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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 26:20 - 26:20
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There now follow proverbs regarding the nirgân, the slanderer (vid., regarding the formation and import of this word at Pro 26:28):
20 Where the wood faileth, the fire goeth out;
And where no tale-bearer, discord cometh to silence.
Wood, as material for building or for burning, is called, with the plur. of its product, עֵצִים. Since אֶפֶס is the absolute end of a thing, and thus expresses its no longer existing, so it was more appropriate to wood (Fleischer: consumtis lignis) than to the tale-bearer, of whom the proverb says the same thing as Pro 22:10 says of the mocker.