Proverbs 17:1-28

17:5 | The poor and needy are easy targets, because they are powerless. But all people are made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27). To mock the poor is to mock God. To be glad over someone’s misfortune makes one culpable before God (24:17).

17:14 | Starting an argument - the beginning of strife - may seem harmless, but it can release a flood of damage like a small crack in a dam. The answer is to stop contention before it begins (20:3; 1 Thess. 4:11).

17:17 | Relationships built on love and fidelity are a rare treasure. True friends are faithful in times of adversity as well as prosperity (18:24).

17:19 | Exalts his gate means building a doorway that is too high to support itself. Some people seem to thrive when they are offending others - in their love of a fight, they have a way of pushing those around them to the breaking point. In similar fashion, the one who builds a doorway too high will most assuredly see the doorway collapse.

17:24 | Like the student who hears nothing of what his teacher says because his attention is focused elsewhere in the classroom, the fool who is inattentive to the instruction of wisdom is said to have his eyes on the ends of the earth.