Proverbs 20:14 - Exposition

It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer. The purchaser depreciates the goods which he wants, in order to lower the price demanded—a practice as common now as in old time. "I don't want it, I don't want it," says the Spanish friar; "but drop it into my hood." The Scotch say, "He that lacks (disparages) my mare would buy my mare" (Kelly). But when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. When he has completed his purchase and obtained the goods at his own price, he boasts how he has tricked the seller. The LXX . omits Proverbs 20:14-19 .