I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 25-28.

Today’s passage resumes being a listing of individual proverbs.  In this case we are told that they are a collection of proverbs from Solomon which were collected by King Hezekiah.  There is one proverb which appears to me to have multiple applications.

Just because you’ve seen something,
don’t be in a hurry to go to court.
For what will you do in the end
if your neighbor deals you a shameful defeat?

The first application of this is that we should not be in a hurry to report negative information about others that we have observed.  This addresses specifically telling the court, or the government, but really it applies to telling anyone else.  It contains the hint that perhaps what we have seen is not as it appears; that perhaps there is more information of which we are unaware which changes the meaning of what we saw.  We should apply this both to spying on our neighbors for the government and to spreading gossip about them (please note that there are other places in the Bible where we are told to testify against those we know have committed crimes).  The full wording of this seems to imply having seen something which leads us to sue our neighbor.

There are so many proverbs in here that I would like to highlight, but you can read them directly for yourself.  However, I think it worth pointing out that there are two themes which this passage addresses in multiple proverbs.  The writer warns us repeatedly about being cautious in our interactions with fools.  Interactions with fools can lead us to becoming foolish ourselves, but failing to interact with them at all may lead them, and others, to believe that foolishness is wisdom.  The writer also warns us repeatedly against being lazy.