3 A man does not stand by wickedness,

   But the root of the righteous remains unmoved.

In רשׁע there lies the idea of want of inward stay (vid., at Psalm 1:1); in a manner of thought and of conduct which has no stay in God and His law, there can be expected no external endurance, no solidity. The righteous, on the contrary, have their root in God; nothing can tear them from the ground in which they are rooted, they are as trees which no storm outroots. The very same thought is clothed in other words in Proverbs 10:25, and another statement regarding the root of the righteous is found at Proverbs 12:12.

Proverbs 12:9 Parallel Commentaries

he that is or rather, as in the old translation 'He that is despised, and is his own servant, is better than he that boasteth himself and wanteth bread;' with which the versions generally agree. That is, it is better to be in lowness and obscurity, and to support oneself by manual labour, than to want the necessaries of life, through a foolish vanity, or with the pride of birth, which refuses to labour.

despised

Proverbs 13:7 There is that makes himself rich, yet has nothing: there is that makes himself poor, yet has great riches.

Luke 14:11 For whoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.