21 Folly is joy to one lacking heart, And a man of intelligence directeth `his' going.
To execute inventions `is' as play to a fool, And wisdom to a man of understanding.
See, then, how exactly ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise,
The beginning of wisdom `is' fear of Jehovah, Good understanding have all doing them, His praise `is' standing for ever!
Whoso is despising his neighbour lacketh heart, And a man of understanding keepeth silence.
The wise is fearing and turning from evil, And a fool is transgressing and is confident.
As `one' pretending to be feeble, Who is casting sparks, arrows, and death, So hath a man deceived his neighbour, And hath said, `Am not I playing?'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 15
Commentary on Proverbs 15 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
We take these verses together as forming a group which begins with a proverb regarding the good and evil which flows from the tongue, and closes with a proverb regarding the treasure in which blessing is found, and that in which no blessing is found.
Proverbs 15:1
1 A soft answer turneth away wrath,
And a bitter word stirreth up anger.
In the second line, the common word for anger ( אף , from the breathing with the nostrils, Proverbs 14:17) is purposely placed, but in the first, that which denotes anger in the highest degree ( חמה from יחם , cogn. חמם , Arab. hamiya , to glow, like שׁנה from ישׁן ): a mild, gentle word turns away the heat of anger ( excandescentiam ), puts it back, cf. Proverbs 25:15. The Dagesh in רּך follows the rule of the דחיק , i.e. , of the close connection of a word terminating with the accented eh, aah, ah with the following word ( Michlol 63b). The same is the meaning of the Latin proverb:
Frangitur ira gravis
Quando est responsio suavis