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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 14:23 - 14:23
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There now follows a considerable series of proverbs (Pro 14:23-31) which, with a single exception (Pro 14:24), have all this in common, that one or two key-words in them begin with מ.
23 In all labour there is gain,
But idle talk leadeth only to loss.
Here the key-words are מוֹתָר and מַחְסוֹר (parallel Pro 21:5, cf. with Pro 11:24), which begin with מ. עֶצֶב is labour, and that earnest and unwearied, as at Pro 10:22. If one toils on honestly, then there always results from it something which stands forth above the endeavour as its result and product, vid., at Job 30:11, where it is shown how יָתַר, from the primary meaning to be stretched out long, acquires the meaning of that which hangs over, shoots over, copiousness, and gain. By the word of the lips, on the contrary, i.e., purposeless and inoperative talk (דְּבַר שְׂפָתַיִם as Isa 36:5, cf. Job 11:2), nothing is gained, but on the contrary there is only loss, for by it one only robs both himself and others of time, and wastes strength, which might have been turned to better purpose, to say nothing of the injury that is thereby done to his soul; perhaps also he morally injures, or at least discomposes and wearies others.