

Securely (Proverbs 3:29) – that is, “With full trust,” without care or suspicion. Compare Judges 18:7, Judges 18:27.

(Proverbs 3:31) A protest against the tendency to worship success, to think the lot of the “man of violence” enviable, and therefore to be chosen.

(Proverbs 3:32) The true nature of such success. That which people admire is an abomination to Yahweh. His secret, that is, His close, intimate communion as of ‘friend with friend,’ is with the righteous.

(Proverbs 3:33) The thought, like that which appears in Zechariah 5:3-4 and pervades the tragedies of Greek drama, is of a curse, an Ate, dwelling in a house from generation to generation, the source of ever-recurring woes.

There is, possibly, a contrast between the “house” or “palace” of the rich oppressor and the lowly shepherd’s hut, the sheep-cote (2 Samuel 7:8), ennobled only by its upright inhabitants.

Surely (Proverbs 3:34) – Better, If he scorns the scorners, that is, Divine scorn of evil is the complement, and, as it were, the condition, of divine bounty to the lowly (compare the marginal reference and the Proverbs 1:26 note).

(Proverbs 3:35) The margin conveys the thought that fools glory in that which is indeed their shame. Others take the clause as meaning every fool takes up shame, that is, gains nothing but that.