Proverbs 29:11

29:11. He is a fool who tells every thing he knows, and can keep no counsel. 12. One who loves flatterers, and hearkens to slanderers, causes his servants to become liars and false accusers. 13. Some are poor, others have a great deal of deceitful riches. They meet in the business of this world; the Lord gives to both the comforts of this life. To some of both sorts he gives his grace. 14. The rich will look to themselves, but the poor and needy the prince must defend and plead for. 15. Parents must consider the benefit of due correction, and the mischief of undue indulgence. 16. Let not the righteous have their faith and hope shocked by the increase of sin and sinners, but let them wait with patience. 17. Children must not be suffered to go without rebuke when they do amiss. 18. How bare does a place look without Bibles and ministers! and what an easy prey is it to the enemy of souls! That gospel is an open vision, which holds forth Christ, which humbles the sinner and exalts the Saviour, which promotes holiness in the life and conversation: and these are precious truths to keep the soul alive, and prevent it from perishing.

A fool uttereth all his mind,.... At once; tells all he knows, all that is in his breast; whatever he thinks, and all that he intends to do; what or whom he loves or hates. Or, "a fool brings out all his wrath"; so the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions: he cannot restrain it, nor hide it; it breaks out at once, even all of it, and is soon known, as in Proverbs 12:16 ; but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards; reserves his mind, and thoughts, and designs, to himself; and does not discover them until a proper opportunity offers, when to disclose them is most to advantage; or he restrains his wrath and anger, defers showing it to a proper time, when it may answer a better purpose, and he may do it without sin.

Proverbs 29:11-12 . A fool uttereth all his mind — All at once, unnecessarily, unseasonably, without reservation or caution; but a wise man keepeth it in till afterward — Till he have a fit occasion to express it. If a ruler hearken to lies — Delight in flatteries or calumnies, or any lying words, or deceitful and wicked practices; all his servants are wicked — Because, perhaps, he chooseth only such for his service: or, rather, because they are either corrupted by his example, or engaged by their place and interest to please him, and comply with his base desires and humours.

Verse 11. - A fool uttereth all his mind; his spirit ; רוּחו , i . e . "his anger;" θυμόν , Septuagint (comp. Proverbs 16:32 ). The wording of the second hemistich confirms this rendering. A fool pours out his wrath, restrained by no consideration. It is a wise maxim that says, "Command your temper, lest it command you;" and again, "When passion enters in at the foregate, wisdom goes out at the postern." So we have the word attributed to Evenus Parius - Πολλάκις ἀνθρώπων ὀργὴ νόον ἐξεκάλυψε Κρυπτόμενον μανίας πουλὺ χερειότερον . "Wrath often hath revealed man's hidden mind,Than madness more pernicious." A wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. This clause is capable of more than one explanation. The Authorized Version says that the wise man restrains his own anger till he can give it proper vent. The term בְּאָחור occurs nowhere else, and is rendered "at last," "finally," and by Delitzsch, "within," i . e . in his heart. The verb rendered "keepeth in" ( shabach ) is rather "to calm," "to hush," as in Psalm 65:7 ; Psalm 89:10 , "Which stilleth the noise of the seas." So we have the meaning: The wise man calms the auger within him; according to the proverb, Irae dilatio , mentis pacatio . Or the anger calmed may be that of the fool: The wise man appeases it after it has been exhibited; he knows how to apply soothing remedies to the angry man, and in the end renders him calm and amenable to reason. This seems the most suitable explanation.

11 All his wrath the fool poureth out; But the wise man husheth it up in the background. That רוּחו is not meant here of his spirit (Luther) in the sense of quaecunque in mente habet (thus e.g., Fleischer) the contrast shows, for ישׁבּחנּה does not signify cohibet, for which יחשׁכנּה (lxx ταμιεύεται) would be the proper word: רוּח thus is not here used of passionate emotion, such as at Proverbs 16:31; Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 33:11. שׁבּח is not here equivalent to Arab. sabbah, αἰνεῖν (Imman., Venet., and Heidenheim), which does not supply an admissible sense, but is equivalent to Arab. sabbakh, to quiet (Ahron b. Josef: קטפיאון equals καταπαύειν), the former going back to the root-idea of extending (amplificare), the latter to that of going to a distance, putting away: sabbakh, procul recessit, distitit, hence שׁבּח, Psalm 89:10, and here properly to drive off into the background, synon. השׁיב (Fleischer). But בּאחור (only here with ב) is ambiguous. One might with Rashi explain: but the wise man finally, or afterwards (Symmachus, ἐπ ̓ ἐσχάτων; Venet. κατόπιν equals κατόπισθε), appeaseth the anger which the fool lets loose; i.e., if the latter gives vent to his anger, the former appeases, subdues, mitigates it (cf. בּאחרנה, לאחור, Isaiah 42:23). But it lies still nearer to refer the antithesis to the anger of the wise man himself; he does not give to it unbridled course, but husheth it in the background, viz., in his heart.