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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 14:5 - 14:5
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Striking if also accidental is the frequency of the א and ב in Pro 14:4. This is continued in Pro 14:5, where the collector gives two proverbs, the first of which commences with a word beginning with א, and the second with one beginning with ב:
5 A faithful witness does not speak untruth;
But a lying witness breathes out falsehoods.
The right vocalization and sequence of the accents is בִּקֵּשׁ לֵץ חָכְמָה (ק with Tsere and the servile Mahpach, חכמה with Munach, because the following Athnach-word has not two syllables before the tone). As in 5a עֵד אֱמוּנִים, so in 5b עֵד שָֽׁקֶר is the subject. Different is the relation of subject and predicate in the second line of the parallel proverbs, Pro 14:25, Pro 19:5. With 5a cf. צִיר אֱמוּנִים, Pro 13:17; and regarding יָפִיחַ (one who breathes out), vid., at Pro 6:19; Pro 12:17.