Proverbs 13:2 - Exposition

A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth ( Proverbs 12:14 ; Proverbs 18:20 ). By his kindly speech and wise counsels he shall gain the good will of his neighbours and the blessing of God. Schultens observes that the word rendered "good" ( tob ) means what is pleasant to taste and smell, while that translated "violence" ( chamas ) signifies literally what is crude and unripe. The soul of the transgressors shall eat violence ( Proverbs 1:31 ). The Authorized Version introduces the verb from the first clause unnecessarily. The meaning of this rendering is that sinners, especially the treacherous, bring on themselves retribution; the injuries which they devise against others recoil on their own heads ( Proverbs 10:6 ). The Hebrew is, "The soul ( i.e. the desire, or delight) of the perfidious (is) violence." Such men have only one thing at heart, viz. to wrong their neighbour, and to increase their own property by any, even nefarious, precedings. Septuagint, "Of the fruits of righteousness the good man shall eat; but the lives of transgressors shall perish untimely."