Amsal 15:16

15:16 Better ¹  is little with the fear of the Lord

than great wealth and turmoil ²  with it. ³ 

Amsal 16:32

16:32 Better to be slow to anger ⁴  than to be a mighty warrior,

and one who controls his temper ⁵  is better than ⁶  one who captures a city. ⁷ 

[15:16]  ¹ sn One of the frequent characteristics of wisdom literature is the “better” saying; it is a comparison of different but similar things to determine which is to be preferred. These two verses focus on spiritual things being better than troubled material things.

[15:16]  ² sn Turmoil refers to anxiety; the fear of the Lord alleviates anxiety, for it brings with it contentment and confidence.

[15:16]  ³ sn Not all wealth has turmoil with it. But the proverb is focusing on the comparison of two things – fear of the Lord with little and wealth with turmoil. Between these two, the former is definitely better.

[16:32]  ⁴ tn One who is “slow to anger” is a patient person (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT). This is explained further in the parallel line by the description of “one who rules his spirit” (וּמֹשֵׁל בְּרוּחוֹ, umoshel bÿrukho), meaning “controls his temper.” This means the person has the emotions under control and will not “fly off the handle” quickly.

[16:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “who rules his spirit” (so NASB).

[16:32]  ⁶ tn The phrase “is better than” does not appear in this line in the Hebrew text, but is implied by the parallelism.

[16:32]  ⁷ sn The saying would have had greater impact when military prowess was held in high regard. It is harder, and therefore better, to control one’s passions than to do some great exploit on the battlefield.