{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/kad/pro015.htm","path":"bib/cmt/kad/pro015.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/kad/pro015.htm","text":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78]\nWe take these verses together as forming a group which begins with a proverb regarding the good and evil which flows from the tongue, and closes with a proverb regarding the treasure in which blessing is found, and that in which no blessing is found.\n1 A soft answer turneth away wrath,\nAnd a bitter word stirreth up anger.\nIn the second line, the common word for anger (\u05d0\u05e3, from the breathing with the nostrils, Pro 14:17) is purposely placed, but in the first, that which denotes anger in the highest degree (\u05d7\u05de\u05d4 from \u05d9\u05d7\u05dd, cogn. \u05d7\u05de\u05dd, Arab. hamiya, to glow, like \u05e9\u05c1\u05e0\u05d4 from \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05df): a mild, gentle word turns away the heat of anger (excandescentiam), puts it back, cf. Pro 25:15. The Dagesh in \u05e8\u05bc\u05da follows the rule of the \u05d3\u05d7\u05d9\u05e7, i.e., of the close connection of a word terminating with the accented eh, aah, ah with the following word (Michlol 63b). The same is the meaning of the Latin proverb:\nFrangitur ira gravis\nQuando est responsio suavis.\nThe \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05be\u05e2\u05e6\u05d1 produces the contrary effect. This expression does not mean an angry word (Ewald), for \u05e2\u05e6\u05d1 is not to be compared with the Arab. gha\u1e0dab, anger (Umbreit), but with Arab. 'a\u1e0db, cutting, wounding, paining (Hitzig), so that \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8 \u05de\u05e2\u05e6\u05d9\u05d1 is meant in the sense of Psa 78:40 : a word which causes pain (lxx \u03bb\u03c5\u03c0\u03b7\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2, Theod. \u03c0\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03c2), not after the meaning, a word provoking to anger (Gesenius), but certainly after its effect, for a wounding word \"makes anger arise.\" As one says of anger \u05e9\u05c1\u05d1, \"it turns itself\" (e.g., Isa 9:11), so, on the other hand, \u05e2\u05dc\u05d4, \"it rises up,\" Ecc 10:4. The lxx has a third line, \u1f40\u03c1\u03b3\u1f74 \u1f00\u03c0\u03cc\u03bb\u03bb\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c6\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03af\u03bc\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2, which the Syr. forms into a distich by the repetition of Pro 14:32, the untenableness of which is at once seen.\nThe \u03c0\u03c1\u03b1\u03b0\u0301\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03af\u03b1\u03c2 (Jam 3:13) commended in Pro 15:1 is here continued:\nThe tongue of the wise showeth great knowledge,\nAnd the mouth of fools poureth forth folly.\nAs \u05d4\u05d9\u05d8\u05d9\u05d1 \u05e0\u05d2\u05bc\u05df, Isa 23:16, means to strike the harp well, and \u05d4\u05d9\u05d8\u05d9\u05d1 \u05dc\u05db\u05ea, Isa 30:29, to go along merrily, so \u05d4\u05d9\u05d8\u05d9\u05d1 \u05d3\u05bc\u05e2\u05ea, to know in a masterly manner, and here, where the subject is the tongue, which has only an instrumental reference to knowledge: to bring to light great knowledge (cf. 7a). In 2b the lxx translate \u03c3\u03c4\u03cc\u03bc\u03b1 \u03b4\u1f72 \u1f00\u03c6\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03b3\u03b3\u03ad\u03bb\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u03ba\u03ac. From this Hitzig concludes that they read \u05e8\u05e2\u05d5\u05ea as 28b, and prefers this phrase; but they also translated in Pro 13:16; Pro 14:28; Pro 26:11, \u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05ea by \u03ba\u03b1\u03ba\u03af\u03b1\u03bd, for they interpreted the unintelligible word by combination with \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05ea, and in Pro 12:23 by \u1f00\u03c1\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c2, for they thought they had before them \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea (from \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4).\n3 The eyes of Jahve are in every place,\nObserving the evil and the good.\nThe connection of the dual \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd with the plur. of the adjective, which does not admit of a dual, is like Pro 6:17, cf. 18. But the first line is a sentence by itself, to which the second line gives a closer determination, as showing how the eyes of God are everywhere (cf. Ch2 16:9, after Zac 4:10) abroad over the whole earth, viz., beholding with penetrating look the evil and the good (\u05e6\u05e4\u05d4, to hold to, to observe, cf. \u1f10\u03c0\u03b9\u03b2\u03bb\u03ad\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2, Sir. 23:19), i.e., examining men whether they are good or evil, and keeping them closely before His eyes, so that nothing escapes him. This universal inspection, this omniscience of God, has an alarming but also a comforting side. The proverb seeks first to warn, therefore it speaks first of the evil.\n4 Gentleness of the tongue is a tree of life;\nBut falseness in it is a wounding to the spirit.\nRegarding \u05de\u05e8\u05e4\u05bc\u05d0, vid., at Pro 12:18, and regarding \u05e1\u05dc\u05e3, at Pro 11:3; this latter word we derive with Fleischer from \u05e1\u05dc\u05e3, to subvert, overthrow, but not in the sense of \"violence, asperitas, in as far as violent speech is like a stormy sea,\" but of perversity, perversitas (Venet. \u03bb\u03bf\u03be\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2), as the contrast to truthfulness, rectitude, kindness. Gentleness characterizes the tongue when all that it says to a neighbour, whether it be instruction or correction, or warning or consolation, it says in a manner without rudeness, violence, or obtrusiveness, by which it finds the easiest and surest acceptance, because he feels the goodwill, the hearty sympathy, the humility of him who is conscious of his own imperfection. Such gentleness is a tree of life, whose fruits preserve life, heal the sick, and raise up the bowed down. Accordingly, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7 is to be understood of the effect which goes forth from perversity or falseness of the tongue upon others. Fleischer translates: asperitas autem in ea animum vulnerat, and remarks, \"\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05d7, abstr. pro concreto. The verb \u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05e8, and the n. verbale \u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05e8 derived from it, may, in order to render the meaning tropical, govern the prep. \u05d1\u05bc, as the Arab. kaser ba\u1e33lby, he has broken my heart (opp. Arab. jabar ba\u1e33laby), cf. \u05d1\u05bc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5, Pro 21:29, vid., De Glossis Habichtianis, p. 18; yet it also occurs with the accus., Psa 69:21, and the corresponding gen. \u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05e8 \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7, Isa 65:14.\" In any case, the breaking (deep wounding) is not meant in regard to his own spirit, but to that of the neighbour. Rightly Luther: but a lying (tongue) makes heart-sorrow (elsewhere, a false one troubles the cheerful); Euchel: a false tongue is soul-wounding; and the translation of the year 1844: falsehood is a breach into the heart. Only for curiosity's sake are two other interpretations of 4a and 4b mentioned: the means of safety to the tongue is the tree of life, i.e., The Tor (Erachin 15b); and: perversity suffers destruction by a breath of wind, after the proverb, \u05db\u05dc \u05e9\u05c1\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d1\u05d5 \u05d2\u05e1\u05d5\u05ea \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 \u05e7\u05d9\u05de\u05e2\u05d0 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05ea\u05d5, a breath of wind breaks a man who is puffed up\n(Note: Vid., Duke's Rabbinische Blumenlese, p. 176, where the rendering is somewhat different.)\n(which Meri presents for choice, vid., also Rashi, who understands \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 of the storm of judgment). The lxx translates, in 4b, a different text: \u1f41 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03c0\u03bb\u03b7\u03c3\u03b8\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c0\u03bd\u03b5\u03cd\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2; but the \u05d9\u05e9\u05c2\u05d1\u05bc\u05e2 \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7 here supposed cannot mean \"to be full of spirit,\" but rather \"to eat full of wind.\" Otherwise the Syr. and Targ.: and he who eateth of his own fruit is satisfied (Heb. \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc \u05de\u05e4\u05bc\u05e8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d9\u05e9\u05c2\u05d1\u05bc\u05e2) - an attempt to give to the phrase \u05d9\u05e9\u05c2\u05d1\u05e2 a thought correct in point of language, but one against which we do not give up the Masoretic text.\n5 A fool despiseth his father's correction;\nBut he that regardeth reproof is prudent.\nWe may with equal correctness translate: he acts prudently (after Sa1 23:22); and, he is prudent (after Pro 19:25). We prefer, with Jerome, Venet., and Luther, the latter, against the lxx, Syr., and Targ., because, without a doubt, the \u05d9\u05e2\u05e8\u05dd is so thought of at Pro 19:25 : the contrast is more favourable to the former. It is true that he who regardeth reproof is not only prudent, but also that he is prudent by means of observing it. With line first cf. Pro 1:7 and Pro 1:30, and with line second, Pro 12:1. Luther translates: the fool calumniates...; but of the meanings of abuse (properly pungere) and scorn, the second is perhaps here to be preferred.\n6 The house of the righteous is a great treasure-chamber;\nBut through the gain of the wicked comes trouble.\nThe contrast shows that \u05d7\u05e1\u05df does not here mean force or might (lxx, Syr., Targ., Jerome, and Venet.), which generally this derivative of the verb \u05d7\u05e1\u05df never means, but store, fulness of possession, prosperity (Luther: in the house of the righteous are goods enough), in this sense (cf. Pro 27:24) placing itself, not with the Arab. \u1e25asuna, to be firm, fastened (Aram. \u1e25sn, \u05d7\u05e1\u05df), but with Arab. khazan, to deposit, to lay up in granaries, whence our \"Magazin.\" \u05d7\u05e1\u05df may indeed, like \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc, have the meaning of riches, and \u05d7\u05e1\u05df does actually mean, in the Jewish-Aram., to possess, and the Aphel \u05d0\u05d7\u05e1\u05df, to take into possession (\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd); but the constant use of the noun \u05d7\u05e1\u05df in the sense of store, with the kindred idea of laying up, e.g., Jer 20:5, and of the Niph. \u05e0\u05d7\u05e1\u05df, which means, Isa 23:18, with \u05e0\u05d0\u05e6\u05e8, \"to be magazined,\" gives countenance to the idea that \u05d7\u05e1\u05df goes back to the primary conception, recondere, and is to be distinguished from \u05d7\u05e1\u05d5\u05df, \u05d7\u05e1\u05d9\u05df, and other derivatives after the fundamental conception. We may not interpret \u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea, with Fleischer, Bertheau, and Zckler, as accus.: in the house (cf. \u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea, Pro 8:2), nor prepositionally as chez = casa; but: \"the house of the righteous is a great store,\" equivalent to, the place of such. On the contrary, destruction comes by the gain of the wicked. It is impossible that \u05e0\u05e2\u05db\u05bc\u05e8\u05ea can have the house as the subject (Lwenstein), for \u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea is everywhere mas. Therefore Abulwald, followed by Kimchi and the Venet. (\u1f44\u03bb\u03b5\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2), interprets \u05e0\u05e2\u05db\u05e8\u05ea as subst., after the form of the Mishnic \u05e0\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05ea, a pool, cf. \u05e0\u05d7\u05e8\u05e6\u05d4, peremptorily decided, decreed; and if we do not extinguish the \u05d1 of \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea (the lxx according to the second translation of this doubly-translated distich, Syr., and Targ.), there remains then nothing further than to regard \u05e0\u05e2\u05db\u05e8\u05ea either as subst. neut. overturned = overthrow (cf. such part. nouns as \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1\u05d3\u05d4, \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05e7\u05d4, but particularly \u05e0\u05e1\u05d1\u05bc\u05d4, Ch2 10:15), or as impers. neut. pass.: it is overthrown = there is an overthrow, like \u05e0\u05e9\u05c2\u05e2\u05e8\u05d4, Psa 50:3 : it is stormed = a storm rages. The gain of the wicked has overthrow as its consequence, for the greed of gain, which does not shrink from unrighteous, deceitful gain, destroys his house, \u05e2\u05db\u05e8 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5, Pro 15:27 (vid., regarding \u05e2\u05e6\u05e8, Pro 11:29). Far from enriching the house, such gain is the cause of nothing but ruin. The lxx, in its first version of this distich, reads, in 6a, \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05e6\u05d3\u05e7 (\u1f10\u03bd \u03c0\u03bb\u03b5\u03bf\u03bd\u03b1\u03b6\u03bf\u03cd\u03c3\u1fc3 \u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c3\u03cd\u03bd\u1fc3), and in 6b, \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2 \u05e0\u05e2\u05db\u05bc\u05e8 (and together with the fruit the godless is rooted out, \u1f41\u03bb\u03cc\u1fe4\u1fe5\u03b9\u03b6\u03bf\u03b9 \u1f10\u03ba \u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f00\u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9); for, as Lagarde has observed, it confounds \u05e2\u05db\u05e8 with \u05e2\u05e7\u05e8 (to root, privativ: to root up).\nA second series which begins with a proverb of the power of human speech, and closes with proverbs of the advantages and disadvantages of wealth.\n7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge;\nBut the direction is wanting to the heart of fools.\nIt is impossible that \u05dc\u05d0\u05be\u05db\u05df can be a second object. accus. dependent on \u05d9\u05d6\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc (dispergunt, not \u05d9\u05e6\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc, Pro 20:28; \u03c6\u03c5\u03bb\u03ac\u03c3\u03c3\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9, as Symmachus translates): but the heart of fools is unrighteous (error or falsehood) (Hitzig after Isa 16:6); for then why were the lips of the wise and the heart of the fools mentioned? \u05dc\u05d0\u05be\u05db\u05df also does not mean \u03bf\u1f50\u03c7 \u03bf\u1f55\u03c4\u03c9\u03c2 (an old Greek anonymous translation, Jerome, Targ., Venet., Luther): the heart of the fool is quite different from the heart of the wise man, which spreads abroad knowledge (Zckler), for it is not heart and heart, but lip and heart, that are placed opposite to each other. Better the lxx \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba \u1f00\u03c3\u03c6\u03b1\u03bb\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2, and yet better the Syr. lo kin\u0131\u0302n (not right, sure). We have seen, at Pro 11:19, that \u05db\u05df as a participial adj. means standing = being, continuing, or also standing erect = right, i.e., rightly directed, or having the right direction; \u05db\u05bc\u05df\u05be\u05e6\u05d3\u05e7\u05d4 means there conducting oneself rightly, and thus genuine rectitude. What, after 7a, is more appropriate than to say of the heart of the fool, that it wants the receptivity for knowledge which the lips of the wise scatter abroad? The heart of the fool is not right, it has not the right direction, is crooked and perverse, has no mind for wisdom; and that which proceeds from the wise, therefore, finds with him neither estimation nor acceptance.\n8 The sacrifice of the godless is an abhorrence to Jahve;\nBut the prayer of the upright is His delight.\nAlthough the same is true of the prayer of the godless that is here said of their sacrifice, and of the sacrifice of the righteous that is here said of their prayer (vid., Pro 28:9, and cf. Psa 4:6 with Psa 27:6), yet it is not by accident that here (line first = Pro 21:27) the sacrifice is ascribed to the godless and the prayer to the upright. The sacrifice, as a material and legally-required performance, is much more related to dead works than prayer freely completing itself in the word, the most direct expression of the personality, which, although not commanded by the law, because natural to men, as such is yet the soul of all sacrifices; and the Chokma, like the Psalms and Prophets, in view of the ceremonial service which had become formal and dead in the opus operatum, is to such a degree penetrated by the knowledge of the incongruity of the offering up of animals and of plants, with the object in view, that a proverb like \"the sacrifice of the righteous is pleasing to God\" never anywhere occurs; and if it did occur without being expressly and unavoidably referred to the legal sacrifice, it would have to be understood rather after Psa 51:18. than Ps. 51:20f., rather after Sa1 15:22 than after Psa 66:13-15. \u05d6\u05d1\u05d7, which, when it is distinguished from \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4, means (cf. Pro 7:14) the sacrifice only in part coming to the altar, for the most part applied to a sacrificial feast, is here the common name for the bloody, and, per synecdochen, generally the legally-appointed sacrifice, consisting in external offering. The \u05dc\u05e8\u05e6\u05d9\u05df, Lev 1:3, used in the Tra of sacrifices, is here, as at Ps. 19:15, transferred to prayer. The fundamental idea of the proverb is, that sacrifices well-pleasing to God, prayers acceptable to God (that are heard, Pro 15:29), depend on the relations in which the heart and life of the man stand to God.\nAnother proverb with the key-word \u05ea\u05d5\u05e2\u05d1\u05ea\nAn abomination to Jahve is the way of the godless;\nBut He loveth him who searcheth after righteousness.\nThe manner and rule of life is called the way. \u05de\u05e8\u05d3\u05bc\u05e3 is the heightening of \u05e8\u05d3\u05e3, Pro 21:21, and can be used independently in bonam, as well as in malam partem (Pro 11:19, cf. Pro 13:21). Regarding the form \u05d9\u05d0\u05d4\u05d1, vid., Fleischer in Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitsch. xv. 382.\n10 Sharp correction is for him who forsaketh the way;\nWhoever hateth instruction shall die.\nThe way, thus absolute, is the God-pleasing right way (Pro 2:13), the forsaking of which is visited with the punishment of death, because it is that which leadeth unto life (Pro 10:17). And that which comes upon them who leave it is called \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1\u05e8 \u05e8\u05e2, castigatio dura, as much as to say that whoever does not welcome instruction, whoever rejects it, must at last receive it against his will in the form of peremptory punishment. The sharp correction (cf. Isa 28:28, Isa 28:19) is just the death under which he falls who accepts of no instruction (Pro 5:23), temporal death, but that as a token of wrath which it is not for the righteous (Pro 14:32).\n11 The underworld [Sheol] and the abyss are before Jahve;\nBut how much more the hearts of the children of men!\nA syllogism, a minori ad majus, with \u05d0\u05e3 \u05db\u05bc\u05d9 (lxx \u03c4\u1ff6\u03c2 \u03bf\u1f50\u03c7\u1f76 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76, Venet. \u03bc\u1fb6\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u03bf\u1f56\u03bd), like 12:32.\n(Note: In Rabbin. this concluding form is called \u05e7\u05dc \u05d5\u05d7\u05de\u05e8 (light and heavy over against one another), and \u05d3\u05bc\u05d9\u05df (judgment, viz., from premisses, thus conclusion), \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4 \u0313 \u1f10\u03be. Instead of the biblical \u05d0\u05e3 \u05db\u05d9, the latter form of the language has \u05db\u05bc\u05dc\u05be\u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05bc\u05df (all speaks for it that it is so), \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d0\u05d7\u05ea \u05db\u05bc\u05de\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d5\u05db\u05de\u05bc\u05d4 (so much the more), \u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5 \u05d3\u05bc\u05d9\u05df, or also \u05e7\u05dc \u05d5\u05d7\u05de\u05e8 (as minori ad majus = quanto magis); vid., the Hebr. Rmerbrief, p. 14.)\n\u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05df has a meaning analogous to that of \u03c4\u03ac\u03c1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 (cf. \u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd, Pe2 2:4, to throw down into the \u03c4\u03ac\u03c1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2), which denotes the lowest region of Hades (\u05e9\u05c1\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc \u05ea\u05bc\u05d7\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea or \u05ea\u05bc\u05d7\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9\u05bc\u05d4 '\u05e9\u05c1), and also in general, Hades. If \u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5\u05df and \u05de\u05d5\u05ea are connected, Job 37:22, and if \u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5\u05df is the parallel word to \u05e7\u05d1\u05e8, Psa 88:12, or also to \u05e9\u05c1\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc, as in the passage similar to this proverb, Job 26:6 (cf. Job 38:17): \"Shel is naked before Him, and Abaddon has no covering;\" since \u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5\u05df is the general name of the underworld, including the grave, i.e., the inner place of the earth which receives the body of the dead, as the kingdom of the dead, lying deeper, does the soul. But where, as here and at Pro 27:10, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc and \u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5\u05df stand together, they are related to each other, as \u1f85\u03b4\u03b7\u03c2 and \u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 or \u1f05\u03b2\u03c5\u03c3\u03c3\u03bf\u03c2, Rev 9:11 : \u05d0\u05d1\u05d3\u05d5\u05df is the lowest hell, the place of deepest descent, of uttermost destruction. The conclusion which is drawn in the proverb proceeds from the supposition that in the region of creation there is nothing more separated, and by a wide distance, from God, than the depth, and especially the undermost depth, of the realm of the dead. If now God has this region in its whole compass wide open before Him, if it is visible and thoroughly cognisable by Him (\u05e0\u05d2\u05d3, acc. adv.: in conspectu, from \u05e0\u05d2\u05d3, eminere, conspicuum esse) - for He is also present in the underworld, Psa 139:8 - then much more will the hearts of the children of men be open, the inward thoughts of men living and acting on the earth being known already from their expressions. Man sees through man, and also himself, never perfectly; but the Lord can try the heart and prove the reins, Jer 17:10. What that means this proverb gives us to understand, for it places over against the hearts of men nothing less than the depths of the underworld in eternity.\n12 The scorner liketh not that one reprove him,\nTo wise men he will not go.\nThe inf. absol., abruptly denoting the action, may take the place of the object, as here (cf. Job 9:18; Isa 42:24), as well as of the subject (Pro 25:27, Job 6:25). Thus \u05d4\u05d5\u05db\u05d9\u05d7 is (Pro 9:7) construed with the dat. obj. Regarding the probable conclusion which presents itself from passages such as Pro 15:12 and Pro 13:20, as to the study of wisdom in Israel, vid., p. 39. Instead of \u05d0\u05dc, we read, Pro 13:20 (cf. Pro 22:24), \u05d0\u05ea\u05be; for \u05dc\u05db\u05ea \u05d0\u05ea\u05be means to have intercourse with one, to go a journey with one (Mal 2:6, cf. Gen 5:24, but not Sa2 15:22, where we are to translate with Keil), according to which the lxx has here \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u1f70 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u1ff6\u03bd \u03bf\u1f50\u03c7 \u1f41\u03bc\u03b9\u03bb\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9. The mocker of religion and of virtue shuns the circle of the wise, for he loves not to have his treatment of that which is holy reproved, nor to be convicted of his sin against truth; he prefers the society where his frivolity finds approbation and a response.\n13 A joyful heart maketh the countenance cheerful;\nBut in sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.\nThe expression of the countenance, as well as the spiritual habitus of a man, is conditioned by the state of the heart. A joyful heart maketh the countenance \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1, which means friendly, but here happy-looking = cheerful (for \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1 ro is the most general designation of that which makes an impression which is pleasant to the senses or to the mind); on the contrary, with sorrow of heart (\u05e2\u05e6\u05bc\u05d1\u05ea, constr. of \u05e2\u05e6\u05bc\u05d1\u05ea, Pro 10:10, as \u05d7\u05d8\u05d0\u05ea = \u05d7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d0\u05ea, from \u05d7\u05d8\u05bc\u05d0\u05d4) there is connected a stricken, broken, downcast heart; the spiritual functions of the man are paralyzed; self-confidence, without which energetic action is impossible, is shattered; he appears discouraged, whereby \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7 is thought of as the power of self-consciousness and of self-determination, but \u05dc\u05d1, as our \"Gemt\" [animus], as the oneness of thinking and willing, and thus as the seat of determination, which decides the intellectual-corporeal life-expression of the man, or without being able to be wholly restrained, communicates itself to them. The \u05d1 of \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05e2\u05e6\u05bc\u05d1\u05ea is, as Pro 15:16., Pro 16:8; Pro 17:1, meant in the force of being together or along with, so that \u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05d7 \u05e0\u05db\u05d0\u05d4 do not need to be taken separate from each other as subject and predicate: the sense of the noun-clause is in the \u05d1, as e.g., also Pro 7:23 (it is about his life, i.e., it concerns his life). Elsewhere the crushed spirit, like the broken heart, is equivalent to the heart despairing in itself and prepared for grace. The heart with a more clouded mien may be well, for sorrow has in it a healing power (Ecc 7:3). But here the matter is the general psychological truth, that the corporeal and spiritual life of man has its regulator in the heart, and that the condition of the heart leaves its stamp on the appearance and on the activity of the man. The translation of the \u05e8\u05d5\u05d7 \u05e0\u05db\u05d0\u05d4 by \"oppressed breath\" (Umbreit, Hitzig) is impossible; the breath cannot be spoken of as broken.\n14 The heart of the understanding seeketh after knowledge,\nAnd the mouth of fools practiseth folly.\nLuther interprets \u05e8\u05e2\u05d4 as metaphor. for to govern, but with such ethical conceptions it is metaphor. for to be urgently circumspect about anything (vid., Pro 13:20), like Arab. ra'y and r'\u00e2yt, intentional, careful, concern about anything. No right translation can be made of the Chethib \u05e4\u05e0\u05d9, which Schultens, Hitzig, Ewald, and Zckler prefer; the predicate can go before the \u05e4\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9, after the Semitic rule in the fem. of the sing., Sa2 10:9, cf. Job 16:16, Chethib, but cannot follow in the masc. of the sing.; besides, the operations of his look and aspect are ascribed to his face, but not spiritual functions as here, much more to the mouth, i.e., to the spirit speaking through it. The heart is within a man, and the mouth without; and while the former gives and takes, the latter is always only giving out. In Pro 18:15, where a synonymous distich is formed from the antithetic distich, the ear, as hearing, is mentioned along with the heart as appropriating. \u05e0\u05d1\u05d5\u05df is not an adj., but is gen., like \u05e6\u05d3\u05d9\u05e7, 28a (opp. \u05d5\u05e4\u05d9). \u05d7\u05db\u05dd, Pro 16:23. The \u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03bf\u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03af\u03b1 of the understanding is placed over against the \u03bc\u03c9\u03c1\u03bf\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03af\u03b1 of the fools. The lxx translates \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03b4\u03af\u03b1 \u1f40\u03c1\u03b8\u1f74 \u03b6\u03b7\u03c4\u03b5\u1fd6 \u03b1\u1f32\u03c3\u03b8\u03b7\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd (cf. Pro 14:10, \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03b4\u03af\u03b1 \u1f00\u03b4\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f30\u03c3\u03b8\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9\u03ba\u03ae); it uses this word after the Hellenistic usus loq. for \u05d3\u05e2\u05ea, of experimental knowledge.\n15 All the days of the afflicted are evil;\nBut he who is of a joyful heart hath a perpetual feast.\nRegarding \u05e2\u05e0\u05d9 (the afflicted), vid., 21b. They are so called on whom a misfortune, or several of them, press externally or internally. If such an one is surrounded by ever so many blessings, yet is his life day by day a sad one, because with each new day the feeling of his woe which oppresses him renews itself; whoever, on the contrary, is of joyful heart (gen. connection as Pro 11:13; Pro 12:8), such an one (his life) is always a feast, a banquet (not \u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05ea\u05bc\u05d4, as it may be also pointed, but \u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05ea\u05bc\u05d4 and \u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05d9\u05d3 thus adv., for it is never adj.; the post-bib. usage is \u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05df for \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05d5\u05ea \u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05d9\u05d3). Hitzig (and also Zckler) renders 15b: And (the days) of one who is of a joyful heart are.... Others supply \u05dc\u05d5 (cf. Pro 27:7), but our rendering does not need that. We have here again an example of that attribution (Arab. isn\u00e2d) in which that which is attributed (musnad) is a condition (hal) of a logical subject (the musnad il\u00eahi), and thus he who speaks has this, not in itself, but in the sense of the condition; the inwardly cheerful is feasts evermore, i.e., the condition of such an one is like a continual festival. The true and real happiness of a man is thus defined, not by external things, but by the state of the heart, in which, in spite of the apparently prosperous condition, a secret sorrow may gnaw, and which, in spite of an externally sorrowful state, may be at peace, and be joyfully confident in God.\n16 Better is little with the fear of Jahve,\nThan great store and trouble therewith.\nThe \u05d1 in both cases the lxx rightly renders by \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u03ac. How \u05de\u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d4 (elsewhere of wild, confused disorder, extreme discord) is meant of store and treasure, Psa 39:7 shows: it is restless, covetous care and trouble, as the contrast of the quietness and contentment proceeding from the fear of God, the noisy, wild, stormy running and hunting about of the slave of mammon. Theodotion translates the word here, as Aquila and Symmachus elsewhere, by words which correspond (\u03c6\u03b1\u03b3\u03ad\u03b4\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03b1 = \u03c6\u03ac\u03b3\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03b1 or \u1f00\u03c7\u03bf\u03c1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03af\u03b1) with the Syr. \u05d9\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea\u05d0, greed or insatiability.\n17 Better a dish of cabbage, and love with it,\nThan a fatted ox together with hatred.\nWith \u05d1\u05d5 is here interchanged \u05e9\u05c1\u05dd, which, used both of things and of persons, means to be there along with something. Both have the Dag. forte conj., cf. to the contrary, Deu 30:20; Mic 1:11; Deu 11:22; the punctuation varies, if the first of the two words is a n. actionis ending in \u05d4. The dish (portion) is called \u05d0\u05e8\u05d7\u05d4, which the lxx and other Greek versions render by \u03be\u03b5\u03bd\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u03cc\u03c2, entertainment, and thus understand it of that which is set before a guest, perhaps rightly so, for the Arab. \u00e2rrakh (to date, to determine), to which it is compared by Gesenius and Dietrich, is equivalent to warrh, a denom. of the name of the moon. Love and hatred are, according to circumstances, the disposition of the host, or of the participant, the spirit of the family:\nCum dat oluscula mensa minuscula pace quiet,\nNe pete grandia lautaque prandia lite repleta.\nTwo proverbs of two different classes of men, each second line of which terminates with a catchword having a similar sound (\u05d5\u05d0\u05e8\u05da, \u05d5\u05d0\u05e8\u05d7).\n18 A passionate man stirreth up strife,\nAnd one who is slow to anger allayeth contention.\nPro 28:25 and Pro 29:22 are variations of the first line of this proverb. The Pih. \u05d2\u05bc\u05e8\u05d4 occurs only these three times in the phrase \u05d2\u05bc\u05e8\u05d4 \u05de\u05d3\u05d5\u05df, R. \u05d2\u05e8, to grind, thus to strike, to irritate, cogn. to (but of a different root from) the verb \u05e2\u05d5\u05e8\u05e8, to excite, Pro 10:12, and \u05d7\u05e8\u05d7\u05e8, to set on fire, Pro 26:21, cf. \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05bc\u05d7, Pro 6:14. Regarding \u05d7\u05de\u05d4, vid., Pro 15:1; we call such a man a \"hot-head;\" but the biblical conception nowhere (except in the Book of Daniel) places the head in connection with spiritual-psychical events (Psychologie, p. 254). Regarding \u05d0\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05e4\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd, vid., Pro 14:29; the lxx (which contains a translation of this proverb, and after it of a variation) translates \u03bc\u03b1\u03ba\u03c1\u03cc\u03b8\u03c5\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03bc\u03ad\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c0\u03c1\u1fb3\u03cd\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9, i.e., (as the Syr. render it) he suppresses the strife in its origin, so that it does not break out. But both are true: that he who is slow to anger, who does not thus easily permit himself to become angry, allayeth the strife which one enters into with him, or into which he is drawn, and that he prevents the strife, for he places over against provoking, injurious conduct, patient gentleness (\u05de\u05e8\u05e4\u05bc\u05d0, Ecc 10:4).\n19 The way of the slothful is as hedged with thorns;\nBut the path of the righteous is paved.\nHitzig misses the contrast between \u05d0\u05e6\u05dc (slothful) and \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd (upright), and instead of the slothful reads \u05e2\u05e8\u05d9\u05e5, the tyrannical. But is then the slothful \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8? The contrast is indeed not that of contradiction, but the slothful is one who does not act uprightly, a man who fails to fulfil the duty of labour common to man, and of his own special calling. The way of such an one is \u05db\u05bc\u05de\u05e9\u05c2\u05db\u05ea \u05d7\u05d3\u05e7, like a fencing with thorns (from \u05d7\u05d3\u05e7, R. \u05d7\u05d3, to be pointed, sharp, distinguished from Arab. had\u1e33, to surround, and in the meaning to fix with the look, denom. of khada\u1e33t, the apple of the eye), so that he goes not forwards, and sees hindrances and difficulties everywhere, which frighten him back, excusing his shunning his work, his remissness of will, and his doing nothing; on the contrary, the path of those who wait truly and honestly on their calling, and prosecute their aim, is raised up like a skilfully made street, so that unhindered and quickly they go forward (\u05e1\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d4, R. \u05e1\u05dc, aggerare, cf. Jer 18:15 with Isa 49:11 and Isa 49:4 :8, \u05e1\u05dc\u05e1\u05dc, which was still in use in the common language of Palestine in the second cent., Rosch haschana, 26b).\nThis collection of Solomonic proverbs began, Pro 10:1, with a proverb having reference to the observance of the fourth commandment,\n(Note: The fifth commandment of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is named as the fourth in Luther's catechism.)\nand a second chief section, Pro 13:1, began in the same way. Here a proverb of the same kind designates the beginning of a third chief section. That the editor was aware of this is shown by the homogeneity of the proverbs, Pro 15:19; Pro 12:28, which form the conclusion of the first and second sections. We place together first in this new section, Pro 15:20-23, in which (with the exception of Pro 15:25) the \u05d9\u05e9\u05c2\u05de\u05d7 [maketh glad] of the first (Pro 10:1) is continued.\n20 A wise son maketh a glad father,\nAnd a fool of a man despiseth his mother.\nLine first = Pro 10:1. The gen. connection of \u05db\u05bc\u05e1\u05d9\u05dc \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd (here and at Pro 21:20) is not superlative the most foolish of men, but like \u05e4\u05bc\u05e8\u05d0 \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd, Gen 16:12; the latter: a man of the wild ass kind; the former: a man of the fool kind, who is the exemplar of such a sort among men. Piety acting in willing subordination is wisdom, and the contrary exceeding folly.\n21 Folly is joy to him that is devoid of understanding;\nBut a man of understanding goeth straight forward.\nRegarding \u05d7\u05e1\u05e8\u05be\u05dc\u05d1, vid., at Pro 6:32 (cf. lib\u0131\u0302b, which in the Samaritan means \"dearly beloved,\" in Syr. \"courageous,\" in Arab. and Aethiop. cordatus); \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05ea\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05d4, Pro 10:23, and \u05d9\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05e8, with the accus. of the way, here of the going, Pro 3:6 (but not Pro 11:5, where the going itself is not the subject). In consequence of the contrast, the meaning of 21a is different from that of Pro 10:23, according to which sin is to the fool as the sport of a child. Here \u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05ea is folly and buffoonery, drawing aside in every kind of way from the direct path of that which is good, and especially from the path of one's duty. This gives joy to the fool; he is thereby drawn away from the earnest and faithful performance of the duties of his calling, and thus wastes time and strength; while, on the contrary, a man of understanding, who perceives and rejects the vanity and unworthiness of such trifling and such nonsense, keeps the straight direction of his going, i.e., without being drawn aside or kept back, goes straight forward, i.e., true to duty, prosecutes the end of his calling. \u05dc\u05db\u05ea is accus., like Pro 30:29, Mic 6:8.\n22 A breaking of plans where no counsel is;\nBut where many counsellors are they come to pass.\nOn the other side it is also true according to the proverbs, \"so viel Kpfe so viel Sinne\" [quot homines, tot sententiae], and \"viel Rath ist Unrath\" [ne quid nimis], and the like. But it cannot become a rule of morals not to accept of counsel that we may not go astray; on the contrary, it is and remains a rule of morals: not stubbornly to follow one's own heart (head), and not obstinately to carry out one's own will, and not in the darkness of wisdom to regard one's own plans as unimproveable, and not needing to be examined; but to listen to the counsel of intelligent and honest friends, and, especially where weighty matters are in hand, not affecting one's own person, but the common good, not to listen merely to one counsellor, but to many. Not merely the organism of the modern state, but also of old the Mosaic arrangement of the Israelitish community, with its representative organization, its courts and councils, rested on the acknowledged justice and importance of the saying uttered in Pro 11:14, and here generalized. \u05d4\u05e4\u05e8, infin. abs. Hiph. of \u05e4\u05bc\u05e8\u05e8, to break, with the accus. following, stands here, like \u05d4\u05e4\u05d5\u05da, Pro 12:7, instead of the finite: the thoughts come to a fracture (failure), irrita fiunt consilia. \u05e1\u05d5\u05d3 (= \u05d9\u05e1\u05d5\u05d3, cf. \u05e0\u05d5\u05e1\u05d3 Psa 2:2) means properly the being brought close together for the purpose of secret communication and counsel (cf. Arab. s\u00e2wada, to press close together = to walk with one privately). The lxx: their plans are unexecuted, \u03bf\u1f31 \u03bc\u1f74 \u03c4\u03b9\u03bc\u1ff6\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03ad\u03b4\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1, literally Symmachus, \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03c3\u03ba\u03b5\u03b4\u03ac\u03b6\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u1f76 \u03bc\u1f74 \u1f44\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bc\u03b2\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03af\u03bf\u03c5. \u05ea\u05bc\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05dd has, after Jer 4:14; Jer 51:29, \u05de\u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea as subject. The lxx (besides perverting \u05d1\u05e8\u05d1 [by a multitude] into \u05d1\u05dc\u05d1 \u1f10\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03b4\u03af\u03b1\u03b9\u03c2]), the Syr. and Targ. introduce \u05e2\u05e6\u05d4 (Pro 19:21) as subject.\n23 A man has joy by the right answer of his mouth;\nAnd a word in its season, how fair is it!\nIf we translate \u05de\u05e2\u05e0\u05d4 only by \"answer,\" then 23a sounds as a praise of self-complaisance; but it is used of true correspondence (Pro 29:19), of fit reply (Job 32:3, Job 32:5), of appropriate answer (cf. 28a, Pro 16:1). It has happened to one in his reply to hit the nail on its head, and he has joy from that (\u05e9\u05c2\u05de\u05d7\u05d4 \u05d1 after \u05e9\u05c2\u05de\u05d7 \u05d1\u05bc, e.g., Pro 23:24), and with right; for the reply does not always succeed. A reply like this, which, according to circumstances, stops the mouth or bringeth a kiss (Pro 24:26), is a fortunate throw, is a gift from above. The synonymous parallel line measures that which is appropriate, not to that which is to be answered, but from a general point of view as to its seasonableness; \u05e2\u05ea (= \u05e2\u05d3\u05ea from \u05d9\u05e2\u05d3) is here \"the ethically right, becoming time, determined by the laws of wisdom (moral)\" (vid., Orelli, Synonyma der Zeit u. Ewigkeit, p. 48), cf. \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d0\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9\u05d5 (translated by Luther 'in its time\"), Pro 25:11. With \u05de\u05d4\u05be\u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05d1, cf. Pro 16:16; both ideas lie in it: that such a word is in itself well-conditioned and successful, and also that it is welcome, agreeable, and of beneficial influence.\nFour proverbs of fundamentally different doctrines:\n24 The man of understanding goeth upwards on a way of life,\nTo depart from hell beneath.\nThe way of life is one, Pro 5:6; Psa 16:11 (where, notwithstanding the want of the article, the idea is logically determined), although in itself forming a plurality of \u05d0\u05e8\u05d7\u05d5\u05ea, Pro 2:19. \"A way of life,\" in the translation, is equivalent to a way which is a way of life. \u05dc\u05de\u05e2\u05dc\u05d4, upwards (as Ecc 3:21, where, in the doubtful question whether the spirit of a man at his death goes upwards, there yet lies the knowledge of the alternative), belongs, as the parallel \u05de\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05d0\u05d5\u05dc \u05de\u05d8\u05bc\u05d4 shows, to \u05d0\u05e8\u05d7 \u05d7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd as virtual adj.: a way of life which leads upwards. And the \u05dc of \u05dc\u05de\u05e9\u05c2\u05db\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc is that of possession, but not as of quiet possession (such belongs to him), but as personal activity, as in \u05d3\u05bc\u05e8\u05da \u05dc\u05d5, he has a journey = he makes a journey, finds himself on a journey, Kg1 18:27; for \u05dc\u05de\u05e2\u05df \u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8 is not merely, as \u05dc\u05e1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8, Pro 13:14; Pro 14:27, the expression of the end and consequence, but of the subjective object, i.e., the intention, and thus supposes an activity corresponding to this intention. The O.T. reveals heaven, i.e., the state of the revelation of God in glory, yet not as the abode of saved men; the way of the dying leads, according to the O.T. representation, downwards into Shel; but the translations of Enoch and Elijah are facts which, establishing the possibility of an exception, break through the dark monotony of that representation, and, as among the Greeks the mysteries encouraged \u1f21\u03b4\u03c5\u03c3\u03c4\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bb\u03c0\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u03c2, so in Israel the Chokma appears pointing the possessor of wisdom upwards, and begins to shed light on the darkness of Shel by the new great thoughts of a life of immortality, thus of a \u03b6\u03c9\u1f74 \u03b1\u1f30\u03ce\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 (Pro 12:28) (Psychologie, p. 407ff.), now for the first time becoming prominent, but only as a foreboding and an enigma. The idea of the Shel opens the way for a change: the gathering place of all the living on this side begins to be the place of punishment for the godless (Pro 7:27; Pro 9:18); the way leading upwards, \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03b6\u03c9\u1f74\u03bd, and that leading downwards, \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u1f00\u03c0\u03c9\u03bb\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd (Mat 7:13.), come into direct contrast.\n25 The house of the proud Jahve rooteth out,\nAnd He establisheth the landmark of the widow.\nThe power unnamed in \u05d9\u05e1\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc, Pro 2:22 (cf. Pro 14:11), is here named \u05d9\u05e1\u05bc\u05d7 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 (thus to be pointed with Mercha and Pasek following). \u05d9\u05e6\u05bc\u05d1 is the abbreviated fut. form which the elevated style, e.g., Deu 32:8, uses also as indic. - a syntactical circumstance which renders Hitzig's correction \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05e6\u05bc\u05d1 superfluous. It is the border of the land-possession of the widows, removed by the \u05d2\u05bc\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd (lxx \u1f51\u03b2\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd), that is here meant. The possession of land in Israel was secured by severe punishment inflicted in him who removed the \"landmark\" (Deu 19:14; Deu 27:17), and the Chokma (Pro 22:28; Pro 24:2) as well as the prophets (e.g., Hos 5:10) inculcate the inviolability of the borders of the possession, as the guardian of which Jahve here Himself appears.\n26 An abomination to Jahve are evil thoughts;\nBut gracious words are to Him pure.\nNot personally (Luther: the plans of the wicked) but neutrally is \u05e8\u05e2 here meant as at Pro 2:14, and in \u05d0\u05d5\u05e9\u05c1\u05ea \u05e8\u05e2, Pro 6:24 (cf. Pers. merdi n\u0131\u0302ku, man of good = good man), vid., Friedr. Philippi's Status Constr. p. 121. Thoughts which are of a bad kind and of a bad tendency, particularly (what the parallel member brings near) of a bad disposition and design against others, are an abomination to God; but, on the contrary, pure, viz., in His eyes, which cannot look upon iniquity (Hab 1:13), are the \u05d0\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05be\u05e0\u05e2\u05dd, words of compassion and of friendship toward men, which are (after 26a) the expression of such thoughts, thus sincere, benevolent words, the influence of which on the soul and body of him to whom they refer is described, Pro 16:24. The Syr., Targ., Symmachus, Theodotion, and the Venet. recognise in \u05d5\u05bc\u05d8\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd the pred., while, on the contrary, the lxx, Jerome, and Luther (who finally decided for the translation, \"but the pure speak comfortably\") regard it as subject. But that would be an attribution which exceeds the measure of possibility, and for which \u05d0\u05de\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd or \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 must be used; also the parallelism requires that \u05d8\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd correspond with '\u05ea\u05d5\u05e2\u05d1\u05ea \u05d4. Hence also the reference of \u05d5\u05d8\u05d4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd to the judgment of God, which is determined after the motive of pure untainted law; that which proceeds from such, that and that only, is pure, pure in His sight, and thus also pure in itself.\n27 Whoever does service to [servit] avarice troubleth his own house;\nBut he that hateth gifts shall live.\nRegarding \u05d1\u05bc\u05e6\u05e2 \u05d1\u05bc\u05e6\u05e2, vid., at Pro 1:19, and regarding \u05e2\u05db\u05e8 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea\u05d5, Pro 11:29, where it is subject, but here object.; Pro 28:16 is a variation of 27b. \u05de\u05ea\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea are here gifts in the sense of Ecc 7:7, which pervert judgment, and cause respect of persons. The lxx from this point mingles together a series of proverbs with those of the following chapter.\nTwo proverbs regarding the righteous and the wicked:\n28 The heart of the righteous considereth how to answer right,\nAnd the mouth of the godless poureth forth evil.\nInstead of \u05dc\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea, the lxx (Syr. and Targ.) imagines \u05d0\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u03c0\u03af\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2; Jerome translates, but falsely, obedientiam (from \u05e2\u05e0\u05d4, to bend oneself); Meri thinks on \u05dc\u05e2\u05e0\u05d4, wormwood, for the heart of the righteous revolves in itself the misery and the vanity of this present life; Hitzig corrects this verse as he does the three preceding: the heart of the righteous thinks on \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d5\u05ea, a plur. of verb \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d4, which, except in this correction, does not exist. The proverb, as it stands, is, in fineness of expression and sharpness of the contrast, raised above such manglings. Instead of the righteous, the wise might be named, and instead of the godless, fools (cf. 2b); but the poet places the proverb here under the point of view of duty to neighbours. It is the characteristic of the righteous that he does not give the reins to his tongue; but as Luther has translated: the heart of the righteous considers [tichtet from dictare, frequently to speak, here carefully to think over] what is to be answered, or rather, since \u05de\u05d4\u05be\u05dc\u05bc\u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea is not used, he thinks thereupon to answer rightly, for that the word \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea is used in this pregnant sense is seen from 23a. The godless, on the contrary, are just as rash with their mouth as the righteous are of a thoughtful heart: their mouth sputters forth (effutit) evil, for they do not first lay to heart the question what may be right and just in the case that has arisen.\n29 Jahve is far from the godless;\nBut the prayer of the righteous He heareth.\nLine second is a variation of 8b. God is far from the godless, viz., as Polychronius remarks, non spatii intercapedine, sed sententiae diversitate; more correctly: as to His gracious presence - \u05d7\u05dc\u05e5 \u05de\u05d4\u05dd, He has withdrawn Himself from them, Hos 10:6, so that if they pray, their prayer reaches not to Him. The prayer of the righteous, on the contrary, He hears, He is graciously near to them, they have access to Him, He listens to their petitions; and if they are not always fulfilled according to their word, yet they are not without an answer (Psa 145:18).\nTwo proverbs regarding the eye and the ear:\n30 The light of the eye rejoiceth the heart,\nAnd a good message maketh the bones fat.\nHitzig corrects also here: \u05de\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd, that which is seen with the eyes, viz., after long desire; and certainly \u05de\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd can mean not only that which the eyes see (Isa 11:3), but also this, that the eyes do see. But is it true what Hitzig says in justification of his correction, that \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 never means light, or ray, or brightness, but lamp (\u03c6\u03c9\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1)? It is true, indeed, that \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd cannot mean a cheerful sight (Luther) in an objective sense (lxx \u03b8\u03b5\u03c9\u03c1\u1ff6\u03bd\u1f40\u03c6\u03b8\u03b1\u03bb\u03bc\u1f78\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03ac), as a verdant garden or a stream flowing through a landscape (Rashi), for that would be \u05de\u05e8\u05d0\u05d4 \u05de\u05d0\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd, and \"brightness which the eyes see\" (Bertheau); the genitive connection certainly does not mean: the \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 is not the light from without presenting itself to the eyes, but, like \u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd (Psa 38:11) and similar expressions, the light of the eye itself [bright or joyous eyes]. But \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 does not mean alone the body of light, but also the illumination, Exo 35:14 and elsewhere, not only that which (\u1f44, \u03c4\u03b9) gives light, but also this, that (\u1f44\u03c4\u03b9) light arises and is present, so that we might translate it here as at Psa 90:8, either the brightness, or that which gives light. But the clear brightness of one's own eye cannot be meant, for then that were as much as to say that it is the effect, not that it is the cause, of a happy heart, but the brightness of the eyes of others that meet us. That this gladdens the heart of him who has a sight of it is evident, without any interchanging relation of the joy-beaming countenance, for it is indeed heart-gladdening to a man, to whom selfishness has not made the \u03c7\u03b1\u03af\u03c1\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u1f70 \u03c7\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd impossible, to see a countenance right joyful in truth. But in connection with Pro 16:15, it lies nearer to think on a love-beaming countenance, a countenance on which joyful love to us mirrors itself, and which reflects itself in our heart, communicating this sense of gladness. The ancient Jewish interpreters understand \u05de\u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd of the enlightening of the eye of the mind, according to which Euchel translates: \"clear intelligence;\" but Rashi has remarked that that is not the explanation of the words, but the Midrash. That, in line second of this synonymous distich, \u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05d4 \u05d8\u05d5\u05d1\u05d4 does not mean alloquium humanum (Fl.), nor a good report which one hears of himself, but a good message, is confirmed by Pro 25:25; \u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05d4 as neut. part. pass. may mean that which is heard, but the comparison of \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05d4, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2\u05d4, stamps it as an abstract formation like \u05d2\u05bc\u05d0\u05dc\u05bc\u05d4, \u05d2\u05bc\u05d3\u05dc\u05bc\u05d4 (\u05d2\u05bc\u05d3\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d4), according to which the lxx translates it by \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03ae (in this passage by \u03c6\u03ae\u03bc\u03b7). Regarding \u05d3\u05bc\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05df, richly to satisfy, or to refresh, a favourite expression in the Mishle, vid., at Pro 11:25; Pro 13:4.\n31 An ear which heareth the doctrine of life\nKeeps itself in the circle of the wise.\nAs, Pro 6:33, \u05ea\u05d5\u05db\u05d7\u05d5\u05ea \u05de\u05d5\u05e1\u05e8 means instructions aiming at discipline, so here \u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05db\u05d7\u05ea \u05d7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd means instructions which have life as their end, i.e., as showing how one may attain unto true life; Hitzig's \u05d7\u05db\u05dd, for \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd, is a fancy. Is now the meaning this, that the ear which willingly hears and receives such doctrine of life will come to dwell among the wise, i.e., that such an one (for \u05d0\u05d6\u05df is synecdoche partis pro persona, as Job 29:11) will have his residence among wise men, as being one of them, inter eos sedem firmam habebit iisque annumerabitur (Fl.)? By such a rendering, one is surprised at the harshness of the synecdoche, as well as at the circumstantiality of the expression (cf. Pro 13:20, \u05d9\u05d7\u05db\u05bc\u05dd). On the contrary, this corresponds with the thought that one who willingly permits to be said to him what he must do and suffer in order that he may be a partaker of life, on this account remains most gladly in the circle of the wise, and there has his appropriate place. The \"passing the night\" (\u05dc\u05d9\u05df, cogn. \u05dc\u05d9\u05dc, Syr. Targ. \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05ea, Arab. b\u00e2t) is also frequently elsewhere the designation of prolonged stay, e.g., Isa 1:21. \u05d1\u05bc\u05e7\u05e8\u05d1 is here different in signification from that it had in Pro 14:23, where it meant \"in the heart.\" In the lxx this proverb is wanting. The other Greek translations have \u03bf\u1f56\u03c2 \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bf\u03bd \u1f10\u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03c7\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u03c7\u03c9\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bd \u03bc\u03ad\u03c3\u1ff3 \u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03b8\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9. Similarly the Syr., Targ., Jerome, Venet., and Luther, admitting both renderings, but, since they render in the fut., bringing nearer the idea of prediction (Midrash: \u05d6\u05d5\u05db\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1\u05ea \u05d7\u05db\u05de\u05d9\u05dd) than of description of character.\nTwo proverbs with the catchword \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1\u05e8:\n32 He that refuseth correction lightly values his soul;\nBut he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.\nRegarding \u05e4\u05bc\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2 \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1\u05e8, vid., Pro 13:18, cf. Pro 1:25, and \u05de\u05d5\u05d0\u05e1 \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5, Pro 8:36. \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5 contains more than the later expression \u05e2\u05e6\u05de\u05d5, self; it is equivalent to \u05d7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5 (Job 9:21), for the \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05c1 is the bond of union between the intellectual and the corporeal life. The despising of the soul is then the neglecting, endangering, exposing of the life; in a word, it is suicide (10b). Pro 19:8 is a variation derived from this distich: \"He who gains understanding loves his soul,\" according to which the lxx translate here \u1f00\u03b3\u03b1\u03c0\u1fb7 \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u1f74\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6. \u05dc\u05d1 the Midrash explains by \u05d7\u05db\u05de\u05d4 \u05e9\u05c1\u05e0\u05ea\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4 \u05d1\u05dc\u05d1; but the correct view is, that \u05dc\u05d1 is not thought of as a formal power, but as operative and carried into effect in conformity with its destination.\n33 The fear of Jahve is a discipline to wisdom,\nAnd before honour is humility.\nWe may regard '\u05d9\u05e8\u05d0\u05ea \u05d4 (the fear of Jahve) also as pred. here. The fear of Jahve is an educational maxim, and the end of education of the Chokma; but the phrase may also be the subject, and by such a rendering Luther's parallelism lies nearer: \"The fear of the Lord is discipline to wisdom;\" the fear of God, viz., continually exercised and tried, is the right school of wisdom, and humility is the right way to honour. Similar is the connection \u05de\u05d5\u05bc\u05e1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e9\u05c2\u05db\u05bc\u05dc, discipline binds understanding to itself as its consequence, Pro 1:3. Line second repeats itself, Pro 18:12, \"Pride comes before the fall.\" Luther's \"And ere one comes to honour, he must previously suffer,\" renders \u05e2\u05e0\u05d9 rather than \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d4. But the Syr. reverses the idea: the honour of the humble goeth before him, as also one of the anonymous Greek versions: \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03b5\u03cd\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c4\u03b1\u03c0\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03b4\u03cc\u03be\u03b1. But the \u03b4\u03cc\u03be\u03b1 comes, as the above proverb expresses it, afterwards. The way to the height lies through the depth, the depth of humility under the hand of God, and, as \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d4 expresses, of self-humiliation.","title":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch: Proverbs: Proverbs Chapter 15","type":"page"}