Proverbs 26:28 - Exposition

A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; or, those whom it crusheth ( Proverbs 25:15 ). There is a consensus of the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, and Targum to translate דכיו "truth," thinking apparently of the Aramaean דַכְיָא "that which is pure." But the hemistich would thus state the baldest truism, and modern commentators unite in assigning to the word some such sense as that given above in the Authorized Version. A liar shows his want of charity by slandering his neighbour; and that men dislike those whom they have injured is a common experience. "It is a characteristic of human nature," says Tacitus ('Agric.,' 42), "to hate those whom one has injured." Seneca, 'De Ira,' 2.83, "Hoe habent pessimum animi magna fortuna insolentes, quos laeserunt, et oderunt." A flattering mouth worketh ruin ; brings destruction on those who succumb to its seductive words. Vulgate, Os lubricum operatur ruinas; Septuagint, "A mouth uncovered ( ἄστεγον ) causeth tumults." (For "the smooth mouth," comp. Proverbs 5:3 ; Psalms 12:3 ; Psalms 55:21 ; Isaiah 30:10 .) The word for "tumults" is ἀκαταστασίας , which does not occur elsewhere in the Septuagint, but is common in the New Testament; e . g . Luke 21:9 ; 1 Corinthians 14:33 .