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Selected Verse: Proverbs 13:12 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Pr 13:12 |
King James |
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
desire cometh--is realized.
a tree of life--or, "cause of happiness." |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| When the desire cometh - The desire comes, it is a tree of life: i. e., the object of our desires is attained. Compare Pro 3:18. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The figures of paradise in Pro 13:12 and Pro 13:14 require us to take along with them the intermediate verse (Pro 13:13).
12 Deferred waiting maketh the heart sick,
And a tree of life is a wish accomplished.
Singularly the lxx Κρείσσων ἐναρχόμενος βοηθῶν καρδίᾳ, followed by the Syr. (which the Targ. Transcribes):
(Note: That the Targum of the Proverbs is a Jewish elaboration of the Peshito text, vid., Nldeke in Merx' Archiv, Bd. ii. pp. 246-49.)
Better is he who begins to help than he who remains in hesitating expectation, by which תחלת is doubled, and is derived once from הוחיל, to wait, and the second time from החל, to begin. If the lxx, with its imitators, deteriorates to such a degree proverbs so clear, beautiful, and inviolable, what may one expect from it in the case of those not easily understood! משּׁך signifies also, Isa 18:2, to be widely extended (cf. Arab. meshaḳ), here in the sense of time, as נמשׁך, to prolong, Isa 13:22, and post-bibl. משׁך הזּמן, the course of time. Regarding תּוחלת, vid., at Pro 10:28, where as Pro 11:27 תּקות, here תּאוה, as also Psa 78:29 of the object of the wish, and with בוא in the sense of being fulfilled (cf. Jos 21:43), as there with הביא in the sense of accomplishing or performing. Extended waiting makes the heart sick, causes heart-woe (מחלה, part. fem. Hiph. of חלה, to be slack, feeble, sick; R. חל, to loosen, to make loose); on the contrary, a wish that has been fulfilled is a tree of life (cf. p. 23), of a quickening and strengthening influence, like that tree of paradise which was destined to renew and extend the life of man. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Hope deferred - Delays in obtaining what a man passionately desires. The desire - The good desired. A tree of life - It is satisfactory, and reviving. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Hope deferred maketh the heart sick - When once a good is discovered, want of it felt, strong desire for the possession excited, and the promise of attainment made on grounds unsuspected, so that the reality of the thing and the certainity of the promise are manifest, hope posts forward to realize the blessing. Delay in the gratification pains the mind; the increase of the delay prostrates and sickens the heart; and if delay sickens the heart, ultimate disappointment kills it. But when the thing desired, hoped for, and expected comes, it is a tree of life, עץ חיים ets chaiyim, "the tree of lives;" it comforts and invigorates both body and soul. To the tree of lives, in the midst of the gardens of paradise, how frequent are the allusions in the writings of Solomon, and in other parts of the Holy Scriptures! What deep, and perhaps yet unknown, mysteries were in this tree! |
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
43 And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein.
29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;
27 He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.
28 The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!
13 Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.
14 The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.