24 A path of life `is' on high for the wise, To turn aside from Sheol beneath.
For her house hath inclined unto death, And unto Rephaim her paths.
For our citizenship is in the heavens, whence also a Saviour we await -- the Lord Jesus Christ --
Thou causest me to know the path of life; Fulness of joys `is' with Thy presence, Pleasant things by Thy right hand for ever!
And see if a grievous way be in me, And lead me in a way age-during!
For a lamp `is' the command, And the law a light, And a way of life `are' reproofs of instruction,
The ways of Sheol -- her house, Going down unto inner chambers of death!
Thou with a rod smitest him, And his soul from Sheol thou deliverest.
And unto this people thou dost say, Thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am setting before you the way of life, And the way of death!
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