Proverbs 19:13 - Meaning and Application

It shows the emptiness of the world that the things we expect to bring us the most comfort can bring us the deepest grief. This is often how life turns out. What greater earthly comfort can a man have than a good wife and good children? Yet a foolish son can be a heavy burden, and a man may wish many times that he had never had children.

Such a son does not apply himself to study or work. He takes no advice, lives a loose and shameless life, and wastes his money in reckless pleasures. Or he may be proud, vain, and full of himself. A son like that is his father’s grief, because he brings shame on the family and is likely to ruin it. A father hates all his labor when he sees to whom he must leave the results of it.

A difficult, nagging wife is just as troubling. Her quarrels never seem to end. Day after day, she keeps finding something to complain about, making herself and everyone around her miserable. People who are used to scolding never lack something to scold over. But it is like a continual drip, a steady irritation, like a roof that leaks all the time and will not let a man rest dry in his own house.

A man with an undutiful son and a quarrelsome wife has an unhappy life. He needs a great deal of wisdom and grace to bear such trouble and still do his duty.