Proverbs 18

Proverbs 18:1

Reproach. True friendship resembles charity, and bears all things, 1 Corinthians xiii. 4. Hebrew now reads Thave, “desire;” instead of Thuane, occasion, or “pretext,” which must have been in the copies of the Septuagint and Vulgate. (Calmet) — Protestants, “through desire, a man having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.” The solitary seeks heaven. (Haydock)

Proverbs 18:2

Heart. Conformable to his passions. (Calmet) — Hebrew, “unless to lay open his heart.” He wishes to appear wise, and to justify his wicked designs. (Haydock)

Proverbs 18:3

Contemneth both God and man, Luke xviii. 4. Hebrew, “is contemned” in his turn. (Calmet) — He is like a man abandoned by the physician. (Op. Imp. in Matt. Hom. 40.)

Proverbs 18:4

Man, who is just and wise. His advice deserves attention, chap. xx. 5.

Proverbs 18:6

Quarrels. Hebrew, “blows.” Septuagint, “death;” (ver. 7.) which are the usual consequences of quarrels.

Proverbs 18:8

Tongued. Hebrew, “caluminator.” He pretends to wish well to those of whom he speaks, or else to guard the company against deceit. (Calmet) — “If the devil be upon the detractor’s tongue, he is in the ears of those who pay attention to him.” (St. Francis de Sales) — Fear, &c., is in the Septuagint, above. The Vulgate retains both this and the new version of St. Jerome.

Proverbs 18:9

Brother. Like him, as both end in poverty, chap. x. 4., and xii. 11.

Proverbs 18:10

Name. Essence, or protection of God. The rich depends on his own wealth.

Proverbs 18:13

Heareth the end of the question, chap. i. 5.

Proverbs 18:14

Infirmity of the flesh, Matthew xxvi. 41. — That is. Theodotion, “is wounded, who shall support?”

Proverbs 18:16

Princes. He easily finds access by showing submission. (Calmet)Placatur donis Jupiter ipse suis. (Ovid)

Proverbs 18:17

Him. To see that he act with sincerity.

Proverbs 18:18

Lot. Chap. xvi. 33. Septuagint, “silence.” (Calmet) — But Grabe substitutes “lot.” (Haydock)

Proverbs 18:19

Judgments of many are more deserving of credit. Hebrew, “a brother offended, is like a strong place, and their quarrels,” &c. The are not easily reconciled. Civil wars are most terrible. (Calmet)

Proverbs 18:20

Satisfied. Those who are guarded in their words get employment. (Haydock) (Chap. xii. 14.)

Proverbs 18:21

Love it, and speak well or ill, shall receive accordingly, Matthew xii. 37.

Proverbs 18:22

Good wife. Good is not in Hebrew, but should be understood, as it is expressed in the Complutensian(Calmet) and Alexandrian Septuagint. (Haydock) — He that, &c., occurs not in Hebrew, Sixtus V, &c. But it is found in Septuagint and Arabic. The Syriac omits the last sentence. — Wicked. St. Augustine had frequently asserted that a divorce was only of counsel: but this he retracted, when he reflected on this text. (Retractions i. 19.) — The Hebrews, Athenians, and Romans, followed the same practice with adulteresses. (Selden, Ux. iii. 16.; Dem. in Ne'e6ram, &c.) — Hermas (past. i. 4.) prescribes that the penitent shall be received again, but not often.

In cae of divorce, the fathers still permit not a second marriage, that the parties may be reconciled. They enjoin the husband to put away only such as are incorrigible. (St. Augustine, Adul. ii. 3.) (Calmet)

Proverbs 18:24

Brother. The ties of nature are not so strong as those of friendship. (Calmet) — Hebrew, “a man that hath friends must shew himself friendly; and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” (Protestants) (Haydock) — Ut ameris ama. (Martial)

Proverbs 18:27

CHAPTER XVIII.