HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT

PROVERBS 11

CHAPTER XI.

Ver. 1. Balance. Both in commerce, (Deut. xxv. 13. C.) and in passing sentence on others. Ven. Bede.

Ver. 2. Wisdom. God resists the proud. c. xvi. 18. and xviii. 12. and Jam. iv. 6.

Ver. 7. Solicitous. Or ambitious. Heb. "the potent," or Sept. "the impious."

Ver. 8. For him. As comparatively nothing worth to his master. C. xxi. 18. Is. xliii. 3

Ver. 11. Overthrown. Ten just men would have saved Sodom. Achan alone threw all Israel into confusion. C.

Ver. 12. Mean. Lit. "indigent" of sense. H. --- We must put up with some faults, as none are without. Hor. i. Sat. 3. C.

Ver. 13. Walketh. Sept. "the double-tongued," dissembler, or great talker. C.

Ver. 15. That is. Heb. "that hateth those who make agreements is secure." Mont.

Ver. 16. Gracious. Virtuous and beautiful, as God hath granted beauty also for good purposes. This and virtue tend to the advancement of women, while men can use their strength to acquire riches. C. --- Glory. Sept. Syr. and Arab. add, "of her husband. But she that hateth righteousness is a throne of disgrace. The slothful, though rich, shall come to poverty; but the laborious shall retain their riches." Two hemistics seem to be lost in Heb. Kennicott. --- Most of the additions in the Sept. are only glosses, or useless repetitions, (C.) though they seem not to be so in this place. H.

Ver. 17. Kindred. Heb. "flesh." Gen. xxix. 14. The miser is cruel even to himself.

Ver. 21. In hand. At rest, or making agreements. God will punish the race of the wicked.

Ver. 22. Foolish. Beauty, without prudence, leads to ruin, as ornaments are ill bestowed on swine. The women in the east sometimes wore rings in their noses, (Gen. xxiv. 22. C.) or hanging down upon them. Is. iii. 21. M.

Ver. 24. Others. Moderation is always requisite. Heb. "there is one withholding from rectitude, yet for a defect," (Mont.) being too saving, he is a loser. H. --- Avarice does not always increase riches. C.

Ver. 25. Himself. He shall receive abundantly. 2 Cor. ix. 6. The beneficent shall be amply rewarded both in this world and in the next.

Ver. 26. Corn. In times of scarcity. See Amos viii. 7.

Ver. 29. House. By his profligacy, or law-suits, shall be impoverished, (v. 17. C.) or if he act with violence, he will make his house empty. Eccli. iv. 35. M.

Ver. 30. Life. Producing excellent fruits of virtue and edification.

Ver. 31. Receive. Punishment, for almost inevitable faults, or be treated according to his deserts. Sept. Syr. and Arab. "if the just be hardly saved, where shall the impious and the sinner appear?" 1 Pet. iv. 18. C. --- Afflictions attend the just in this life. Shall the wicked escape? M.