for to wound; and that the Participle has the Force of the Subftantive but this feems very harth. The Arabic Verbe, infpiravit, infudit, infinuavit, effecit occulto modo, seems to fuggeft this Senfe, viz. THE WORDS OF A TALEBEARER ARE LIKE SUBTIL POISONS, THAT INSINUATE THEMSELVES, and produce their Effects infenfibly; for THEY PENETRATE INTO THE INWARD PARTS OF THE BELLY, where they lie rankling and gnawing the Vitals. I cannot however but fufpect that these Letters, befides the Particle of Similitude, contain a Prepofition, a Subftantive, and a Verb; and that they ought to be thus feparated and read Words of the Talebearer DESTROY AS Shafts FROM THE QUIVER. n is the Participle prefent Kal, from Don; and the Word Shaft or Arrow is added merely for the Sake of Perfpicuity. All the old Verfions here difagree, and seem to have tranflated merely by Guefs.

The : כמתלי המים

[הון שעיר קרית עזו - וכחומה נשגבה. במשכתו :

V. 11. The rich Man's Wealth is his ftrong City, and as an high Wall in his own Conceit. The Word constantly used for Conceit or Imagination is, and not now; befides that none of the ancient Verfions acknowledge that Reading. But the Chaldee and Syriac feem to have read in, or app; which Word is well adapted to this Place. The latter Hemistic ought therefore I think to be thus rendered AND it is AN

HIGH WALL ABOUT HIS HABITATION.

V. 15. The Heart of the prudent getteth Knowledge; and the Ear

לב נבון יקנה דעת - ואזן חכמים תבקש .of the wife Jeeket Knowledge in the latter Hemiftic being as properly taken for the דעת [דעת :

Infinitive as for a Substantive, it would be best for the fake of Variety to render it thus AND THE EAR OF THE WISE SEEKET H

TO KNOW.

V. 17. He that is firft in his own Caufe feemeth juft: but his Neigh

him.

[צדיק הראשון בריבו - ובא רעהו וחקרו : .bour cometb and Jearcheth him

Rather

HE IS ACQUITTED Who is FIRST IN HIS OWN CAUSE: BUT HIS NEIGHBOUR COMETH AND FINDETH HIM OUT. p is here the Preter, Hiphil; and ufed as a forenfic Term, Ifa. V.23. . 23. L. 8. and pn is here rendered as Job. IX. 10.

חקר

V. 19. A Brother offended is harder to be won than a firong City: A BROTHER IS MORE APT TO

Rather [אח נפשע מקרית עז

REBEL THAN A STRONG CITY: ie. Diffentions among Brothers,

from.

from Motives of Intereft or other Caufes, more frequently arife, than Mutinies in Garrifons. tanta eft difcordia fratrum; as the Poet

obferved, Ovid. Met. Lib. I. v. 60.

V. 20. A Man's Belly fhall be fatisfied with the Fruit of bis Mouth: and with the Incrcafe of his Lips fhall be be filled.—yawn 'N 'Ð 1700

,If we read with the LXX and Arabic [בטנו תבואת שפתיו ישבע :

ya, the Hemiftics may thus be divided and rendered-A MAN SHALL BE SATISFIED WITH THE FRUIT OF HIS MOUTH; and HIS BELLY FILLED WITH THE PRODUCE OF HIS LIPS. This Lection makes the Conftruction more eafy, and more agreeable to the other two Places, where thefe very Words occur, viz. Ch. XII. 14. and XIII. 2.

טוב

מצא אשה

V. 22. Whofo findeth a Wife findeth a good Thing, 210 ] All the old Interpreters (except the Chaldee) have here a good Wife: but we are not haftily to conclude, that they read a in their respective Texts. The Addition, I am perfuaded, is folely their own; who, fenfible that the Propofition did not hold true univerfally in a moral View, thus reftrained it. Numerous are the Inftances in Scripture which countenance this Expreffion; thus, Lo, Children are an Heritage of the Lord, and the Fruit of the Womb is his Reward. Pf. CXXVII. 3. So Weights and Balances are faid to be the Ordinance appointed by God. Ch. XVI. 11. But to return to the Text; if it can be doubted what Sort of Wife is meant here, this fufficiently appears by the next Hemiftic and obtaineth Favour of the Lord; befides that the former Hemiftic would have one Word redundant as to Quantity, if a be added.

* Here the LXX, Vulgate, Arabic, and in Part the Syriac add "HE THAT DRIVETH AWAY A (GOOD) WIFE DRIVETH AWAY A "GOOD THING: AND HE THAT RETAINETH AN ADULTEROUS WOMAN “IS FOOLISH AND WICKED.”

V. 24. A Man that hath Friends muft fhew himself friendly:

איש

The Want of Connection in this Hemiftic does [רעים להתרועצ

not proceed from the Omiffion of any Word in the Text: but rather, I apprehend, from a wrong Lection. It is apparent that the Chaldee and Syriac Verfions read w, instead of w; which better corresponds with the next Member. According to this Reading the Sense will be ---THERE ARE COMPANIONS who SHEW THEMSELVES SOCIABLE. See the fame Conftruction of the Infinitive for the Future, Ch. XIX.8.

and

and there is a Friend &c. "1 28 ] Rather THERE IS A FRIEND that ticketh clofer than a Brother.

CHAP. XIX.

BUT

טוב רש הולך בתמו

V. 1. Better is the poor that walketh in his Integrity, than he that is perverfe in his Lips, and is a fool. now wpy :pini] The Phrafe be that is perverse and is a fool conveys but one and the fame Idea: the Terms are convertible; and neither of them in the leaft approaches to the Oppofition we want to the poor of the preceding Hemiftic. But is this Fault in the Text, or in the Verfion? A very little Attention will fhew where the Miftake lies. Now the four principal Greek Interpreters, befides the others collected together by Origen, are here unfortunately deficient; the Arabic is fo likewife but of the three remaining, the Syriac and Vulgate plainly fhew that there is a Metathefis of the two laft Letters in wpy; they having read puy, the primary Sense of which is to be loaded with a beary Body. o fignifies, according to our Verfion, a Burden, Gen. XLIX. 14. But I lay no Strefs upon that Interpretation. I give it the Senfe of the Arabic Verb lucrum fecit, whence comes, Lucrum, augmentum. And it is remarkable that from the fame Root comes i, a Lip, which has led the Tranflators into the Mistake. Thefe Words therefore thus explained naturally admit of this SenseBETTER is THE POOR MAN THAT WALKETH IN HIS INTEGRITY, THAN HE THAT IS LOADED WITH RICHES, AND is A

FOOL.

[בלא דעת נפש לא טוב

V. 2. Also, that the Soul be without Knowledge, it is not good. Rather SURELY it is NOT GOOD to be WITHOUT KNOWING ONESELF: for thus WD is often used; and thus the Syriac alfo renders: according to which Interpretation the Sense is equivalent to the fage Maxim of the Philofophers, rva

ואץ ברגלים חוטא : .and be that bafteth with his Feet finneth

There seems to be here in our Verfion as little Connection between these two Hemistics as in those of the laft Verfe. For what has the Knowledge of oneself to do with hafting with the Feet? And not to criticife upon the Quaintnefs of the Phrafe, where lies the Sin in hafting away? This apparent Inconfiftency will be removed, if we give a Senfe, which it frequently has, viz. that of Spies, and renBUT HE THAT HASTILY GOETH WITH SPIES, SINNETH.

der

« To

"To know oneself (which is the Work of Time) is declared in the pre"ceding Hemiftic to be good: but to confort with Spies (who, con"fcious they are concerned in a dangerous Sort of Knowledge, are hafty in their Motions) is a Sin." Or thus, HE THAT IS HASTY IN HIS GOINGS (or, PROCEEDINGS) ERRETH; i. e. is liable to err.

V.7. he purfueth them with Words, yet they are wanting to him.

In our Verfion there are more Words here [מרדף אמרים לא המה:

supplied than there are tranflated. The precife Sense of the Text seems however fufficiently obvious, viz. HE PURSUETH them wнO SAY, BE NOT THOU NOISY. I reject the Mafforetical Lection ; and conftrue as the Imperative of the Verb, which has the Sense here given to it.

V. 8. He that getteth Wisdom loveth his own Soul: he that keepeth

קנה לב אהב נפשו - שמר תבונה למצא .Underfianding ball find good

Rather-HE THAT GETTETH UNDERSTANDING LOVETH HIS OWN SOUL HE GIVETH HEED TO DISCRETION, SO AS TO FIND BENEFIT from it. For the with the Infinitive makes the Gerund. Of this there are frequent Inftances.

Ra לא נאוה כסיל תענוג

V. 10. Delight is not feemly for a fool: ther DELICACIES (i. e. fuch Things as he is not a proper Judge of)

ARE &c.

שכל אדם

V. 11. The Difcretion of a Man deferreth his Anger; IN
THE DISCREET MAN &c. for is here

Rather [האריך אפו

the Participle.

V. 12. The King's Wrath is as the Roaring of a Lion ; —

Rather [זעף מלך

LION.

V. 13.

THE KING'S WRATH ROARETH AS A

and the Contentions of a Wife are a continual Dropping. : MWN TO THO A57] The old Verfion explains continual Dropping by "Rain that droppeth and rotteth a House." But I think this must mean THE DROPPING OF THE EVES OF A HOUSE, or any continued gentle falling of Water, than which nothing is more apt to be tiresome and diftracting. See Ch. XXVII. 15.

V. 18. and let not thy Soul Spare for his Crying. nai

Rather, as in the Margin [אל תשא נפשך :

AND INCLINE NOT

THY SOUL TO HIS DESTRUCTION; i.e. by conniving too long at his Faults, which may prove his Deftruction.

V. 19.

V. 19. A Man of great Wrath shall fuffer Punishment; for if thou

גדל חמה נשא ענש - כי אם .deliver him, yet thou must do it again The latter Hemiftic ought I think to be thus [תציל ועוד תוסף :

rendered

FOR, NOTWITHSTANDING THOU MAYEST HAVE INTERPOSED, THOU MUST DO IT AGAIN.

V. 21. There are many Devices in a Man's Heart; nevertheless the

רבות מחשבות בלב איש - ועצת .Counfel of the Lord, that hall fand

: Dipn &'n min] The Senfe I think would be clearer, if the Verse were thus rendered--- MANY are THE DEVICES IN A MAN'S HEART:. BUT IT is THE COUNSEL OF THE LORD THAT SHALL STAND.

תאות אדם חסדו - :

V. 22. The Defire of a Man is his Kindness: — Rather -- THE DESIRE OF A MAN is that IT MAY BE WELL WITH HIM. DП is here the Infinitive for the Nominative.

וטוב רש מאיש כזב :

and a poor Man is better than a liar. In our Verfion there is neither Contraft nor Parallelifm between the Terms of this Hemiftic, nor between one Hemiftic and the other. Most of the old Interpreters add the Word rich to liar: but there is certainly no more Ground for this Addition, than there was for reading A good WIFE, at V. 22. of the last Chapter. But, admitting there were Ground, yet would there still be wanting an oppofite Term to liar; and the two Propofitions would moreover labour under the fame Incoherence. I would therefore thus translate this Passage - EVEN THE POOR MAN IS HAPPY NOT TO BE DECEIVED BY A GREAT MAN. This Sense seems to restore a general Harmony between all the difjointed Members of this Verfe. For the first Part is an universal Propofition, expreffive of this Idea, that all Men aim at Happiness. Here the Author defcends to a particular Inftance, and fixes upon that Class of Men, who from their Wants are fuppofed to be the greatest Strangers to that Bleffing; and the very Inftance adduced is negative: "even thefe (fays he) are comparatively happy, if they be not ill used and impofed upon by the Rich." In the Conftruction I confider as the Preter; and give it the Senfe of happy, as 1 Sam. XXV. 8, 36. Efth. I. 10. VIII. 17. and make the Prepofition in we answer a double Purpose, viz. of giving a negative Force to the Infinitive aid, and of reducing the Subftantive to the Ablative Cafe.

V. 23. The Fear of the Lord tendeth to Life; and he that hath it fhall abide Satisfied; he shall not be vifited with Evil. »n> nin' 087) ya] Rather - THE FEAR OF THE LORD Hh

ילין בל יפקד רע :

[ ושבע

tendeth