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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 13:2 - 13:2
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2 From the fruit of the mouth of a man he himself enjoys good;
But the delight of the godless is violence.
2a = Pro 12:14, where יִשְׂבַּע for יֹאכַל. A man with a fruit-bringing mouth, himself enjoys also the blessing of his fruit-producing speech; his food (cf. βρῶμα, Joh 4:34) is the good action in words, which in themselves are deeds, and are followed by deeds; this good action affords enjoyment not merely to others, but also to himself. Ewald and Bertheau attract יאכל to 2b; so also does Fleischer: “the violence which the בֹּגְדִים wish to do to others turns back upon themselves; they must eat it also, i.e., bear its evil consequences.” The thought would then be like Pro 10:6 : os improborum obteget violentia, and “to eat violence” is parallel to “to drink (Pro 26:6) violence (injury).” But wherefore then the naming of the soul, of which elsewhere it is said that it hungers or satiates itself, but never simply (but cf. Luk 12:19) that it eats? On the contrary, נפשׁ means also appetitus, Pro 23:2, and particularly wicked desire, Psa 27:12; here, as Psa 35:25, the object of this desire (Psychol. p. 202). Regarding בגדים, vid., above, p. 85. There are such as do injury in a cunning deceitful manner to their neighbour to their own advantage. While the former (the righteous) distributes to his neighbour from the inner impulse without having such a result in view, yet according to God's direction he derives enjoyment himself therefrom: the desire of the latter goes to חָמָס, ἀδικία, and thus to the enjoyment of good unrighteously and violently seized.