Proverbs 10:26 - Exposition

Vinegar ( Ruth 2:14 ; Psalms 69:21 ). As sour wine sets the teeth on edge. Septuagint, "as the unripe grape is harmful to the teeth" ( Ezekiel 18:2 ). Smoke . In a country where chimneys were unknown, and the fuel was wood or some substance more unsavoury, the eyes must have often been painfully affected by the household fire. Thus lacrimosus , "tear-producing," is a classical epithet of smoke (see Ovid, 'Metam.,' 10.6; Her; 'Sat.,' 1.5, 80). To these two annoyances is compared the messenger who loiters on his errand. The last clause is rendered by the LXX ; "So is iniquity to those who practise it"—it brings only pain and vexation.