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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Proverbs 3:33 - 3:33
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The prosperity of the godless, far from being worthy of envy, has as its reverse side the curse:
The curse of Jahve is in the house of the godless,
And the dwelling of the just He blesseth.
מְאֵרָה (a curse), like מְסִלָּה (a highway, from סָלַל), is formed from אָרַר (cf. Arab. harr, detestari, abhorrere, a word-imitation of an interjection used in disagreeable experiences). The curse is not merely a deprivation of external goods which render life happy, and the blessing is not merely the fulness of external possessions; the central-point of the curse lies in continuous disquiet of conscience, and that of the blessing in the happy consciousness that God is with us, in soul-rest and peace which is certain of the grace and goodness of God. The poetic נָוֶה (from נוה = Arab. nwy, tetendit aliquo) signifies the place of settlement, and may be a word borrowed from a nomad life, since it denotes specially the pasture-ground; cf. Pro 24:15 (Fleischer). While the curse of God rests in the house of the wicked (vid., Köhler on Zec 5:4), He blesses, on the contrary, the dwelling-place of the righteous. The lxx and Jerome read יְבֹרַךְ, but יְבָרֵךְ is more agreeable, since God continues to be the subject.