Click *H for Haydock Commentary.
Click * Footnote to expand footnote
Click any word in Latin Greek or Hebrew to activate the parser. Then click on the display to expand the parser.
Click * Lapide for Lapide Commentary
*H O Lord, father, and sovereign ruler of my life, leave me not to their counsel: nor suffer me to fall by them.
Ver. 1. By them. Viz. the tongue and the lips, mentioned in the last verse of the foregoing chapter. Ch. — We cannot resist of ourselves, and must therefore pray to God. W. — We have need of a good master to correct our eagerness in speaking. C.
*H Who will set scourges over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over my heart, that they spare me not in their ignorances, and that their sins may not appear:
Ver. 2. Ignorances, &c. That is, that the scourges and discipline of wisdom may restrain the ignorances, that is, the slips and offences which are usually committed by the tongue and the lips. Ch. — The tongue is a restless evil. Jam. iii. 8.
*H Lest my ignorances increase, and my offences be multiplied, and my sins abound, and I fall before my adversaries, and my enemy rejoice over me?
Ver. 3. Over me. The noblest motives are not always proposed first.
*H Give me not haughtiness of my eyes, and turn away from me all coveting.
Ver. 5. Eyes. God never makes such presents, but he permits us to fall in punishment of former transgressions. C. — Coveting. Gr. "from thy servants all giant-like affection. Vain hopes and desires remove from me; and thou shalt possess him who wishes to serve thee without ceasing." Grabe. H.
*H Take from me the greediness of the belly, and let not the lusts of the flesh take hold of me, and give me not over to a shameless and foolish mind.
Ver. 6. Foolish, (infrunitæ) is used in this sense by Seneca. C. — Gr. has not this epithet. The title, "instruction of the mouth," follows, (H.) to v. 20. C.
* Footnote * Exodus 20 : 7
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.* Footnote * Matthew 5 : 33
Again you have heard that it was said to them of old, thou shalt not forswear thyself: but thou shalt perform thy oaths to the Lord.*H And let not the naming of God be usual in thy mouth, and meddle not with the names of saints, for thou shalt not escape free from them.
Ver. 10. Them. Gr. Alex. has only (9.) "swearing, (10.) and have not a custom of naming the Most High." Other editions have "the holy one." H. — Rash and false oaths are forbidden. Jer. iv. Matt. v. W.
*H For as a slave daily put to the question, is never without a blue mark: so every one that sweareth, and nameth, shall not be wholly pure from sin.
Ver. 11. Sin. "No swearing is secure." S. Aug. — Slaves were forced to confess the truth by torments; free-men took an oath; and priests gave their word. Plut. Prob.
*H And if he make it void, his sin shall be upon him, and if he dissemble it, he offendeth double:
Ver. 13. Dissemble. Gr. "despise." He will be punished, at least, by God. C.
*H And if he swear in vain, he shall not be justified: for his house shall be filled with his punishment.
Ver. 14. In vain. Without a design to execute, (Grot.) or through levity, or rather falsely. Ex. xxiii. 1. Deut. v. 11.
*H There is also another speech opposite to death, let it not be found in the inheritance of Jacob.
Ver. 15. Opposite. Or equal. Gr. "clothed with death." He denotes blasphemy, (Lev. xxiv. 14.) or the invitation to idolatry, (Deut. xiii. 1.) or calumny. v. 17. Lev. xix. 12. C. — In oaths God is called to witness, as being unable to deceive. But blasphemy attributes to him or to others what does not belong to them. W.
*H For from the merciful all these things shall be taken away, and they shall not wallow in sins.
Ver. 16. Merciful. Or true believers, Assideans. 1 Mac. ii. 42.
*H Let not thy mouth be accustomed to indiscreet speech: for therein is the word of sin.
Ver. 17. Of sin. A Hebrew idiom, to imply something criminal. Those who have laid aside shame, are capable of any wickedness.
*H Remember thy father and thy mother, for thou sittest in the midst of great men:
Ver. 18. Men. Treat thy parents with no less regard, (C.) even though thou shouldst be exalted in dignity. Lyr. —Thus thou wilt be rewarded, (C.) of if thou transgress, wilt be brought to judgment. Bossuet. — Gr. "thou shalt sit," &c. H.
*H Lest God forget thee in their sight, and thou, by thy daily custom be infatuated and suffer reproach: and wish that thou hadst not been born, and curse the day of thy nativity.
Ver. 19. Nativity. Wish not that thou hadst not been born of such parents. Grot.
*H The man that is accustomed to opprobrious words, will never be corrected all the days of his life.
Ver. 20. Life. For who will admonish him?
*H Two sorts of men multiply sins, and the third bringeth wrath and destruction.
Ver. 21. Two. The first is a passionate man, (v. 22.) the second a libertine, (v. 23.) and the third an adulterer. v. 25. C.
*H A hot soul is a burning fire, it will never be quenched, till it devour some thing.
Ver. 22. Hot. With any furious passion, (Vat.) or anger, (C.) avarice, (W.) or lust. M.
*H And a man that is wicked in the mouth of his flesh, will not leave off till he hath kindled a fire.
Ver. 23. Mouth. Gr. "body." — Fire. Shameful diseases will come upon him. C. xix. 3. His brutal passion will never be satiated. C.
*H To a man that is a fornicator all bread is sweet, he will not be weary of sinning unto the end.
Ver. 24. Sweet. He is not delicate in his choice. H. — All obstacles increase his irregular desires. Prov. ix. 17. C.
* Footnote * Isaias 29 : 15
Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?*H And he understandeth not that his eye seeth all things, for such a man's fear driveth him from the fear of God, and the eyes of men fearing him:
Ver. 27. And. Gr. "the eyes of men are his dread." H. — Such is the folly of the adulterer!
*H This man shall be punished in the streets of the city, and he shall be chased as a colt: and where he suspected not, he shall be taken.
Ver. 30. And he. Gr. "and where," &c. He shall be stoned. Lev. xx. 10. C. — Taken. Gr. subjoins (v. 32.) "so," &c. H. — If carnal adultery be thus punished, how much more will spiritual adultery, schism, and apostacy from the Catholic religion? W.
* Footnote * Leviticus 20 : 10
If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbour's wife: let them be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress.* Footnote * Deuteronomy 22 : 21
They shall cast her out of the doors of her father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, and she shall die: because she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.*H It is great glory to follow the Lord: for length of days shall be received from him.
Ver. 38. Shall. Gr. "that thou shouldst be taken under his protection." H.