There follows now a series of proverbs which place possessions and goods under a moral-religious point of view:

Treasures of wickedness bring no profit;

But righteousness delivers from death.

The lxx and Aquila translate ἀνόμους (ἀσεβεῖς). הועיל (to profit) with the accus. is possible, Isaiah 57:12, but אוצרות one does not use by itself; it requires a genitive designating it more closely. But also דּרשּׂיעא of the Targ., παρανόμων of Symmachus, fails; for the question still remains, to whom? Rightly Syr., Jerome, Theodotion, and the Quinta: ἀσεβείας, cf. Proverbs 4:17; Micah 4:10; Luke 16:9, μαμωνᾶς τῆς ἀδικίας. Treasures to which wickedness cleaves profit not, viz., him who has collected them through wickedness. On the contrary, righteousness saves from death (2b equals Proverbs 11:4, where the parallelism makes it clear that death as a judgment is meant). In Deuteronomy 24:13 it had been already said that compassionate love is "righteousness before the Lord," the cardinal virtue of the righteousness of life. Faith (Habakkuk 2:4) is its soul, and love its life. Therefore δικαιοσύνη and ἐεημοσύνη are interchangeable ideas; and it ought not to be an objection against the Apocrypha that it repeats the above proverb, ἐλεημοσύνη ἐκ θανάτου ῥύεται, Tob. 4:10; 12:9, Sir. 3:30; 29:12, for Daniel 4:24 also says the very same thing, and the thought is biblical, in so far as the giving of alms is understood to be not a dead work, but (Psalm 112:9) the life-activity of one who fears God, and of a mind believing in Him and resting in His word.

Proverbs 10:8 Parallel Commentaries

wise

Proverbs 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain to wise counsels:

Proverbs 9:9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge: but he that hates reproof is brutish.

Proverbs 14:8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.

Psalm 119:34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; yes, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

James 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

prating

Ecclesiastes 10:12 The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious; but the lips of a fool will swallow up himself.

fall or be beaten

Proverbs 18:6,7 A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for strokes...