18Like a madman who throws
         Firebrands, arrows and death,

19So is the man who deceives his neighbor,
         And says, “Was I not joking?”

20For lack of wood the fire goes out,
         And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.

21Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
         So is a contentious man to kindle strife.

22The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,
         And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

23Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross
         Are burning lips and a wicked heart.

24He who hates disguises it with his lips,
         But he lays up deceit in his heart.

25When he speaks graciously, do not believe him,
         For there are seven abominations in his heart.

26Though his hatred covers itself with guile,
         His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly.

27He who digs a pit will fall into it,
         And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.

28A lying tongue hates those it crushes,
         And a flattering mouth works ruin.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
As a madman who casteth firebrands, Arrows, and death,

Douay-Rheims Bible
As he is guilty that shooteth arrows, and lances unto death :

Darby Bible Translation
As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death,

English Revised Version
As a madman who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death;

Webster's Bible Translation
As a mad man who casteth fire-brands, arrows, and death,

World English Bible
Like a madman who shoots torches, arrows, and death,

Young's Literal Translation
As one pretending to be feeble, Who is casting sparks, arrows, and death,One Lion Two Lions no Lion at All
A sermon (No. 1670) delivered on Thursday Evening, June 8th, 1882, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets."--Proverbs 22:13. "The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets."--Proverbs 26:13. This slothful man seems to cherish that one dread of his about the lions, as if it were his favorite aversion and he felt it to be too much trouble to invent another excuse. …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

The Hebrew Sages and their Proverbs
[Sidenote: Role of the sages in Israel's life] In the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer. xviii. 18; Ezek. vii. 26) three distinct classes of religious teachers were recognized by the people: the prophets, the priests, and the wise men or sages. From their lips and pens have come practically all the writings of the Old Testament. Of these three classes the wise men or sages are far less prominent or well known. They wrote no history of Israel, they preached no public sermons, nor do they appear …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

We Shall not be Curious in the Ranking of the Duties in which Christian Love...
We shall not be curious in the ranking of the duties in which Christian love should exercise itself. All the commandments of the second table are but branches of it: they might be reduced all to the works of righteousness and of mercy. But truly these are interwoven through other. Though mercy uses to be restricted to the showing of compassion upon men in misery, yet there is a righteousness in that mercy, and there is mercy in the most part of the acts of righteousness, as in not judging rashly, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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