Proverbs 13:5

A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) A wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.—Or it may signify, “disgraceth and putteth to shame” (by his calumnies), or “acts basely and shamefully.”

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 13:5. A righteous man hateth lying — Both in himself and in other men, whereby he gets that good name, which is like a precious ointment; but a wicked man — Who accustoms himself to lying; cometh to shame —

Makes himself contemptible and hateful to all that know him; there being scarcely any reproach which men endure more impatiently, or revenge more severely, than that of being called or accounted liars.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:1 There is great hope of those that reverence their parents. There is little hope of any who will not hear those that deal faithfully with them. 2. By our words we must be justified or condemned, Mt 12:37. 3. He that thinks before he speaks, that suppresses evil if he have thought it, keeps his soul from a great deal both of guilt and grief. Many a one is ruined by an ungoverned tongue. 4. The slothful desire the gains the diligent get, but hate the pains the diligent take; therefore they have nothing. This is especially true as to the soul. 5. Where sin reigns, the man is loathsome. If his conscience were awake, he would abhor himself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The fruit of his mouth - Speech rightly used is itself good, and must therefore bring good fruit.

Eat violence - i. e., Bring upon itself repayment in kind for its deeds of evil.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. loathsome … shame—better, causeth shame and reproach (compare Pr 19:26), by slander, &c., which the righteous hates.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Hateth lying, both in himself and in other men, whereby he getteth that good name which is like a precious ointment.

A wicked man; who accustometh himself to lying, as may be gathered from the foregoing words.

Cometh to shame; makes himself contemptible and hateful to all that know him; there being scarce any reproach which men more impatiently endure, and severely revenge, than that of being called or accounted a liar.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

A righteous man hateth lying,.... Or, "a word of falsehood" (y); as being contrary to honour, truth, and conscience. He hates it in himself and others; he hates all sorts of lies, lies in common conversation, religious lies, doctrinal ones, false doctrines, lies spoken in hypocrisy; such as the followers of antichrist spread, being given up unto them that they might be damned, 1 Timothy 4:2; these are an abomination to God and all good men, Revelation 21:27;

but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame; or, "causes" or "spreads a stink" (z): all wicked men are loathsome and abominable, being very corrupt in principle and practice; all over defiled with sin, and covered with wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores, from the crown of the head to the sole of the feet; and especially liars, who are often brought to shame and confusion in this life, and will hereafter come to everlasting shame and contempt. Or, "makes himself to stink" (a); in the nostrils of all good men, and so brought to shame: or "digs"; a metaphor, as Cartwright thinks, from those that dig in the earth, where such as are covered with shame would gladly put their heads.

(y) "verbum falsitatis", Montanus, Michaelis; "verbum fuci", Schulteus. (z) "foetere facit", Vatablus, Mercerus; "foetere faciet", Montanus; "foetere fecit foetorem", Gussetius, p. 114. "foetorem spargit", Schultens. (a) "Se ipse foetere facit", Coccei Lexic. Colossians 77. "foetidum se reddit", Piscator.

Geneva Study Bible

A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. is loathsome] lit. stinketh. Comp. Ecclesiastes 10:1; Exodus 5:21, where the same Heb. word occurs.

In R.V. marg. an alternative rendering is suggested: causeth shame and bringeth reproach.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Lying; Vulgate, verbum mendax; Septuagint, λόγον ἄδικον; literally, a word of falsehood. But debar, "word," is used, like ῤῆμα in Hellenistic Greek, in a general sense for "thing," i.e. the subject of speech. So here it is not only verbal lying that is meant, but every kind of deceit and guile. This naturally betrays itself by the speech, according to the proverb, "Show me a liar, and I will show you a thief." A wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame. The clause is variously translated. Vulgate, confundit et confundetur, "causes shame to others and to himself." Septuagint, "is put to shame, and shall not have licence of tongue (παῥῤησίαν)." The Revised Version margin, "causeth shame and bringeth reproach." Delitzsch, "brings into bad odour (Genesis 34:30) and causes shame." Hitzig, "behaveth injuriously and shamefully." The antithesis is best brought out by the rendering that marks the effect of the wicked man's "lying;" "He brings disgrace upon others (who have trusted him or have been associated with him) and causes shame." Proverbs 13:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Two proverbs of the character of the righteous and of the effect of righteousness:

A deceitful thing the righteous hateth;

But the godless disgraceth and putteth to shame.

With דּבּר in the sphere of an intelligible generality (as here of falsehood, or Psalm 41:9 of worthlessness) a concrete event is in view, as with דּברי in the following plur. a general fact is separated into its individual instances and circumstances (vid., at Psalm 65:4); for דבר means not only the word in which the soul reveals itself, but also any fact in which an inner principle or a general fact or a whole comes forth to view. The righteous hateth all that bears in it the character of a falsehood (punctuate דּבר־שׁקר with Gaja, cf. Proverbs 12:19), but the godless ... Should we now, with Bertheau, Hitzig, and others, translate "acteth basely and shamefully"? It is true that both Hiphs. may be regarded as transitive, but this expression gives not right contrast to 5a, and is pointless. We have seen at Proverbs 10:5 that הבישׁ, like השׂכּיל, has also a causative signification: to put to shame, i.e., bring shame upon others, and that Proverbs 19:26, where מבישׁ וּמחפּיר are connected, this causative signification lies nearer than the intrinsically transitive. Thus it will also here be meant, that while the righteous hateth all that is false or that is tainted by falsehood, the godless on the contrary loves to disgrace and to put to shame. But it is a question whether יבאישׁ is to be derived from בּאשׁ equals בּושׁ, and thus is of the same meaning as יבישׁ; הבאישׁ, Isaiah 30:5, which there signifies pudefactum esse, is pointed הבאישׁ, and is thus derived from a יבשׁ equals בּושׁ, vid., 2 Samuel 19:6. But הבאישׁ occurs also as Hiph. of בּאשׁ, and means transitively to make of an evil savour, Genesis 34:30, cf. Exodus 5:21, as well as intransitively to come into evil savour, 1 Samuel 27:12. In this sense of putidum faciens, bringing into evil savour, יבאישׁ occurs here as at Proverbs 19:26, suitably along with יחפיר; Proverbs 19:26 is the putidum facere by evil report (slander), into which the foolish son brings his parents, here by his own evil report, thus to be thought of as brought about by means of slander. The old translators here fall into error; Luther renders both Hiphils reflexively; only the Venet. (after Kimchi) is right: ὀζώσει (from an ὀζοῦν as trans. to ὀζεῖν) καὶ ἀτιμώσει, he makes to be of ill odour and dishonours.