A Topical Treasury of Proverbs

“I have been so blessed by my daily readings from this book. Subjects chosen are clear and contemporary and give the reader a comprehensive teaching on each subject; includes a daily reading plan of Proverbs by subject and a verse listing of every topic in each verse. The book is an excellent contribution to an understanding of the book of Proverbs. I am amazed at the depth of research that has been put into this book – the time spent on each verse to classify subjects is truly remarkable.”
Dr. J. Lee Simmons, President, Living Faith Global Ministries

BOOK DETAILS

A Topical Treasury of Proverbs
by Thomas B. Clarke
336 pages
Dimensions are 6" x 9"
First published in Sept 2008
Biblical Studies Press

Home

Table
of Contents

Read a topic:
Good Counsel

Proverbs
about Marriage

Why this book
was written

What does Proverbs of the Bible say about marriage?

Proverbs has more verses than any other book in the Bible about marriage issues. The problem that Proverbs presents is how to find them: those things that can go wrong in a marriage as well as multiple verses to help make a marriage stronger. Because Proverbs is not arranged by topic, it can be very time consuming to locate just those verses that apply to your situation. By re-arranging Proverbs by category, A Topical Treasury of Proverbs will enable you to quickly find just those verses that apply to you.

For example, lets say a particular marriage concern is 'laziness.' By using a computer word search on 'laz*' or by looking up laziness in a concordance, you will find three or possibly four verses that address laziness in Proverbs. By comparison, A Topical Treasury of Proverbs shows nineteen verses associated with laziness based on words such as 'sloth' and 'sluggard.' When all of these verses are seen together, you will see God's full counsel on laziness.

As shown in the Table of Contents, there are 100 topics that identify over 1,000 verses – most of these address issues within a marriage. Some of the more common negative topics are anger, bitterness, coveting, criticism, deception, disobedience, disrespect, dissension, drunkenness, foolishness, greed, hard-heartedness, hatred, injustice, laziness, money management, parenting issues, pride, quarrelling, selfishness, sexual immorality, shame, sin, temptation, unfaithfulness, wealth, and wickedness/evil.

In the same way, there are many topics that look at restoration of the marriage such as attentiveness, compassion, courage / strength, faithfulness, generosity, gentleness, grace / mercy, hardworking, honor / glory, hope, integrity, joy, love, righteousness, and more.

When marriage issues appear, it is not uncommon for various well-intended people to give advice about your marriage. How do you determine if that advice is sound? The topic Good Counsel is shown below and continues on subsequent pages to help with that understanding.

Tom's corner
Hearing the Voice of God Tom Clarke

As a married man, sometimes I think I have all the answers … but of course I don't. And sometimes my wife has all the answers, to which I have learned to hear the voice of God. Of the 100 topics in A Topical Treasury of Proverbs, the three most important to me have been the topics of Speech that Builds Up, Speech that Destroys, and Speech Withheld. In total, there are eighty verses in just these three topics, and I have been able to put them to good use.

I don't know what issues brought you to this webpage, but I think you find A Topical Treasury of Proverbs to be very practical. The book is just verses from Proverbs but they are organized so you can find the subjects easily. "The wise person accepts instructions" (Prov 10:8).


	92	Good Counsel
		Wisdom provided in the form of advice, instruction and counsel.
	Ref.	Scripture
	1:1, 2	The Proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: To learn wisdom and moral instruction, and to discern wise counsel.
	1:8, 9	Listen, my child, to the instruction from your father, and do not forsake the teaching from your mother. For they will be like an elegant garland on your head, and like pendants around your neck.
	1:20, 23, 29-30	Wisdom calls out in the street: … "If only you will respond to my rebuke, then I will pour out my thoughts to you and I will make my words known to you. … Because they hated moral knowledge, and did not choose to fear the Lord, they did not comply with my advice, they spurned all my rebuke."
		-- See full page --

TOM'S OTHER BOOKS

A GARDEN OF LOVE: Allow the love of our Lord to flow over you through the beauty of His flowers.

JOSHUA'S SPIRITUAL WARFARE: Based on the book of Joshua, an in-depth study of the chiastic structure in Joshua.