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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 12:25 - 12:25
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25 Trouble in the heart of a man boweth it down,
And a friendly word maketh it glad.
The twofold anomaly that דְּאָגָה is construed as masc. and לֵב as fem. renders the text doubtful, but the lxx, Syr., Targum, which introduce another subject, φοβερὸς λόγος (דָּבָר מַדְאִיג?), do not improve it; Theodotion's is preferable, who translates μέριμνα ἐν καρδίᾳ ἀνδρὸς κατίσχει αὐτόν, and thus reads יַשְׁחֶנּוּ. But the rhyme is thereby lost. As כָּבוֹד, Gen 49:6, so also may לֵב be used as fem., for one thereby thinks on נפשׁ; the plur. לִבּוֹת (לְבָבוֹת), according to which in Eze 16:30 we find the sing. לִבָּה, may also conform to this. And ישׁחנה as pred. to דאגה follows the scheme Pro 2:10, perhaps not without attractional co-operation after the scheme קשׁת גברים חתים, 1Sa 2:4. הִשְׁחָה, from שָׁחָה, occurs only here; but הֵשַׁח, from שָׁחַח, occurs only twice. דָּבָר טוֹב designates in the book of Joshua and in Kings (1Ki 8:56) the divine promise; here it is of the same meaning as 1Ki 12:7 : an appeasing word. Who has not in himself had this experience, how such a word of friendly encouragement from a sympathizing heart cheers the sorrowful soul, and, if only for a time, changes its sorrow into the joy of confidence and of hope!