Proverbs 17:13

Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:8. Those who set their hearts upon money, will do any thing for it. What influence should the gifts of God have on our hearts! 9. The way to preserve peace is to make the best of every thing; not to notice what has been said or done against ourselves. 10. A gentle reproof will enter, not only into the head, but into the heart of a wise man. 11. Satan, and the messengers of Satan, shall be let loose upon an evil man. 12. Let us watch over our own passions, and avoid the company of furious men. 13. To render evil for good is devilish. He that does so, brings a curse upon his family. 14. What danger there is in the beginning of strife! Resist its earliest display; and leave it off, if it were possible, before you begin. 15. It is an offence to God to acquit the guilty, or to condemn those who are not guilty. 16. Man's neglect of God's favour and his own interest is very absurd. 17. No change of outward circumstances should abate our affection for our friends or relatives. But no friend, except Christ, deserves unlimited confidence. In Him this text did receive, and still receives its most glorious fulfilment. 18. Let not any wrong their families. Yet Christ's becoming Surety for men, was a glorious display of Divine wisdom; for he was able to discharge the bond.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The large brown bear of Syria, in her rage at the loss of her whelps, was to the Israelites the strongest type of brute ferocity. Compare 2 Samuel 17:8; 2 Kings 2:24.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. (Compare Ps 7:4; 35:12).

evil—injury to another (Pr 13:21).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

From his person and family, because such a man is most hateful to God and to all mankind; God will punish him, and men will not pity nor relieve him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Whoso rewardeth evil for good,.... As the enemies of David and Christ rewarded them, Psalm 35:12; this is base ingratitude, contrary to the law and light of nature; worse than beastly, is really devilish;

evil shall not depart from his house; from him and his family; they shall be continually visited with one disease and calamity or another; so hateful and offensive is the sin of ingratitude to God, and therefore ought to be carefully avoided. This might be illustrated by the judgments of God on the nation of the Jews, for their ingratitude to Christ.

Geneva Study Bible

Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - Whoso rewardeth evil for good. This was David's complaint of the churlish Nabal (1 Samuel 25:21). Ingratitude shall surely he punished. Evil shall not depart from his house. Terribly has the ingratitude of the Jews been visited. They cried in their madness, "His blood be on us and on our children!" and their punishment is still going on. Injunctions on this subject are frequent in the New Testament (see Matthew 5:39; Romans 12:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:15; 1 Peter 3:9). The Talmud says, "Do not throw a stone into the well whose waters you have drunk." The Greeks felt the sting of ingratitude. Thus Leiodes complains to Ulysses ('Od.,' 22:319) -

Ὡς οὐκ ἔστι χάρις μετόπισθ εὐεργέων Two sayings of Publius Syrus are quoted ('Sent.,' vv. 219, 274): "Ingratus unus omnibus miseris nocet;" "Malignos fieri maxime ingrati docent." Proverbs 17:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

13 He that returneth evil for good,

     From his house evil shall not depart.

If ingratitude appertains to the sinful manifestations of ignoble selfishness, how much more sinful still is black ingratitude, which recompenses evil for good! (משׁיב, as 1 Samuel 25:21, syn. גּמל, to requite, Proverbs 3:30; Proverbs 31:12; שׁלּם, to reimburse, Proverbs 20:22). Instead of תמישׁ, the Kerı̂ reads תמוּשׁ; but that this verb, with a middle vowel, may be 'י'ע as well as 'ו'ע, Psalm 55:2 shows.