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Selected Verse: Proverbs 25:18 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Pr 25:18	Strong Concordance	A man [0376] that beareth [06030] false [08267] witness [05707] against his neighbour [07453] is a maul [04650], and a sword [02719], and a sharp [08150] arrow [02671].
	King James	A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
A false witness is as destructive to reputation, as such weapons to the body (Pro 24:28). beareth . . . witness--literally, "answereth questions," as before a judge, against his neighbor.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

A false witness is as destructive to reputation, as such weapons to the body (Pro 24:28).

beareth . . . witness--literally, "answereth questions," as before a judge, against his neighbor.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Maul - A heavy sledge hammer. The word is connected with "malleus:" its diminutive "mallet" is still in use.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
This group of proverbs has the word רע in each of them, connecting them together. The first of the group represents a false tongue: Pro 25:18 18 A hammer, and a sword, and a sharp arrow - A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour. An emblematic, or, as we might also say, an iconological proverb; for 18a is a quodlibet of instruments of murder, and 18b is the subscription under it: that which these weapons of murder accomplish, is done to his neighbour by a man who bears false witness against him - he ruins his estate, takes away his honour, but yet more: he murders him, at one time more grossly, at another time with more refinement; at one time slowly, at another time more quickly. מפיץ, from פּוּץ, is equivalent to מפּץ, and מפּץ from נפץ; the Syr. and Targ. have instead פדועא (פדיעא) from פּדע = פּצע; the word פּריעא, on which Hitzig builds a conjecture, is an error of transcription (vid., Lagarde and Levy). The expression, 18b, is from the decalogue, Exo 20:16; Deu 5:17. It is for the most part translated the same here as there: he who speaks against his neighbour as a false witness. But rightly the lxx, Jerome, the Venet., and Luther: false testimony. As אל sA .y signifies both that which is mighty = power, and Him who is mighty = God, so עד signifies both him who bears testimony and the testimony that is borne, properly that which repeats itself and thereby strengthens itself; accordingly we say ענה עד, to give testimony in reply - viz. to the judge who asks - or generally to offer testimony (even unasked); as well as ענה לעד, Deu 31:21, i.e., as evidence (Jerome, pro testimonio). The prep. ב with this ענה has always the meaning of contra, also at Sa1 12:3; Gen 30:33 is, however, open to question. Pro 25:19 19 A worthless tooth and an unsteady foot - Trust in a faithless man in the day of need. The form רעה (with Mercha on the antepenult), Isa 29:19, takes the place of an inf. absol.; רעה here (about the tone syllable of which Dech does not decide, thus without doubt Milra) is certainly not a subst.: tooth of breaking (Gesen.); for how strange such a designation of a worthless tooth! שׁן is indeed mas. in Sa1 14:5, but it can also be used as fem., as רגל, which is for the most part fem., also occurs as mas., Gttche. 650. Bttcher, in the new Aehrenlese, and in the Lehrbuch, takes רעה as fem. of an adj. רע, after the form חל; but חל is not an adj., and does not form a fem., although it means not merely profanity, but that which is profane; this is true also of the Aram. חוּל; for חוּלתּא, Est 2:9, Targ., is a female name mistaken by Buxtorf. Are we then to read רעה, with Hitzig, after the lxx? - an unimportant change. We interpret the traditional רעה, with Fleischer, as derived from רועעה, from רועע, breaking to pieces (crumbling), in an intransitive sense. The form מוּעדת is also difficult. Bttcher regards it as also, e.g., Aben Ezra after the example of Gecatilia as part. Kal. = מועדת, "only on account of the pausal tone and the combination of the two letters מע with instead of ." But this vocal change, with its reasons, is merely imaginary. מוּעדת is the part. Pual, with the preformative מ struck out, Ewald 169d. The objection that the part. Pual should be ממעד, after the form מבער, does not prove anything to the contrary; for מועדת cannot be the fem. so as not to coincide with the fem. of the part. Kal, cf. besides to the long the form without the Dagesh יוּקשׁים, Ecc 9:12 = מיקּשׁים (Arnheim, Gramm. p. 139). רגל מוּעדת is a leg that has become tottering, trembling. He who in a time of need makes a faithless man his ground of confidence, is like one who seeks to bite with a broken tooth, and which he finally crushes, and one who supports himself on a shaking leg, and thus stumbles and falls. The gen. connection מבטח בוגד signifies either the ground of confidence consisting in a faithless man, or the confidence placed in one who is faithless. But, after the Masora, we are to read here, as at Psa 65:6, מבטח, which Michlol 184a also confirms, and as it is also found in the Venice 1525, Basel 1619, and in Norzi. This מבטה is constr. according to Kimchi, notwithstanding the Kametz; as also משׁקל, Ezr 8:30 (after Abulwald, Kimchi, and Norzi). In this passage before us, מבטח בוגד may signify a deceitful ground of confidence (cf. Hab 2:5), but the two other passages present a genit. connection of the words. We must thus suppose that the ā of מבטח and משׁקל, in these three passages, is regarded as fixed, like the of the form (Arab.) mif'âl. Pro 25:20 The above proverb, which connects itself with Pro 25:18, not only by the sound רע, but also by שׁן, which is assonant with שׁנון, is followed by another with the catchword רע: 20 He that layeth aside his coat on a day of frost, vinegar on nitre, And he who welcomes with songs a dejected heart. Is not this intelligible, sensible, ingenious? All these three things are wrong. The first is as wrong as the second, and the third, which the proverb has in view, is morally wrong, for one ought to weep with those that weep, Rom 12:15; he, on the contrary, who laughs among those who weep, is, on the most favourable judgment, a fool. That which is wrong in 20a, according to Bttcher in the Aehrenlese, 1849, consists in this, that one in severe cold puts on a fine garment. As if there were not garments which are at the same time beautiful, and keep warm? In the new Aehrenlese he prefers the reading משׁנּה: if one changes his coat. But that surely he might well enough do, if the one were warmer than the other! Is it then impossible that מעדה, in the connection, means transire faciens = removens? The Kal עדה, tarnsiit, occurs at Job 28:8. So also, in the poetic style. העדה might be used in the sense of the Aram. אעדּי. Rightly Aquila, Symmachus, περιαιρῶν; the Venet. better, ἀφαιρούμενος (Mid.). בּגד is an overcoat or mantle, so called from covering, as לבוּשׁ (R. לב, to fasten, fix), the garment lying next the body, vid., at Psa 22:19. Thus, as it is foolish to lay off upper clothing on a frosty day, so it is foolish also to pour vinegar on nitre; carbonic acid nitre, whether it be mineral (which may be here thought of) or vegetable, is dissolved in water, and serves diverse purposes (vid., under Isa 1:25); but if one pours vinegar on it, it is destroyed. לב־רע (Note: The writing wavers between על לב־רע (cf. על עם־דּל) and על־בל רע dna )על ע.) is, at Pro 26:23 and elsewhere, a heart morally bad, here a heart badly disposed, one inclined to that which is evil; for שׁר שׁיר is the contrast of קונן קינה, and always the consequence of a disposition joyfully excited; the inconsistency lies in this, that one thinks to cheer a sorrowful heart by merry singing, if the singing has an object, and is not much more the reckless expression of an animated pleasure in view of the sad condition of another. שׁיר על .rehtona signifies, as at Job 33:27, to sing to any one, to address him in singing; cf. דּבּר על, Jer 6:10, and particularly על־לב, Hos 2:16; Isa 40:2. The ב of בּשּׁרים is neither the partitive, Pro 9:5, nor the transitive, Pro 20:30, but the instrumental; for, as e.g., at Exo 7:20, the obj. of the action is thought of as its means (Gesen. 138, Anm. 3*); one sings "with songs," for definite songs underlie his singing. The lxx, which the Syr., Targ., and Jerome more or less follow, has formed from this proverb one quite different: "As vinegar is hurtful to a wound, so an injury to the body makes the heart sorrowful; as the moth in clothes, and the worm in wood, so the sorrow of a man injures his heart." The wisdom of this pair of proverbs is not worth much, and after all inquiry little or nothing comes of it. The Targ. at least preserves the figure 20b: as he who pours vinegar (Syr. chalo) on nitre; the Peshito, however, and here and there also the Targum, has jathro (arrow-string) instead of methro (nitre). Hitzig adopts this, and changes the tristich into the distich: He that meeteth archers with arrow on the string, Is like him who singeth songs with a sad heart. The Hebrew of this proverb of Hitzig's (מרים קרה על־יתר) is unhebraic, the meaning dark as an oracle, and its moral contents nil. Pro 25:21-22 21 If thine enemy hunger, feed him with bread; And if he thirst, give him water to drink. 22 For thereby thou heapest burning coals on his head, And Jahve will recompense it to thee. The translation of this proverb by the lxx is without fault; Paul cites therefrom Rom 12:20. The participial construction of 22a, the lxx, rightly estimating it, thus renders: for, doing this, thou shalt heap coals on his head. The expression, "thou shalt heap" (σωρεύσεις), is also appropriate; for חתה certainly means first only to fetch or bring fire (vid., Pro 6:27); but here, by virtue of the constructio praegnans with על, to fetch, and hence to heap up - to pile upon. Burning pain, as commonly observed, is the figure of burning shame, on account of undeserved kindness shown by an enemy (Fleischer). But how burning coals heaped on the head can denote burning shame, is not to be perceived, for the latter is a burning on the cheeks; wherefore Hitzig and Rosenmller explain: thou wilt thus bring on him the greatest pain, and appease thy vengeance, while at the same time Jahve will reward thy generosity. Now we say, indeed, that he who rewards evil with good takes the noblest revenge; but if this doing of good proceed from a revengeful aim, and is intended sensibly to humble an adversary, then it loses all its moral worth, and is changed into selfish, malicious wickedness. Must the proverb then be understood in this ignoble sense? The Scriptures elsewhere say that guilt and punishment are laid on the head of any one when he is made to experience and to bear them. Chrysostom and others therefore explain after Psa 140:10 and similar passages, but thereby the proverb is morally falsified, and Pro 25:22 accords with Pro 25:21, which counsels not to the avenging of oneself, but to the requital of evil with good. The burning of coals laid on the head must be a painful but wholesome consequence; it is a figure of self-accusing repentance (Augustine, Zckler), for the producing of which the showing of good to an enemy is a noble motive. That God rewards such magnanimity may not be the special motive; but this view might contribute to it, for otherwise such promises of God as Isa 58:8-12 were without moral right. The proverb also requires one to show himself gentle and liberal toward a needy enemy, and present a twofold reason for this: first, that thereby his injustice is brought home to his conscience; and, secondly, that thus God is well-pleased in such practical love toward an enemy, and will reward it; - by such conduct, apart from the performance of a law grounded in our moral nature, one advances the happiness of his neighbour and his own.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

This group of proverbs has the word רע in each of them, connecting them together. The first of the group represents a false tongue:

Pro 25:18

18 A hammer, and a sword, and a sharp arrow -

A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour.

An emblematic, or, as we might also say, an iconological proverb; for 18a is a quodlibet of instruments of murder, and 18b is the subscription under it: that which these weapons of murder accomplish, is done to his neighbour by a man who bears false witness against him - he ruins his estate, takes away his honour, but yet more: he murders him, at one time more grossly, at another time with more refinement; at one time slowly, at another time more quickly. מפיץ, from פּוּץ, is equivalent to מפּץ, and מפּץ from נפץ; the Syr. and Targ. have instead פדועא (פדיעא) from פּדע = פּצע; the word פּריעא, on which Hitzig builds a conjecture, is an error of transcription (vid., Lagarde and Levy). The expression, 18b, is from the decalogue, Exo 20:16; Deu 5:17. It is for the most part translated the same here as there: he who speaks against his neighbour as a false witness. But rightly the lxx, Jerome, the Venet., and Luther: false testimony. As אל sA .y signifies both that which is mighty = power, and Him who is mighty = God, so עד signifies both him who bears testimony and the testimony that is borne, properly that which repeats itself and thereby strengthens itself; accordingly we say ענה עד, to give testimony in reply - viz. to the judge who asks - or generally to offer testimony (even unasked); as well as ענה לעד, Deu 31:21, i.e., as evidence (Jerome, pro testimonio). The prep. ב with this ענה has always the meaning of contra, also at Sa1 12:3; Gen 30:33 is, however, open to question.

Pro 25:19

19 A worthless tooth and an unsteady foot -

Trust in a faithless man in the day of need.

The form רעה (with Mercha on the antepenult), Isa 29:19, takes the place of an inf. absol.; רעה here (about the tone syllable of which Dech does not decide, thus without doubt Milra) is certainly not a subst.: tooth of breaking (Gesen.); for how strange such a designation of a worthless tooth! שׁן is indeed mas. in Sa1 14:5, but it can also be used as fem., as רגל, which is for the most part fem., also occurs as mas., Gttche. 650. Bttcher, in the new Aehrenlese, and in the Lehrbuch, takes רעה as fem. of an adj. רע, after the form חל; but חל is not an adj., and does not form a fem., although it means not merely profanity, but that which is profane; this is true also of the Aram. חוּל; for חוּלתּא, Est 2:9, Targ., is a female name mistaken by Buxtorf. Are we then to read רעה, with Hitzig, after the lxx? - an unimportant change. We interpret the traditional רעה, with Fleischer, as derived from רועעה, from רועע, breaking to pieces (crumbling), in an intransitive sense. The form מוּעדת is also difficult. Bttcher regards it as also, e.g., Aben Ezra after the example of Gecatilia as part. Kal. = מועדת, "only on account of the pausal tone and the combination of the two letters מע with instead of ." But this vocal change, with its reasons, is merely imaginary. מוּעדת is the part. Pual, with the preformative מ struck out, Ewald 169d. The objection that the part. Pual should be ממעד, after the form מבער, does not prove anything to the contrary; for מועדת cannot be the fem. so as not to coincide with the fem. of the part. Kal, cf. besides to the long the form without the Dagesh יוּקשׁים, Ecc 9:12 = מיקּשׁים (Arnheim, Gramm. p. 139). רגל מוּעדת is a leg that has become tottering, trembling. He who in a time of need makes a faithless man his ground of confidence, is like one who seeks to bite with a broken tooth, and which he finally crushes, and one who supports himself on a shaking leg, and thus stumbles and falls. The gen. connection מבטח בוגד signifies either the ground of confidence consisting in a faithless man, or the confidence placed in one who is faithless. But, after the Masora, we are to read here, as at Psa 65:6, מבטח, which Michlol 184a also confirms, and as it is also found in the Venice 1525, Basel 1619, and in Norzi. This מבטה is constr. according to Kimchi, notwithstanding the Kametz; as also משׁקל, Ezr 8:30 (after Abulwald, Kimchi, and Norzi). In this passage before us, מבטח בוגד may signify a deceitful ground of confidence (cf. Hab 2:5), but the two other passages present a genit. connection of the words. We must thus suppose that the ā of מבטח and משׁקל, in these three passages, is regarded as fixed, like the of the form (Arab.) mif'âl.

Pro 25:20

The above proverb, which connects itself with Pro 25:18, not only by the sound רע, but also by שׁן, which is assonant with שׁנון, is followed by another with the catchword רע:

20 He that layeth aside his coat on a day of frost, vinegar on nitre,

And he who welcomes with songs a dejected heart.

Is not this intelligible, sensible, ingenious? All these three things are wrong. The first is as wrong as the second, and the third, which the proverb has in view, is morally wrong, for one ought to weep with those that weep, Rom 12:15; he, on the contrary, who laughs among those who weep, is, on the most favourable judgment, a fool. That which is wrong in 20a, according to Bttcher in the Aehrenlese, 1849, consists in this, that one in severe cold puts on a fine garment. As if there were not garments which are at the same time beautiful, and keep warm? In the new Aehrenlese he prefers the reading משׁנּה: if one changes his coat. But that surely he might well enough do, if the one were warmer than the other! Is it then impossible that מעדה, in the connection, means transire faciens = removens? The Kal עדה, tarnsiit, occurs at Job 28:8. So also, in the poetic style. העדה might be used in the sense of the Aram. אעדּי. Rightly Aquila, Symmachus, περιαιρῶν; the Venet. better, ἀφαιρούμενος (Mid.). בּגד is an overcoat or mantle, so called from covering, as לבוּשׁ (R. לב, to fasten, fix), the garment lying next the body, vid., at Psa 22:19. Thus, as it is foolish to lay off upper clothing on a frosty day, so it is foolish also to pour vinegar on nitre; carbonic acid nitre, whether it be mineral (which may be here thought of) or vegetable, is dissolved in water, and serves diverse purposes (vid., under Isa 1:25); but if one pours vinegar on it, it is destroyed. לב־רע

(Note: The writing wavers between על לב־רע (cf. על עם־דּל) and על־בל רע dna )על ע.)

is, at Pro 26:23 and elsewhere, a heart morally bad, here a heart badly disposed, one inclined to that which is evil; for שׁר שׁיר is the contrast of קונן קינה, and always the consequence of a disposition joyfully excited; the inconsistency lies in this, that one thinks to cheer a sorrowful heart by merry singing, if the singing has an object, and is not much more the reckless expression of an animated pleasure in view of the sad condition of another. שׁיר על .rehtona signifies, as at Job 33:27, to sing to any one, to address him in singing; cf. דּבּר על, Jer 6:10, and particularly על־לב, Hos 2:16; Isa 40:2. The ב of בּשּׁרים is neither the partitive, Pro 9:5, nor the transitive, Pro 20:30, but the instrumental; for, as e.g., at Exo 7:20, the obj. of the action is thought of as its means (Gesen. 138, Anm. 3*); one sings "with songs," for definite songs underlie his singing. The lxx, which the Syr., Targ., and Jerome more or less follow, has formed from this proverb one quite different: "As vinegar is hurtful to a wound, so an injury to the body makes the heart sorrowful; as the moth in clothes, and the worm in wood, so the sorrow of a man injures his heart." The wisdom of this pair of proverbs is not worth much, and after all inquiry little or nothing comes of it. The Targ. at least preserves the figure 20b: as he who pours vinegar (Syr. chalo) on nitre; the Peshito, however, and here and there also the Targum, has jathro (arrow-string) instead of methro (nitre). Hitzig adopts this, and changes the tristich into the distich:

He that meeteth archers with arrow on the string,

Is like him who singeth songs with a sad heart.

The Hebrew of this proverb of Hitzig's (מרים קרה על־יתר) is unhebraic, the meaning dark as an oracle, and its moral contents nil.

Pro 25:21-22

21 If thine enemy hunger, feed him with bread;

And if he thirst, give him water to drink.

22 For thereby thou heapest burning coals on his head,

And Jahve will recompense it to thee.

The translation of this proverb by the lxx is without fault; Paul cites therefrom Rom 12:20. The participial construction of 22a, the lxx, rightly estimating it, thus renders: for, doing this, thou shalt heap coals on his head. The expression, "thou shalt heap" (σωρεύσεις), is also appropriate; for חתה certainly means first only to fetch or bring fire (vid., Pro 6:27); but here, by virtue of the constructio praegnans with על, to fetch, and hence to heap up - to pile upon. Burning pain, as commonly observed, is the figure of burning shame, on account of undeserved kindness shown by an enemy (Fleischer). But how burning coals heaped on the head can denote burning shame, is not to be perceived, for the latter is a burning on the cheeks; wherefore Hitzig and Rosenmller explain: thou wilt thus bring on him the greatest pain, and appease thy vengeance, while at the same time Jahve will reward thy generosity. Now we say, indeed, that he who rewards evil with good takes the noblest revenge; but if this doing of good proceed from a revengeful aim, and is intended sensibly to humble an adversary, then it loses all its moral worth, and is changed into selfish, malicious wickedness. Must the proverb then be understood in this ignoble sense? The Scriptures elsewhere say that guilt and punishment are laid on the head of any one when he is made to experience and to bear them. Chrysostom and others therefore explain after Psa 140:10 and similar passages, but thereby the proverb is morally falsified, and Pro 25:22 accords with Pro 25:21, which counsels not to the avenging of oneself, but to the requital of evil with good. The burning of coals laid on the head must be a painful but wholesome consequence; it is a figure of self-accusing repentance (Augustine, Zckler), for the producing of which the showing of good to an enemy is a noble motive. That God rewards such magnanimity may not be the special motive; but this view might contribute to it, for otherwise such promises of God as Isa 58:8-12 were without moral right. The proverb also requires one to show himself gentle and liberal toward a needy enemy, and present a twofold reason for this: first, that thereby his injustice is brought home to his conscience; and, secondly, that thus God is well-pleased in such practical love toward an enemy, and will reward it; - by such conduct, apart from the performance of a law grounded in our moral nature, one advances the happiness of his neighbour and his own.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
A sword - Is as cruel and pernicious as any instrument of death.

Top

²⁸ Be not a witness [05707] against thy neighbour [07453] without cause [02600]; and deceive [06601] not with thy lips [08193].

⁸ Then shall thy light [0216] break forth [01234] as the morning [07837], and thine health [0724] shall spring forth [06779] speedily [04120]: and thy righteousness [06664] shall go [01980] before [06440] thee; the glory [03519] of the LORD [03068] shall be thy rereward [0622].
⁹ Then shalt thou call [07121], and the LORD [03068] shall answer [06030]; thou shalt cry [07768], and he shall say [0559], Here I am. If thou take away [05493] from the midst [08432] of thee the yoke [04133], the putting forth [07971] of the finger [0676], and speaking [01696] vanity [0205];
¹⁰ And if thou draw out [06329] thy soul [05315] to the hungry [07457], and satisfy [07646] the afflicted [06031] soul [05315]; then shall thy light [0216] rise [02224] in obscurity [02822], and thy darkness [0653] be as the noonday [06672]:
¹¹ And the LORD [03068] shall guide [05148] thee continually [08548], and satisfy [07646] thy soul [05315] in drought [06710], and make fat [02502] thy bones [06106]: and thou shalt be like a watered [07302] garden [01588], and like a spring [04161] of water [04325], whose waters [04325] fail [03576] not.
¹² And they that shall be of thee shall build [01129] the old [05769] waste places [02723]: thou shalt raise up [06965] the foundations [04146] of many [01755] generations [01755]; and thou shalt be called [07121], The repairer [01443] of the breach [06556], The restorer [07725] of paths [05410] to dwell in [03427].

²¹ If thine enemy [08130] be hungry [07457], give him bread [03899] to eat [0398]; and if he be thirsty [06771], give him water [04325] to drink [08248]:

²² For thou shalt heap [02846] coals of fire [01513] upon his head [07218], and the LORD [03068] shall reward [07999] thee.

¹⁰ Let burning coals [01513] fall [04131] [04131] upon them: let them be cast [05307] into the fire [0784]; into deep pits [04113], that they rise not up again [06965].

²⁷ Can a man [0376] take [02846] fire [0784] in his bosom [02436], and his clothes [0899] not be burned [08313]?

²⁰ Therefore [3767] if [1437] thine [4675] enemy [2190] hunger [3983], feed [5595] him [846]; if [1437] he thirst [1372], give [4222] him [846] drink [4222]: for [1063] in so [5124] doing [4160] thou shalt heap [4987] coals [440] of fire [4442] on [1909] his [846] head [2776].

²¹ If thine enemy [08130] be hungry [07457], give him bread [03899] to eat [0398]; and if he be thirsty [06771], give him water [04325] to drink [08248]:
²² For thou shalt heap [02846] coals of fire [01513] upon his head [07218], and the LORD [03068] shall reward [07999] thee.

²⁰ And Moses [04872] and Aaron [0175] did [06213] so, as the LORD [03068] commanded [06680]; and he lifted up [07311] the rod [04294], and smote [05221] the waters [04325] that were in the river [02975], in the sight [05869] of Pharaoh [06547], and in the sight [05869] of his servants [05650]; and all the waters [04325] that were in the river [02975] were turned [02015] to blood [01818].

³⁰ The blueness [02250] of a wound [06482] cleanseth [08562] away evil [07451]: so do stripes [04347] the inward parts [02315] of the belly [0990].

⁵ Come [03212], eat [03898] of my bread [03899], and drink [08354] of the wine [03196] which I have mingled [04537].

² Speak [01696] ye comfortably [03820] to Jerusalem [03389], and cry [07121] unto her, that her warfare [06635] is accomplished [04390], that her iniquity [05771] is pardoned [07521]: for she hath received [03947] of the LORD'S [03068] hand [03027] double [03718] for all her sins [02403].

¹⁶ And it shall be at that day [03117], saith [05002] the LORD [03068], that thou shalt call [07121] me Ishi [0376]; and shalt call [07121] me no more Baali [01180].

¹⁰ To whom shall I speak [01696], and give warning [05749], that they may hear [08085]? behold, their ear [0241] is uncircumcised [06189], and they cannot [03201] hearken [07181]: behold, the word [01697] of the LORD [03068] is unto them a reproach [02781]; they have no delight [02654] in it.

²⁷ He looketh [07789] upon men [0582], and if any say [0559], I have sinned [02398], and perverted [05753] that which was right [03477], and it profited [07737] me not;

²³ Burning [01814] lips [08193] and a wicked [07451] heart [03820] are like a potsherd [02789] covered [06823] with silver [03701] dross [05509].

²⁵ And I will turn [07725] my hand [03027] upon thee, and purely [01253] purge away [06884] thy dross [05509], and take away [05493] all thy tin [0913]:

¹⁹ But be not thou far [07368] from me, O LORD [03068]: O my strength [0360], haste [02363] thee to help [05833] me.

⁸ The lion's [07830] whelps [01121] have not trodden [01869] it, nor the fierce lion [07826] passed [05710] by it.

¹⁵ Rejoice [5463] with [3326] them that do rejoice [5463], and [2532] weep [2799] with [3326] them that weep [2799].

¹⁸ A man [0376] that beareth [06030] false [08267] witness [05707] against his neighbour [07453] is a maul [04650], and a sword [02719], and a sharp [08150] arrow [02671].

²⁰ As he that taketh away [05710] a garment [0899] in cold [07135] weather [03117], and as vinegar [02558] upon nitre [05427], so is he that singeth [07891] songs [07892] to an heavy [07451] heart [03820].

⁵ Yea also, because he transgresseth [0898] by wine [03196], he is a proud [03093] man [01397], neither keepeth at home [05115], who enlargeth [07337] his desire [05315] as hell [07585], and is as death [04194], and cannot be satisfied [07646], but gathereth [0622] unto him all nations [01471], and heapeth [06908] unto him all people [05971]:

³⁰ So took [06901] the priests [03548] and the Levites [03881] the weight [04948] of the silver [03701], and the gold [02091], and the vessels [03627], to bring [0935] them to Jerusalem [03389] unto the house [01004] of our God [0430].

⁶ Which by his strength [03581] setteth fast [03559] the mountains [02022]; being girded [0247] with power [01369]:

¹² For man [0120] also knoweth [03045] not his time [06256]: as the fishes [01709] that are taken [0270] in an evil [07451] net [04685], and as the birds [06833] that are caught [0270] in the snare [06341]; so [01992] are the sons [01121] of men [0120] snared [03369] in an evil [07451] time [06256], when it falleth [05307] suddenly [06597] upon them.

⁹ And the maiden [05291] pleased [03190] [05869] him, and she obtained [05375] kindness [02617] of him [06440]; and he speedily [0926] gave [05414] her her things for purification [08562], with such things as belonged [04490] to her, and seven [07651] maidens [05291], which were meet [07200] to be given [05414] her, out of the king's [04428] house [01004]: and he preferred [08138] her and her maids [05291] unto the best [02896] place of the house [01004] of the women [0802].

⁵ The forefront [08127] of the one [0259] was situate [04690] northward [06828] over against [04136] Michmash [04363], and the other [0259] southward [05045] over against [04136] Gibeah [01387].

¹⁹ The meek [06035] also shall increase [03254] their joy [08057] in the LORD [03068], and the poor [034] among men [0120] shall rejoice [01523] in the Holy One [06918] of Israel [03478].

¹⁹ Confidence [04009] in an unfaithful man [0898] in time [03117] of trouble [06869] is like a broken [07465] tooth [08127], and a foot [07272] out of joint [04154].

³³ So shall my righteousness [06666] answer [06030] for me in time [03117] to come [04279], when it shall come [0935] for my hire [07939] before thy face [06440]: every one [03605] that is not speckled [05348] and spotted [02921] among the goats [05795], and brown [02345] among the sheep [03775], that shall be counted stolen [01589] with me.

³ Behold, here I am: witness [06030] against me before the LORD [03068], and before his anointed [04899]: whose ox [07794] have I taken [03947]? or whose ass [02543] have I taken [03947]? or whom have I defrauded [06231]? whom have I oppressed [07533]? or of whose hand [03027] have I received any bribe [03724] to blind [05956] mine eyes [05869] therewith? and I will restore [07725] it you.

²¹ And it shall come to pass, when many [07227] evils [07451] and troubles [06869] are befallen [04672] them, that this song [07892] shall testify [06030] against [06440] them as a witness [05707]; for it shall not be forgotten [07911] out of the mouths [06310] of their seed [02233]: for I know [03045] their imagination [03336] which they go about [06213], even now [03117], before I have brought [0935] them into the land [0776] which I sware [07650].

¹⁷ Thou shalt not kill [07523].

¹⁶ Thou shalt not bear [06030] false [08267] witness [05707] against thy neighbour [07453].

¹⁸ A man [0376] that beareth [06030] false [08267] witness [05707] against his neighbour [07453] is a maul [04650], and a sword [02719], and a sharp [08150] arrow [02671].