pubic to shew that they are fools. Or, but in the dis-
covery of his heart{k}; he delights in discovering that;
not the wisdom, but the folly that is in it.
Ver. 3. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also
contempt, &c.] When he comes into the world, as
Aben Ezra; as soon as he is born, he is liable to con-
tempt, being born in sin; but this is true of a!!: rather,
as the Vulgate Latin, and with which the Septuagint,
Syriac, and Arabic versions agree, when he cometh
into the depth of sin, or to the height of his wicked-
ness; he commences a ,coffer at, and coatstuner of all
that is good: when he comes into the house of God,
it may be said, there comes contempt; for he comes not
to hear the word, in order to receive any profit by it,
but to contemn it, and the ministers of it. And with
ignominy reproach: or, with the ignominious man re-
proach {l}: he that desp!ses all that is g. ood, and treats
divine things in a ludicrous way, will not spare to
reproach the best of men, and speak evil of them
falsely, for the sake of religion. Or the meaning of the
whole is, that wicked men, sooner or later, come into
contempt, ignominy, and reproach, titera,elves; they
that despise the Lord are lightly esteemed by him;
and a vile person is conteamed in the eyes of a good
man: such bring shame anti d.isgrace uponthemselves
and families while they live; and, when they die, they
are laid in the grave with dishonour; an infamy rests
upon their memories, and they wilt rise to everlasting
shame and contempt.
Vet. 4. The words of a man's mouth are as deep wa-
ters, &c.] The words of a great and mighty man; of
an excellent and valuable man, as Jarchi; or of a wise
man, as Aben Ezra. The doctrines which such a
man has imbibed, and his heart is full of. and his
mouth utters, are like to waters, pure, purifying,
and refreshing; to deep waters, which make no
noise, and cannot be easily fathorned: such are
the deep mysteries of grace, the wisdom of God in
a mystery, spoken among them that are perfect; of
which a good man makes no boast, but humbly de-
clares; out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth
speaks. And the well-spring of wisdom as a flowing
brook; there is a spring of spiritual wisdom and knoW-
ledge in him; a well of living water, springing up
unto everlasting life; and from thence it flows freely
and constantly; communicating itself liberally unto
others, and ministerlug grace to the hearers, for their
edification.
Ver. 5. It is not good to accept theperson of the wicked,
&c.] For a judge to have respect to a wicked man in
a cause before him, and to fayour him, because he is a
rich man, or a relation, or he has received some kind-
ness from him; none of these things should have any
influence upon him to overthrow the righteous in judg-
me,t: though he may be a poor man and a stranger,
and to whom the judge is under no private and personal
obligation; yet justice ought to be done without any
respect to persons; to do otherwise is n'ot only not
good, but very bad, very.sinful and criminal; it is con-
trary to law and justice; it is doing injury to men, and
is repugnant to the will of God, and offensive to him,
Lev. xix. 15.
Vet. 6..4 fool's lips e,ter into contention, &c.] That
is, between others, when he has nothing to do with itt;
but he must be meddling, and make himself a party in
the contention, which is an argument of his folly; he
says things which occasion disputes, raise contentions
among men, and provoke to wrath and anger. The
Septuagint version is, the lips of a fool lead him to
evils: for, as they lead him to contention and strife.
the issue of that is confusion and every evil work. And
his mouth callethfor $trokes: as he stirs up and encou-
rages contention, so he proceeds to blows, and excites
others to them; from words he goes to blows, and, by
the ill and provoking language of h is mouth, gets many
a blow to himself. Jarchi seems to understand it of
chastisement, from the hand of God; see ch. xxvi. 3.
Ver. 7. Afool's mouth is his destruction, &c.] The
cause of it; for his contentions, and quarrels, and evil-
speaking, lawsuits are commenced against him, which
bring ruin upon himself and his family now; as well
as for his idle and wicked words he will be condemned
hereafter, Matt. xii. 35. there is a world of iniqu Sty in the
mouth and tongue of a wicked man, which bring de-
struction upon himself and others, Jam. iii. 6, 8. And
his lips are the snare of his soul; from speaking in his
own defence, he says things which should not be said,
and by which he is entangled yet more and more; he is
catched by his own words. and condemned by them;
or his loquacity, in which he delights, is a st, are unto
him to say things which neither become him, nor
are for his advantage, but the contrary; see ch. xii. 13.
Vet. 8. The words of a talebearer are as wounds, &c.]
Or rather they are wounds; they wound the credit
nd reputation of the person of whom the tale is told;
hey wound the person to whom it is told, and destroy
s love and affection to his friend; and in the issue
wound, hurt, and ruin the talebearer himself.
are as of those that are wounded {m}; they pre-
to be affected with the case they tell, and to be
grieved for the failings and infirmities of those they are
secretly exposing, when at the same time they rejoice
at them: or, they are secret hidden ones, as Aben
Ezra interprets it; they are spoken secretly, and wound
secretly, in a backbiting way: or, they are smooth or
flattering ", as Kimchi; they are smoother than oil,
and glide easily into the minds of others: rather, are
$reedily swallowed downø, as the word in the Arabic
language signifies; as Schultens has shewn, and so
renders it. Hence it follows: and' they go down into
the innermost parts of the belly; go down pleasantly,
and sink deep into the hearts of those to whom they
are told; where they have a place and remain, both to
the injury of the persons that receive them, and of them

{k} \^wbl twlgthb Ma yk\^sed in patefacere cor ejus, Vatablus; sed
in detectione cordis sue, Piscator; sed sane ut enudet cor suum,
Schultens.
{l} \^hprx Nwlq Me\^ viro ignominiose, venit opprobrium, Pagninus;
cum ignommioso probrum, Junius & Tremellius; cum probroso op-
probrium, Schultens, so Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus.
{m} \^Mymhltmk\^ similia sunt verbis eorum, qui saepenumero contusi
sunt, Junius & Tremellius; ut contusorum, Cocceius.
{n} Ut lenientia, Montanus; velut blanda, Vatablus, Mercerus, Ge-
jerus; quasi blandientia, Schmidt, so Ben Melech.
{o} Tanguam avide deglutita crustula, Schultens.