Proverbs 16:27

An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) Diggeth up evil.—Digs, as it were, a pit for others by his malicious plottings and slanders (Psalm 7:15).

In his lips there is as a burning fire.—“Set on fire of hell” (James 3:6).

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 16:27-28. An ungodly man diggeth up evil — Invents or designs mischief to others, and prosecutes his evil designs with great and constant industry; in his lips is as a burning coal — As his thoughts, so also his words, are very vexatious and pernicious; his tongue is set on fire of hell, and sets himself and others on fire, by lies, slanders, and other provoking speeches. A froward man — Or perverse, who perverteth his words and ways; soweth strife — By speaking such things as may provoke one against another; and a whisperer — Who secretly carries tales from one to another; separateth chief friends — Makes a breach between those who were most dear to one another.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:27,28. Ungodly men bestow more pains to do mischief than would be needful to do good. The whisperer separates friends: what a hateful, but how common a character! 29,30. Some do all the mischief they can by force and violence, and are blind to the result. 31. Old people especially should be found in the way of religion and godliness. 32. To overcome our own passions, requires more steady management, than obtaining victory over an enemy. 33. All the disposal of Providence concerning our affairs, we must look upon to be the determining what we referred to God; and we must be reconciled to them accordingly. Blessed are those that give themselves up to the will of God; for he knows what is good for them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The four verses speak of the same thing, and the well-known opprobrious name, the "man of Belial," stands at the head as stigmatizing the man who delights in causing the mischief of which they treat.

Diggeth up evil - i. e., Digs an evil pit for others to fall into. Compare Psalm 7:15.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. ungodly man—(Compare Pr 6:12).

diggeth up evil—labors for it.

in his lips … fire—His words are calumniating (Jas 3:6).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Diggeth up evil; inventeth or designeth mischief to others, and prosecuteth his evil designs with great and constant industry.

In his lips there is as a burning fire; as his thoughts, so also his words are very vexatious and pernicious; his tongue is set on fire of hell, and sets himself and others on fire by lies and slanders, and other provoking speeches.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

An ungodly man diggeth up evil,.... Or "a man of Belial" (p), a worthless unprofitable man; a man without a yoke, not obedient to the law of God; such a man digs for sin as for a treasure; nor need he go far for it, he has enough in his own heart, out of the evil treasure of which he brings forth evil things; though he is more solicitious and diligent to search into the sins of others, and dig up them, which have long lain buried; as the Manichees raked up the sins of Austin in his youth; and as the Papists served Beza: but perhaps the evil of mischief is here rather intended, which a wicked man contrives and devises; a ditch he digs for others, though oftentimes he falls into it himself; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "digs evils for himself"; not intentionally but eventually; see Psalm 7:15;

and in his lips there is as a burning fire; his tongue is a fire, it is set on fire of hell, and it sets on fire the course of nature; and with its lies, calumnies, and detractions, devours and consumer the good names, characters, and credit of men; and deserves no other than sharp arrows of the Almighty, and coals of juniper; even the everlasting fire and flames of hell, James 3:6.

(p) "vir Belijahal", Montanus, Tigurine version, Mercerus.

Geneva Study Bible

An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a {m} burning fire.

(m) For he consumes himself and others.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27. ungodly] Rather, worthless, R.V. See Proverbs 6:12, note.

diggeth up] This is the literal meaning of the word, but it is here used metaphorically of one who digs pits for his neighbour, as a hunter for his prey, Psalm 7:15 [Heb. 16], Psalm 57:6 [Hebrews 7]. We may therefore render, deviseth, with R.V.

burning] Rather, scathing, or, as R.V., scorching. His words blight and wither, like the great forest fire, by which “all faces are scorched” (Ezekiel 20:47 [Heb. 21:3], where the Heb. word is the same).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 27. - This and the three following verses are concerned with the case of the evil man. An ungodly man - a man of Belial - diggeth up evil. A man of Belial (Proverbs 6:12) is a worthless, wicked person, what the French call a vaurien. Such a one digs a pit for others (Proverbs 26:27; Psalm 7:15), devises mischief against his neighbour, plots against him by lying and slandering and overreaching. Wordsworth confines the evil to the man himself; he digs it as treasure in a mine, loves wickedness for its own sake. But analogy is against this interpretation. Septuagint, "A foolish man diggeth evils for himself." So Ecclus. 27:26, "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; and he that setteth a trap shall be taken therein." As the gnome says -

Ἡ δὲ κακὴ βουλὴ τῷ βουλεύσαντι κακίστη. And in his lips there is as a burning fire (Proverbs 26:23) His words scorch and injure like a devouring flame. James 3:6, "The tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell." Septuagint, "And upon his lips he treasureth up fire." Proverbs 16:27

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

27 A worthless man diggeth evil;

     And on his lips is, as it were, scorching fire.

Regarding אישׁ בּליּעל, vid., Proverbs 6:12, and regarding כּרה, to dig round, or to bore out, vid., at Genesis 49:5; Genesis 50:5; here the figure, "to dig for others a pit," Proverbs 26:27, Psalm 7:16, etc.: to dig evil is equivalent to, to seek to prepare such for others. צרבת Kimchi rightly explains as a form similar to קשּׁבת; as a subst. it means, Leviticus 13:23, the mark of fire (the healed mark of a carbuncle), here as an adj. of a fire, although not flaming (אשׁ להבה, Isaiah 4:5, etc.); yet so much the hotter, and scorching everything that comes near to it (from צרב, to be scorched, cogn. שׁרב, to which also שׂרף is perhaps related as a stronger power, like comburere to adurere). The meaning is clear: a worthless man, i.e., a man whose disposition and conduct are the direct contrast of usefulness and piety, uses words which, like an iron glowing hot, scorches and burns; his tongue is φλογιζομένη ὑπὸ τῆς γεέννης (James 3:6).