Proverbs 3:29

Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 3:29. Devise not evil, &c. — Any thing injurious or hurtful; against thy neighbour — Against any child of man. Having commanded the doing of good, (Proverbs 3:27-28,) he here forbids the doing or designing any evil. Seeing he dwelleth securely by thee — Relying upon thy integrity: do not, therefore, deceive his trust, and cause him to repent of the confidence which he places in thee, which would be an iniquity hateful even to heathen.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:27-35 Our business is to observe the precepts of Christ, and to copy his example; to do justice, to love mercy, and to beware of covetousness; to be ready for every good work, avoiding needless strife, and bearing evils, if possible, rather than seeking redress by law. It will be found there is little got by striving. Let us not envy prosperous oppressors; far be it from the disciples of Christ to choose any of their ways. These truths may be despised by the covetous and luxurious, but everlasting contempt will be the portion of such scorners, while Divine favour is shown to the humble believer.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Securely - i. e., "With full trust," without care or suspicion. Compare Judges 18:7, Judges 18:27.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29, 30. Do not abuse confidence and avoid litigation.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Devise not evil; any thing injurious or hurtful. Having commanded doing of good, Proverbs 3:27,28, he here forbids doing or designing any evil.

Dwelleth securely by thee; relying upon thine integrity: do not therefore betray thy trust, which is hateful even to heathens.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Devise not evil against thy neighbour,.... Or, "plough not evil" (i); turn not up thy heart to find evil against thy neighbour, as the earth is turned up by the plough; see Hosea 10:13. Do not contrive and form schemes in thy mind and thoughts to do him any injury, in his name and character, in his person, property, or family: a good man should devise all the good he can to his fellow creatures, but not evil to any; especially to his neighbour, and as described in the next clause;

seeing he dwelleth securely by thee; having a good opinion of thee, and not suspecting any ill design against him, thinks himself, goods, and family, in safety; and is under no concern to provide for his security, placing his confidence in thee, and perhaps to such a degree as to entrust with his secrets. Now to project evil against such a man is exceeding base; it is doubly sinful; this is an aggravation of the iniquity.

(i) "ne ares", Amama.

Geneva Study Bible

Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth {n} securely by thee.

(n) That is, puts his trust in you.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - Devise not evil against thy neighbour. This precept is directed against abuse of confidence. Devise not evil (al takharosh raah). The meaning of this expression lies between "fabricating evil" and "ploughing evil." The radical meaning of kharash, from which takharosh, is "to cut into," "to inscribe" letters on a tablet, cognate with the Greek χαράσσειν, "to cut into." But it is used in the sense of "to plough" in Job 4:18, "They that plough iniquity (khar'shey aven)," and Psalm 129:3, "The ploughers ploughed (khar'shim khar'shim) upon my back" (cf. Hosea 10:13). This also appears from the context to be the meaning in Proverbs 6:14. With these we may compare such expressions as "to plough a lie" (μὴ ἀροτρία ψεύδος, rendered in the Authorized Version, "Devise not a lie"); see Proverbs 7:12, and "to sow iniquity," Proverbs 22:8 - a cognate figure. "To plough evil" is to devise evil, to prepare for it, just in the same way as a ploughman prepares the land for sowing. In this sense the verb is understood by the older commentators and by Ewald and Delitzsch. On the other hand, the verb may be used in its other signification, "to fabricate," and hence "to contrive." The noun kharash is an artificer of iron, etc. (Exodus 35:35; Deuteronomy 27:15). "To fabricate evil" is, of course, as the Authorized Version "to devise evil." The LXX., μὴ τεκτῄνη, from τεκτείνομαι, "to build," inclines to this sense. The Vulgate, ne moliaris, does not clear up the point, though moliri, usually "to contrive," is used by Virgil, 'Georg.,' 1:494, "moliri terrain," of working or tilling the ground. The verb also occurs in Proverbs 6:19; Proverbs 12:20; Proverbs 14:22. Seeing he dwelleth securely by thee; i.e. as the Vulgate, cure ille in te habet fiduciam, "when he has confidence in thee;" so the LXX.; or, as the Targum and Syriac, "when he dwells with thee in peace." To dwell (yashar) is in Psalm 1:1 "to sit with any one," i.e. to associate familiarly with him (cf. Psalm 26:4, 5); but it also has the meaning , "to dwell," and the participle yoshev, here used; in Genesis 19:23: Judges 6:21, means "an inhabitant, a dweller." Securely (lavetah); i.e. with full trust (see on ver. 23). Devising evil against a friend is at any time reprehensible, but to do so when he confides in and is altogether unsuspicious of you, is an act of the greatest treachery, and an outrage on all law. human and Divine. It implies dissimulation. It is the very sin by which "the devil beguiled Eve through his subtlety" (Wardlaw). Proverbs 3:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

A second illustration of neighbourly love is harmlessness:

Devise not evil against thy neighbour,

While he dwelleth securely by thee.

The verb חרשׁ, χαράσσειν, signifies to cut into, and is used of the faber ferrarius as well as of the τιγναριυς (Isaiah, p. 463), who with a cutting instrument (חרשׁ, Genesis 4:22) works with metal or wood, and from his profession is called חרשׁ. But the word means as commonly to plough, i.e., to cut with the plough, and חרשׁ is used also of a ploughman, and, without any addition to it, it always has this meaning. It is then a question whether the metaphorical phrase רעה חרשׁ signifies to fabricate evil, cf. dolorum faber, mendacia procudere, ψευδῶν καὶ ἀπατῶν τέκτων, and the Homeric κακὰ φρεὶ βυσσοδομεύειν (Fleischer and most others), or to plough evil (Rashi, Ewald, etc.). The Targ., Syriac, and Jerome translate חשׁב, without deciding the point, by moliri; but the lxx and Graecus Venet. by τεκταίνειν. The correctness of these renderings is not supported by Ezekiel 21:36, where חרשׁי משׁחית are not such as fabricate destruction, but smiths who cause destruction; also מחרישׁ, 1 Samuel 23:9, proves nothing, and probably does not at all appertain to חרשׁ incidere (Keil), but to חרשׁ silere, in the sense of dolose moliri. On the one hand, it is to be observed from Job 4:8; Hosea 10:13, cf. Psalm 129:3, that the meaning arare malum might connect itself with חרשׁ רעה; and the proverb of Sirach 7:12, μὴ ἀροτρία ψεῦδος ἐπ ̓ ἀδελφῷ σου, places this beyond a doubt. Therefore in this phrase, if one keeps before him a clear perception of the figure, at one time the idea of fabricating, at another that of ploughing, is presented before us. The usage of the language in the case before us is more in favour of the latter than of the former. Whether ישׁב את means to dwell together with, or as Bttcher, to sit together with, after Psalm 1:1; Psalm 26:4., need not be a matter of dispute. It means in general a continued being together, whether as sitting, Job 2:13, or as dwelling, Judges 17:11.

(Note: Accentuate והוא־יושׁב לבטח. It is thus in correct texts. The Rebia Mugrash is transformed, according to the Accentuationssystem, xviii. 2.)

To take advantage of the regardlessness of him who imparts to us his confidence is unamiable. Love is doubly owing to him who resigns himself to it because he believes in it.