Proverbs 29:7 - Exposition

Considereth the cause; recognizes the claims, and, as the word din implies, supports them at the seat of judgment (comp. Job 29:12 , Job 29:16 ; Psalms 82:3 , etc.). Septuagint, "A righteous man knows how to judge for the poor." The wicked regardeth not to know it. This is a clumsy translation; it means, pays no attention so as to become fully acquainted with its details and bearings. But the words signify rather, as in the Revised Version margin, "understandeth not knowledge" ( Proverbs 19:25 ; Proverbs 28:5 ), has no knowledge which would lead him to enter into the poor man's case, and to sympathize with him in his distress; the claims of the feeble to recognition and relief at his hands are utterly unknown and disregarded. He can daily look on Lazarus at his gate, and find no call for his pity and charity; he can see the wounded traveller in the road, and pass by on the other side. The LXX . offers two translations of the latter clause, reading the second time דשׁ instead of רשׁע , and thereby not improving the sense: "But the ungodly understand. eth not knowledge, and the poor man hath not an understanding mind."