Proverbs 15: The better meal may contain no meat

Chapter 15 gathers many earlier themes and gives them a quieter maturity. Speech is judged not only by truth but by temperature, timing, and whether the heart has studied before answering. Worship is judged alongside the worshiper's way, so religious action cannot detach itself from conduct and cancel it. Hidden sorrow and inward joy receive attention without becoming simplistic moral scores. Two memorable "better" sayings place a small meal with love above abundance joined to trouble or hatred, refusing to confuse purchasing power with a healthy home. Counsel establishes plans, while a word in due season shows that timing belongs to wisdom as much as content. The closing movement returns to reproof. The ear that hears correction finds a place among the wise, and humility appears before honor. The chapter ends where the book's education began: wisdom remains possible only for people who can still be taught.