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Selected Verse: Proverbs 10:21 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Pr 10:21 |
King James |
The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom. |
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] |
| Fools not only fail to benefit others, as do the righteous, but procure their own ruin (compare Pro 10:11, Pro 10:17; Hos 4:6). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Feed - The Hebrew word, like ποιμαίνειν poimainein, includes the idea of guiding as well as nourishing; doing a shepherd's work in both.
For want of wisdom - Some prefer, through him who wanteth understanding, referring to a person. The wise guides others to safety; the fool, empty-headed, and empty-hearted, involves others like himself in destruction. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
21 The lips of the righteous edify many;
But fools die through want of understanding.
The lxx translate 21a: the lips of the righteous ἐπίσταται ὑψηλά, which would at least require ידעו רבות. רעה is, like the post-bibl. pirneec (vid., the Hebr. Rmerbrief, p. 97), another figure for the N.T. οἰκοδομεῖν: to afford spiritual nourishment and strengthening, to which Fleischer compares the ecclesiastical expressions: pastor, ovile ecclesiae, les ouailles; רעה means leader, Jer 10:21, as well as teacher, Ecc 12:11, for it contains partly the prevailing idea of leading, partly of feeding. ירעוּ stands for תּרעינה, as Pro 10:32, Pro 5:2. In 21b, Bertheau incorrectly explains, as Euchel and Michaelis: stulti complures per dementem unum moriuntur; the food has truly enough in his own folly, and needs not to be first drawn by others into destruction. חסר is not here the connective form of חסר (Jewish interpreters: for that reason, that he is such an one), nor of חסר (Hitzig, Zckler), which denotes, as a concluded idea, penuria, but like רחב, Pro 21:4, שׁכב, Pro 6:10, and שׁפל, Pro 16:19, infin.: they die by want of understanding (cf. Pro 5:23); this amentia is the cause of their death, for it leads fools to meet destruction without their observing it (Hos 4:6). |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Feed - By their wise discourses and counsels. Die - They have not wisdom to preserve themselves, much less to feed others. |
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
17 He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof erreth.
11 The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
4 An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.
2 That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.
11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.