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Selected Verse: Proverbs 18:20 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Pr 18:20 |
King James |
A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. |
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] |
(Compare Pro 12:14; Pro 13:2). Men's words are the fruit, or, increase of his lips, and when good, benefit them.
satisfied with--(Compare Pro 1:31; Pro 14:14). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The general sense is plain. A man must for good or evil take the consequence of his words, as well as his deeds. Compare the marginal reference. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
With Pro 18:19, the series of proverbs which began with that of the flatterer closes. The catchword אח, which occurred at its commencement, 9b, is repeated at its close, and serves also as a landmark of the group following Pro 18:20-24. The proverb of the breach of friendship and of contentions is followed by one of the reaction of the use of the tongue on the man himself.
Pro 18:20
20 Of the fruit which a man's mouth bringeth is his heart satisfied;
By the revenue of his lips is he filled.
He will taste in rich measure of the consequences not merely of the good (Pro 12:14, cf. Pro 13:2), but of whatever he has spoken. This is an oxymoron like Mat 15:11, that not that which goeth into the mouth, but that which cometh out of it, defileth a man. As at Joh 4:34 the conduct of a man, so here his words are called his βρῶμα. Not merely the conduct (Pro 1:31; Isa 3:10), but also the words are fruit-bringing; and not only do others taste of the fruit of the words as of the actions of a man, whether they be good or bad, but above all he himself does so, both in this life and in that which is to come.
Pro 18:21
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue;
And whoever loveth it shall eat its fruit.
The hand, יד, is so common a metaphor for power, that as here a hand is attributed to the tongue, so e.g., Isa 47:14 to the flame, and Psa 49:16 to Hades. Death and life is the great alternative which is placed, Deu 30:15, before man. According as he uses his tongue, he falls under the power of death or attains to life. All interpreters attribute, 21b, ואהביה to the tongue: qui eam (linguam) amant vescentur (יאכל, distrib. sing., as Pro 3:18, Pro 3:35, etc.) fructu ejus. But "to love the tongue" is a strange and obscure expression. He loves the tongue, says Hitzig, who loves to babble. Euchel: he who guards it carefully, or: he who takes care of it, i.e., who applies himself to right discourse. Combining both, Zckler: who uses it much, as εὐλογῶν or κακολογῶν. The lxx translates, οἱ κρατοῦντες αὐτῆς, i.e., אחזיה; but אחז means prehendere and tenere, not cohibere, and the tongue kept in restraint brings forth indeed no bad fruit, but it brings no fruit at all. Why thus? Does the suffix of ואהביה, perhaps like Pro 8:17, Chethı̂b, refer to wisdom, which, it is true, is not named, but which lies everywhere before the poet's mind? At Pro 14:3 we ventured to make חכמה the subject of 3b. Then 21b would be as a miniature of Pro 8:17-21. Or is ואהביה a mutilation of ואהב יהוה: and he who loves Jahve (Psa 97:10) enjoys its (the tongue's) fruit?
Pro 18:22
22 Whatso hath found a wife hath found a good thing,
And hath obtained favour from Jahve.
As ואהביה, 21b, reminds us of Pro 8:17, so here not only 22b, but also 22a harmonizes with Pro 8:35 (cf. Pro 12:2). A wife is such as she ought to be, as Pro 18:14, אישׁ, a man is such as he ought to be; the lxx, Syr., Targ., and Vulgate supply bonam, but "gnomic brevity and force disdains such enervating adjectives, and cautious limitations of the idea" (Fl.). Besides, אשׁה טובה in old Hebr. would mean a well-favoured rather than a good-dispositioned wife, which later idea is otherwise expressed, Pro 19:14; Pro 31:10. The Venet. rightly has γυναῖκα, and Luther ein Ehefraw, for it is a married woman that is meant. The first מצא is perf. hypotheticum, Gesen. 126, Anm. 1. On the other hand, Ecc 7:26, "I found, מוצא אני, more bitter than death the woman," etc.; wherefore, when in Palestine one married a wife, the question was wont to be asked: או מוצא מצא, has he married happily (after מצא of the book of Proverbs) or unhappily (after מוצא of Ecclesiastes) (Jebamoth 63b)?
(Note: Cf. Gendlau's Sprichwrter u. Redensarten deutsch-jdischer Vorzeit (1860), p. 235.)
The lxx adds a distich to Pro 18:22, "He that putteth away a good wife putteth away happiness; and he that keepeth an adulteress, is foolish and ungodly." He who constructed this proverb [added by the lxx] has been guided by מצא to מוציא (Ezr 10:3); elsewhere ἐκβάλλειν (γυναῖκα), Gal 4:30, Sir. 28:15, is the translation of גּרשׁ. The Syr. has adopted the half of that distich, and Jerome the whole of it. On the other hand, Pro 18:23, Pro 18:24, and Pro 19:1-2, are wanting in the lxx. The translation which is found in some Codd. is that of Theodotion (vid., Lagarde).
Pro 18:23
23 The poor uttereth suppliant entreaties;
And the rich answereth rudenesses.
The oriental proverbial poetry furnishes many parallels to this. It delights in the description of the contrast between a suppliant poor man and the proud and avaricious rich man; vid., e.g., Samachschari's Goldene Halsbnder, No. 58. תּחנוּנים, according to its meaning, refers to the Hithpa. התחנּן, misericordiam alicujus pro se imploravit; cf. the old vulgar "barmen," i.e., to seek to move others to Erbarmen [compassion] (רחמים). עזּות, dura, from עז (synon. קשׁה), hard, fast, of bodies, and figuratively of an unbending, hard, haughty disposition, and thence of words of such a nature (Fl.). Both nouns are accus. of the object, as Job 40:27, תחנונים with the parallel רכּות. The proverb expresses a fact of experience as a consolation to the poor to whom, if a rich man insults him, nothing unusual occurs, and as a warning to the rich that he may not permit himself to be divested of humanity by mammon. A hard wedge to a hard clod; but whoever, as the Scripture saith, grindeth the poor by hard stubborn-hearted conduct, and grindeth his bashful face (Isa 3:15), challenges unmerciful judgment against himself; for the merciful, only they shall obtain mercy, αὐτοὶ ἐλεηθήσονται (Mat 5:7).
Pro 18:24
24 A man of many friends cometh off a loser;
But there is a friend more faithful than a brother.
Jerome translates the commencing word by vir, but the Syr., Targ. by אית, which is adopted by Hitzig, Bttcher, and others. But will a German poet use in one line "itzt" [same as jetzt = now], and in the next "jetzt"? and could the Hebrew poet prefer to ישׁ its rarer, and her especially not altogether unambiguous form אישׁ (cf. to the contrary, Ecc 7:15)? We write אישׁ, because the Masora comprehends this passage, with Sa2 14:19; Mic 6:10, as the סבירין ישׁ 'ג, i.e., as the three, where one ought to expect ישׁ, and is thus exposed to the danger of falling into error in writing and reading; but erroneously אשׁ is found in all these three places in the Masora magna of the Venetian Bible of 1526; elsewhere the Masora has the defectiva scriptio with like meaning only in those two other passages. While אישׁ = ישׁ, or properly ישׁ, with equal possibility of אשׁ,
(Note: One sees from this interchange how softly the י was uttered; cf. Wellhausen's Text der B. Samuel (1871) (Preface). Kimchi remarks that we say אקטל for אקטל, because we would otherwise confound it with יקטל.)
and it makes no material difference in the meaning of 24a whether we explain: there are friends who serve to bring one to loss: or a man of many friends comes to loss, - the inf. with ל is used in substantival clauses as the expression of the most manifold relations, Gesen. 132, Anm. 1 (cf. at Hab 1:17), here in both cases it denotes the end, as e.g., Psa 92:8, to which it hastens with many friends, or with the man of many friends. It is true that אישׁ (like בּעל) is almost always connected only with genitives of things; but as one says אישׁ אלהים: a man belongs to God, so may one also say אישׁ רעים: a man belongs to many friends; the common language of the people may thus have named a man, to whom, because he has no definite and decided character, the rule that one knows a man by his friends is not applicable, a so-called every-man's-friend, or all-the-world's-friend. Theodotion translates ἀνὴρ ἑταιριῶν τοῦ ἑταιρεύσασθαι; and thus also the Syr., Targ., and Jerome render (and among the moderns, Hitzig) התרעע as reflexive in the sense of to cherish social intercourse; but this reflexive is התרעה, Pro 22:24. That התרועע is either Hithpa. of רוּע, to exult, Psa 60:10; 65:14, according to which the Venet. translates (contrary to Kimchi) ὥστε ἀλαλάζειν: such an one can exult, but which is not true, since, according to 24b, a true friend outweighs the many; or it is Hithpa. of רעע, to be wicked, sinful (Fl.: sibi perniciem paraturus est); or, which we prefer, warranted by Isa 24:19, of רעע, to become brittle (Bttcher and others) - which not only gives a good sense, but also a similar alliteration with רעים, as Pro 3:29; Pro 13:20. In contradistinction to רע, which is a general, and, according to the usage of the language (e.g., 17b), a familiar idea, the true friend is called, in the antithetical parallel member, אהב (Pro 27:6); and after Pro 17:17, דּבק מאח, one who remains true in misfortune. To have such an one is better than to have many of the so-called friends; and, as appears from the contrast, to him who is so fortunate as to have one such friend, there comes a blessing and safety. Immanuel has given the right explanation: "A man who sets himself to gain many friends comes finally to be a loser (סופו להשּׁבר), for he squanders his means, and is impoverished in favour of others." And Schultens: At est amicus agglutinatus prae fratre. Rarum et carum esse genus insinuatur, ac proinde intimam illam amicitiam, quae conglutinet compingatque corda, non per multos spargendam, sed circumspecte et ferme cum uno tantum ineundam. Thus closes this group of proverbs with the praise of friendship deepened into spiritual brotherhood, as the preceding, Pro 18:19, with a warning against the destruction of such a relation by a breach of trust not to be made good again. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Satisfied - Wise discourses tend to the satisfaction of the speaker, as well as to the good of the hearers. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
With the fruit of his mouth - Our own words frequently shape our good or evil fortune in life. |
14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
2 A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.
14 A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him.
19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.
17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
29 Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
10 Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? and thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies?
24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
8 But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore.
17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
19 And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thine handmaid:
15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.
24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
15 What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
23 The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.
1 Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.
2 Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hasteth with his feet sinneth.
24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
23 The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.
26 And I find more bitter than death the woman, whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.
10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
14 House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD.
14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?
2 A good man obtaineth favour of the LORD: but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.
35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.
10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
18 Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
3 In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
35 The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
2 A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.
14 A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him.
20 A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
20 A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.
23 The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.
24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.