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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 19:4 - 19:4
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4 Wealth bringeth many friends;
But the reduced - his friend separateth himself.
The very same contrast, though otherwise expressed, we had at Pro 14:20. Regarding הוֹן, vid., vol. i, p. 63. דָל is the tottering, or he who has fallen into a tottering condition, who has no resources, possesses no means. The accentuation gives Mugrash to the word (according to which the Targ. translates), for it is not the subject of יִפָּרֵד: the reduced is separated (pass. Niph.) by his misfortunes, or must separate himself (reflex. Niph.) from his friend (מֵרֵעֵהוּ, as Ecc 4:4, prae socio suo); but subject of the virtual pred. מֵרֵעֵהוּ יִפָּרֵד: the reduced - his friend (מרעהו, as Pro 19:7) separates himself, i.e., (according to the nature of the Semitic substantival clause) he is such (of such a fate) that his friend sets himself free, whereby מִמֶּנּוּ may be omitted as self-obvious; נִפְרָד means one who separates himself, Pro 18:1. If we make דָל the subject of the separatur, then the initiative of the separation from the friend is not expressed.