Bible Commentary

Proverbs 18:4

The Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 18:4

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters. "Man" (ish) here means the ideal man in all his wisdom and integrity, just as in the ideal wife is intended under the general term "wife."

Such a man's words are as deep waters which cannot be fathomed or exhausted. The metaphor is common (see ; ; Ec 21:13). For "mouth," the Septuagint reads "heart:" "Deep water is a word in a man's heart."

The second hemistich explains the first: The well spring of wisdom as a flowing (gushing) brook. A man's words are now called a well spring of wisdom, gushing forth from its source, the wise and understanding heart, pure, fresh, and inexhaustible.

Septuagint, "And it leapeth forth ( 慣?館慣?管灌??琯菅) a river and a fountain of life." Or we may, with Delitzsch, take the whole as one idea, and consider that a man's words are deep waters, a bubbling brook, and a fountain of wisdom.

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