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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Be not rash with thy mouth; speak not without good understanding and due consideration.
Let not thine heart be hasty; do not give way to every sudden motion of thine heart, nor suffer it to break out of thy lips till thou hast well weighed it.
To utter any thing before God; either,
1. In prayers directed to him. Or,
2. In solemn vows and promises made in God’s presence; which were very much in use in those times, and of which he speaks in the following verses, where he presseth us to pay our vows when we have made them, as here he seems to caution us in making them.
God is in heaven; is a God of infinite majesty, not to be despised or abused; of infinite holiness, not to be polluted or offended; of infinite knowledge. observing all our words and carriages, not to be deceived.
Thou upon earth; thou art a poor earth-worm, infinitely below him, and therefore shouldst stand in awe of him, and fear to offend him.
Let thy words be few; either
1. In prayer. Use not vain repetitions nor multitude of words in prayer, as if they were necessary to inform God of thy state, or to prevail with God to grant thy requests, or as if thou shouldst certainly be heard upon that very account, as Christ also cautions us, Mat_6:7. For otherwise it is not unlawful, nay, sometimes it is a duty, to use long prayers, and consequently many words, and to repeat the same words in prayer, as is manifest from Neh_9:3 Dan_9:18,19 Mt 26:44 Luk_6:12, and many other places. Or,
2. In vowing. Be not too prodigal in making more vows and promises than thou art either able or willing and resolved to perform, remembering that God looks down from heaven, and heareth all thy vows, and expects a punctual accomplishment of them. See Poole "Ecc_5:3".