Proverbs 24:29

Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me.—A wonderful anticipation this of New Testament teaching, very different from the spirit of Leviticus 24:19-20. Comp. Proverbs 20:22, and James 2:13, “For he shall have judgment without mercy that shewed no mercy.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

24:28,29. There are three defaults in a witness pointed out.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A protest against vindictiveness in every form. Compare marginal reference.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. Especially avoid retaliation (Mt 5:43-45; Ro 12:17).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Say not within thyself; give not way to any such thoughts or passions.

I will render to the man according to his work; I will repay him all his calumnies and injuries.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me,.... He has falsely accused and reproached me, and bore a false testimony, or suborned false witnesses against me, and I will do the same to him, now an opportunity serves; but as private revenge itself is sinful, so especially when it is pursued in a wicked way;

I will render to the man according to his work; this should be left to the Lord, whose prerogative it is; see Proverbs 24:19.

Geneva Study Bible

Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I {i} will render to the man according to his work.

(i) He shows what is the nature of the wicked, to revenge wrong for wrong.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. See Proverbs 25:22 and note there.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - The subject is still continued, as if the moralist would say, "Though a man has done you an injury by gratuitously testifying against you, do not you retaliate in the same way." Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me (see Proverbs 20:22, and note there). The lex talionis should not be applied to private wrongs. The high morality of the Christian code is here anticipated, the Holy Spirit guiding both. Proverbs 24:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The following proverb is connected as to its subject with the foregoing: one ought not to do evil to his neighbour without necessity; even evil which has been done to one must not be requited with evil:

Say not, "As he hath done to me, so I do to him:

I requite the man according to his conduct."

On the ground of public justice, the talio is certainly the nearest form of punishment, Leviticus 24:19.; but even here the Sinaitic law does not remain in the retortion of the injury according to its external form (it is in a certain manner practicable only with regard to injury done to the person and to property), but places in its stead an atonement measured and limited after a higher point of view. On pure moral grounds, the jus talionis ("as thou to me, so I to thee") has certainly no validity. Here he to whom injustice is done ought to commit his case to God, Proverbs 20:22, and to oppose to evil, not evil but good; he ought not to set himself up as a judge, nor to act as one standing on a war-footing with his neighbour (Judges 15:11); but to take God as his example, who treats the sinner, if only he seeks it, not in the way of justice, but of grace (Exodus 34:6.). The expression 29b reminds of Proverbs 24:12. Instead of לאדם, there is used here, where the speaker points to a definite person, the phrase לאישׁ. Jerome, the Venet., and Luther translate: to each one, as if the word were vocalized thus, לאישׁ (Psalm 62:13).