Proverbs 18:8 - Exposition

The words of a tale bearer are as wounds. Nergan , "tale bearer," is better rendered "whisperer" (see on Proverbs 16:28 ). The Authorized Version reminds one of the mediaeval jingle—

"Lingua susurronis

Est pejor felle draconis."

The verse recurs in Proverbs 26:22 ; but the word rendered "wounds" ( mitlahamim ) is to be differently explained. It is probably the hithp. participle of laham, " to swallow," and seems to mean "dainty morsels," such as one eagerly swallows. Thus Gesenius, Schultens, Delitzsch, Nowack, and others. So the clause means, "A whisperer's words are received with avidity; calumny, slander, and evil stories find eager listeners." The same metaphor is found in Proverbs 19:28 ; Job 34:7 . There may, at the same time, be involved the idea that these dainty morsels are of poisonous character. Vulgate, Verba bilinguis, quasi simplicia, "The words of a man of double tongue seem to be simple," which contains another truth. They go down into the innermost parts of the belly ( Proverbs 20:27 , Proverbs 20:30 ). The hearers take in the slanders and treasure them up in memory, to be used as occasion shall offer. The LXX . omits this verse, and in its place introduces a paragraph founded partly on the next verse and partly on Proverbs 19:15 . The Vulgate also inserts the interpolation, "Fear overthrows the sluggish; and the souls of the effeminate ( ἀνδρογύνων ) shall hunger."