Proverbs 15:28

The heart of the righteous studieth to answer,.... He thinks before he speaks, meditates what he shall say, what answer to give to men; whether in things civil, natural, or religious; and what to

The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.

Studieth to answer; he answers or speaks considerately and conscientiously, and therefore profitably, or to the use and edification of the hearers. The mouth, not the heart; for he is without heart in Scripture account, and he rashly speaks what comes into his mouth, without the direction of his heart or conscience. Evil things; foolish, and unprofitable, and hurtful speeches.

Proverbs 15:28 The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.Ver. 28. The heart of the righteous studieth to answer.] His tongue runs not before his wit, but he weighs his words before he utters them (as carrying a pair of balance between his lips), and dips his words in his mind ere men see what colour they are of, as Plutarch saith Phocion did. He hath his heart, not at his mouth, but at his right hand, saith Solomon, to make use of when he sees his time. Melanchthon, when some hard question was proposed to him, would take three days’ deliberation to answer it. And, in his answer to Staphylus, he ingenuously confesseth, or rather complaineth, Quos fugiamus habemus, quos sequamur nondum intelligimus; We know whom we are to flee from (meaning the Papists), but whom to follow we as yet know not. Such divisions there were amongst themselves, and such lack of light at the beginning of the Reformation, that it was an ingenuous thing to be a right reformed catholic. A young man, one Vincentius Victor, as Chemnitius relates it, when learned Augustine demurred, and would not determine the point concerning the original of a rational soul, censured boldly the father’ s unresolvedness, and vaunted that he would undertake to prove by demonstration that souls are created de novo by God; for which peremptory rashness the father returned the young man a sober reprehension, a mild answer, as the Hebrew word here used imports. Not so sharp as that of Basil to the emperor’ s cook, who yet well enough deserved it; for when the fellow would needs be pouring forth what he thought of such and such deep points of divinity which he understood not, Basil rounded him up with, Sονεστιτηςτωνζωμωνκαρυκειαςφροντιζειν: - It is for thee, man, to look well to thy porridge pot, and not to meddle with these disputes. προφερομενοντονλεξινειςνουναποβαπρειν. ςπδ, significat respondere, humiliare, negotiari.

(28) The heart of the righteous studieth to answer—i.e., aright, knowing how much good and evil is caused by words. (Comp. James 3:5, sqq.)

Verse 28. The heart of the righteous studieth to answer] His tongue never runs before his wit, he never speaks rashly, and never unadvisedly; because he studies-ponders, his thoughts and his words.

Contrast the “studying” of the wise before he answers and the hasty babbling of the foolish. The teaching of our Lord Matthew 10:19 presents us with a different and higher precept, resting upon different conditions.

28. Studieth — Meditates to answer. He does not answer an inquiry without thought, because he is solicitous to speak only what is correct and useful. Poureth out evil things — Belches forth malignity.