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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ecclesiastes 10:12 - 10:12
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“The words of a wise man's mouth are grace; but the lips of a fool swallow him up.” The words from a wise man's mouth are חֵן, graciousness, i.e., gracious in their contents, their form and manner of utterance, and thus also they gain favour, affection, approbation, for culture (education) produces favour, Pro 13:15, and its lips grace (pleasantness), which has so wide an influence that he can call a king his friend, Pro 22:11, although, according to Ecc 9:11, that does not always so happen as is to be expected. The lips of a fool, on the contrary, swallow him, i.e., lead him to destruction. The Pih. בִּלַּע, which at Pro 19:28 means to swallow down, and at Pro 21:20 to swallow = to consume in luxury, to spend dissolutely, has here the metaphorical meaning of to destroy, to take out of the way (for that which is swallowed up disappears). שִׂפְתוֹת is parallel form to שִׂפְתֵי, like the Aram. סִפְוָת. The construction is, as at Pro 14:3, “the lips of the wise תִשְׁם preserve them;” the idea of unity, in the conception of the lips as an instrument of speech, prevails over the idea of plurality. The words of the wise are heart-winning, and those of the fool self-destructive. This is verified in the following verse.