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Bible Commentaries
Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary Keil & Delitzsch
Copyright Statement
The Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary is a derivative of a public domain electronic edition.
The Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary is a derivative of a public domain electronic edition.
Bibliographical Information
Keil, Carl Friedrich & Delitzsch, Franz. "Commentary on Proverbs 2". Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary. https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/kdo/proverbs-2.html. 1854-1889.
Keil, Carl Friedrich & Delitzsch, Franz. "Commentary on Proverbs 2". Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary. https://studylight.org/
Whole Bible (45)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (3)
Verses 1-2
The first ืื , with that which it introduces, Proverbs 2:1, Proverbs 2:2, is to be interpreted as an exclamation, “O that!” ( O si ), and then as an optative, as Psalms 81:9; Psalms 139:19. ืื ... ืึผื , Proverbs 2:3-5, with the inserted connecting clauses, would then be confirmatory, “for then.” But since this poet loves to unfold one and the same thought in ever new forms, one has perhaps to begin the conditional premisses with Proverbs 2:1, and to regard ืึผื ืื as a new commencement. Hitzig takes this ืื ืื in the sense of imo : “much more if thou goest to meet her, e.g., by curious inquiry, not merely permittest her quietly to come to thee.” ืื would then preserve its conditional meaning; and ืึผื as in Job 31:18; Psalms 130:4, since it implies an intentional negative, would receive the meaning of imo . But the sentences ranged together with ืื are too closely related in meaning to admit such a negative between them. ืึผื will thus be confirmatory, not mediately, but immediately; it is the “for = yes” of confirmation of the preceding conditions, and takes them up again (Ewald, ยง356, b, cf. 330 b) after the form of the conditional clause was given up. The ืฆืคื , which in Proverbs 1:11, Proverbs 1:18, is the synonym of ืฆืคื , speculari , presents itself here, 1b, 7a, as the synonym of ืืื , whence ืืืื ืื , synon. of ืฆืคืึผื ืื , recondita ; the group of sounds, ืฆืฃ , ืฆื , ืื (cf. also ืืฃ , in Arab. dafan , whence dafynat , treasure), express shades of the root representation of pressing together. The inf. of the conclusion ืืืงืฉืืื , to incline (Gr. Venet. ฯฬฯ ฮฑฬฮบฯฮฟฯออ ฯฮฟ ), is followed by the accus. of the object ืืื ื , thine ear, for ืืงืฉืืื properly means to stiffen (not to purge, as Schultens, nor to sharpen, as Gesenius thinks); cf. under Psalms 10:17. With ืืืื are interchanged ืึผืื ื , which properly means that which is distinguished or separated, and ืชึผืืึผื ื , which means the distinguishing, separating, appellations of the capacity of distinguishing in definite cases and in general; but it does not represent this as a faculty of the soul, but as a divine power which communicates itself as the gift of God ( charisma ).
Verses 3-8
Instead of ืึผื ืื there is an old ืื ืชืงืจื
(Note: Regarding this formula, see Strack's Prolegomena, pp. 66-70.)
(read not so, but thus), ืื ืื (if thou callest understanding mother), which supposes the phrase ืื ืื (lxx) as traditional. If ืื were intended (according to which the Targ. in the Bibl. rabbinica, but not in Norzi's text, translates), then 3b would correspond; vid., Proverbs 7:4, cf. Job 17:14. Thus: Yea, if thou callest for understanding, i.e., callest her to thee (Proverbs 18:6), invitest her to thee (Proverbs 9:15). The ืง of ืึผืงึผืฉื is, with the exception of the imper. ( e.g., ืึผืงึผืฉืืึผ ), always without the Dagesh. Proverbs 2:4 belongs to the ideas in the Book of Job found in these introductory discourses, cf. Job 3:21, as at Proverbs 2:14, Job 3:22 (Ewald, Sprรผche, p. 49). ืืคืฉื ( ืืคึผืฉื ), scrutari , proceeds, as ืืคืก shows, from the primary meaning of a ditch, and is thus in its root-idea related to ืืคืจ (to dig, search out). In the principal clause of Proverbs 2:5 the ' ืืจืืช ื , as Psalms 19:10, is the fear of Jahve as it ought to be, thus the reverence which is due to Him, the worshipping of Him as revealed. ' ื and ืืืืื are interchanged as ืงืืฉืืื and ' ื at Proverbs 9:10. ืึผืขืช is knowledge proceeding from practice and experience, and thus not merely cognition ( Kenntnis ), but knowledge ( Erkenntnis ). The thoughts revolve in a circle only apparently. He who strives after wisdom earnestly and really, reaches in this way fellowship with God; for just as He gives wisdom, it is nowhere else than with Him, and it never comes from any other source than from Him. It comes (Proverbs 2:6) ืืคึผืื (lxx erroneously ืืคึผื ืื ylsuoe ), i.e., it is communicated through the medium of His word, Job 22:22, or also (for ฮปฮฟฬฮณฮฟฯ and ฯฮฝฮตฯ อฮผฮฑ lie here undistinguished from one another) it is His breath (Book of Wisdom 7:25: ฮฑฬฯฮผฮนฬฯ ฯฮทอฯ ฯฮฟฯ อ ฮฮตฮฟฯ อ ฮดฯ ฮฝฮฑฬฮผฮตฯฯ ฮบฮฑฮนฬ ฮฑฬฯฮฟฬฯฬฯฬฮฟฮนฮฑ ฯฮทอฯ ฯฮฟฯ อ ฯฮฑฮฝฯฮฟฮบฯฮฑฬฯฮฟฯฮฟฯ ฮดฮฟฬฮพฮทฯ ฮตฮนฬฮปฮนฮบฯฮนฮฝฮทฬฯ ); the inspiration ( ื ืฉืืืช ) of the Almighty (according to Job 32:8) gives men understanding. In Proverbs 2:7, whether ืืฆืคื ( Chethฤฑฬb ) or ืืฆืคึผื ( Kerฤฑฬ ) is read, the meaning is the same. The former is the expression of the completed fact, as ฮทฬฯฮฟฮนฬฮผฮฑฯฮตฮฝ , 1 Corinthians 2:9, and is rightly preferred by lxx and Syr., for one reluctantly misses the copula (since the thought is new in comparison with Proverbs 2:6). ืืืฉืืจื should be written with the accent Dechรฎ. The Chokma-word (besides in Proverbs and Job, found only in Micah 6:9 and Isaiah 28:29) ืชึผืึผืฉืืึผื is a Hiphil formation (with the passing over of รด into รป, as in ืชึผืึผืื ) from ืืืฉืื (whence the pr. names ืืืฉืื and ืืืฉืืืื ) = (Arab.) wasy and aฬsy , to re-establish, to advance, Hiph. of ืืฉืื = ืืฉืื , to stand, and thus means furtherance, i.e., the power or the gift to further, and concretely that which furthers and profits, particularly true wisdom and true fortune.
(Note: I was formerly in error in regarding the word as a Hophal formation, and in assigning to it the primary signification of being in a state of realized existence, of reality, in contradistinction to appearance only. The objection of J. D. Michaelis, Supplem. p. 1167, Non placent in linguis ejusmodi etyma metaphysica , etc., does not apply here, since the word is a new one coined by the Chokma, but all the shades of meaning are naturally derived from the fundamental signification “furtherance” (cf. Seneca, Deus stator stabilitorque est ). “ ืชืืฉืืื , from Arab. aฬsy and wasy , to further by word and deed, to assist by counsel and act, to render help, whence the meanings auxilium , salus , and prudens consilium , sapientia , easily follow; cf. Ali's Arab. proverb, “He furthers thee, who does not trouble himself about thee.”)
The derivation from ืืฉื (Proverbs 8:21) is to be rejected, because “the formation would be wholly without analogy, so much the more because the ื of this word does not represent the place of the ื , as is seen from the Arab. l - ys and the Syr. lyt ” (Fl.);
(Note: The Arab. โaysa (almost only in the negative la - ysa = ืื ืืฉื ), of the same signification as ืืฉื , with which the Aram. ืืืช ( ืืืชื ) is associated, presupposes an โaฬsa (= โaฬssa ), to be founded, to found, and is rightly regarded by the Arabs as an old segolate noun in which the verbal force was comprehended.)
and the derivation of ืืฉืื = ืฉืืื , to be smooth (Hitzig), passes over without any difficulty into another system of roots.
(Note: The Arab. wsy and swy are confounded in common usage (Wetstein, Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitschr. xxii. 19), but the roots ืืฉ and ืฉื are different; ืืฉ and ืืฉ , on the contrary, are modifications of one root.)
In the passage under consideration (Proverbs 2:7), ืชึผืึผืฉืืึผื signifies advancement in the sense of true prosperity. The parallel passage 7a clothes itself in the form of an apposition: (He) a shield ( ืืื , n. instr. of ืึผื ื , to cover) for ืืืื ืชึผื , pilgrims of innocence (Fl.), i.e., such as walk in the way (the object-accus., as Proverbs 6:12, for which in Proverbs 10:9 ืึผ ) of innocence. ืชึผื is whole, full submission, moral faultlessness, which chooses God with the whole heart, seeks good without exception: a similar thought is found in Psalms 84:12. ืื ืฆืจ , 8a, is such an inf. of consequence as ืืืงืฉืืื (Proverbs 2:2), and here, as there, is continued in the finite. The “paths of justice” are understood with reference to those who enter them and keep in them; parallel, “the way of His saints” ( ืืกืื , he who cherishes ืืกื , earnest inward love to God), for that is just ืืจืึพืฆืืงื (Proverbs 12:28): they are ืืืื ืฆืืงืืช (Isaiah 33:15). Instead of the Mugrash, the conjunctive Tarcha is to be given to ืืืจื .
Verses 9-11
With the ืื repeated, the promises encouraging to the endeavour after wisdom take a new departure:
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and justice,
And uprightness; every way of good.
10 For wisdom will enter into thine heart,
And knowledge will do good to thy soul;
11 Discretion will keep watch over thee,
Understanding will keep thee.
Regarding the ethical triad ืืืฉืืจืื [righteousness, rightness], ืืฉืืคึผื [judgment], and ืฆืืง [rectitude], vid., Proverbs 1:3. Seb. Schmid is wrong in his rendering, et omnis via qua bonum aditur erit tibi plana , which in comparison with Isaiah 26:7 would be feebly expressed. J. H. Michaelis rightly interprets all these four conceptions as object-accusatives; the fourth is the summarizing asyndeton (cf. Psalms 8:7) breaking off the enumeration: omnem denique orbitam boni ; Jerome, bonam : in this case, however, ืืื would be genitive ( vid., Proverbs 17:2). ืืขืึผื is the way in which the chariot rolls along; in ืขืื there are united the root-conceptions of that which is found ( ืื ) and rolling ( ืื ). Whether ืึผื , Proverbs 2:10, is the argumentative “because” (according to the versions and most interpreters) or “for” (“ denn ,” J. H. Michaelis, Ewald, and others), is a question. That with ืึผื = “for” the subject would precede the verb, as at Proverbs 2:6, Proverbs 2:21, and Proverbs 1:32 (Hitzig), determines nothing, as Proverbs 2:18 shows. On the one hand, the opinion that ืึผื = “because” is opposed by the analogy of the ืึผื , Proverbs 2:6, following ืื , Proverbs 2:5; the inequality between Proverbs 2:5-8 and Proverbs 2:9. if the new commencement, Proverbs 2:9, at once gives place to another, Proverbs 2:10; the relationship of the subject ideas in Proverbs 2:10, Proverbs 2:11, which makes Proverbs 2:11 unsuitable to be a conclusion from Proverbs 2:10. On the contrary, the promise not only of intellectual, but at the same time also of practical, insight into the right and the good, according to their whole compass and in their manifoldness, can be established or explained quite well as we thus read Proverbs 2:10, Proverbs 2:11: For wisdom will enter (namely, to make it a dwelling-place, Proverbs 14:33; cf. John 14:23) into thine heart, and knowledge will do good to thy soul (namely, by the enjoyment which arises from the possession of knowledge, and the rest which its certainty yields). ืึผืขืช , ฮณฮฝฯอฯฮนฯ , is elsewhere fem. (Psalms 139:6), but here, as at Proverbs 8:10; Proverbs 14:6, in the sense of ฯฮฟฬ ฮณฮฝฯอฮฝฮฑฮน , is masc. In Proverbs 2:11 the contents of the ืื ืชืืื (Proverbs 2:9) are further explained. ืฉืืืจ ืขื , of watching (for Job 16:16 is to be interpreted differently), is used only by our poet (here and at Proverbs 6:22). Discretion, i.e., the capacity of well-considered action, will hold watch over thee, take thee under protection; understanding, i.e., the capacity in the case of opposing rules to make the right choice, and in the matter of extremes to choose the right medium, will be bestowed upon thee. In ืชึผื ืฆืจืึผื , as in Psalms 61:8; Psalms 140:2, Psalms 140:5; Deuteronomy 33:9, etc., the first stem letter is not assimilated, in order that the word may have a fuller sound; the writing ืึผื for ื is meant to affect the eye.
(Note: For the right succession of the accents here, see Torath Emeth, p. 49, ยง 5; Accentuationssystem, xviii. ยง 3.)
Verses 12-15
As in Proverbs 2:10, Proverbs 2:11, the ืื ืชึผืึผืื (“then shalt thou understand,” Proverbs 2:5) is expanded, so now the watching, preserving, is separately placed in view:
12 To deliver thee from an evil way,
From the man who speaks falsehood;
13 (From those) who forsake the ways of honesty
To walk in ways of darkness,
14 Who rejoice to accomplish evil,
Delight in malignant falsehood -
15 They are crooked in their paths,
And perverse in their ways.
That ืึผืจื ืจืข is not genitival, via mali , but adjectival, via mala , is evident from ืืจื ืืึพืืื , Proverbs 16:29. From the evil way, i.e., conduct, stands opposed to the false words represented in the person of the deceiver; from both kinds of contagium wisdom delivers. ืชึผืืคึผืืืช (like the similarly formed ืชึผืืึผืืช , occurring only as plur.) means misrepresentations, viz., of the good and the true, and that for the purpose of deceiving (Proverbs 17:20), fallaciae , i.e., intrigues in conduct, and lies and deceit in words. Fl. compares Arab. ifk , a lie, and affak , a liar. ืืืฆึผืืื has Munach, the constant servant of Dechรฎ, instead of Metheg, according to rule ( Accentssystem, vii. ยง2). ืืขืืืื (Proverbs 2:13) is connected with the collective ืืืฉื (cf. Judges 9:55); we have in the translation separated it into a relative clause with the abstract present. The vocalization of the article fluctuates, yet the expression ืืขืืืื , like Proverbs 2:17 ืืขืืืช , is the better established ( Michlol 53b); ืืขืืืื is one of the three words which retain their Metheg, and yet add to it a Munach in the tone-syllable ( vid., the two others, Job 22:4; Job 39:26). To the “ways of honesty” ( Geradheit ) (cf. the adj. expression, Jeremiah 31:9), which does not shun to come to the light, stand opposed the “ways of darkness,” the ฮตฬฬฯฮณฮฑ ฯฮฟฯ อ ฯฮบฮฟฬฯฮฟฯ ฯ , Romans 13:12, which designedly conceal themselves from God (Isaiah 29:15) and men (Job 24:15; Job 38:13, Job 38:15).
Proverbs 2:14
In this verse the regimen of the ืื , 12b, is to be regarded as lost; the description now goes on independently. Whoever does not shrink back from evil, but gives himself up to deceit, who finally is at home in it as in his own proper life-element, and rejoices, yea, delights in that which he ought to shun as something destructive and to be rejected. The neut. ืจืข is frequently an attributive genit., Proverbs 6:24; Proverbs 15:26; Proverbs 28:5; cf. ืืื , Proverbs 24:25, which here, since ืชึผืืคึผืืืช are those who in themselves are bad, does not separate, but heightens: perversitates non simplices aut vulgares, sed pessimae et ex omni parte vitiosae (J. H. Michaelis). With ืืฉืืจ ( ฮฟฮนฬฬฯฮนฮฝฮตฯ ), Proverbs 2:15, this part is brought to a conclusion. Fleischer, Bertheau, and others interpret ืืจืืชืืื , as the accus. of the nearer definition, as ฯฮบฮฟฮปฮนฮฟฬฯ ฯฮฟฬฮฝ ฮฝฮฟฯ อฮฝ , ฯฮฑฬฯ ฯฯฮฑฬฮพฮตฮนฯ ; but should it be an accus., then would we expect, in this position of the words, ืขืงึผืฉืืึผ (Isaiah 59:8; Proverbs 10:8, cf. Proverbs 9:15). ืขืงึผืฉืืื is the pred.; for ืืจื , like ืึผืจื , admits of both genders. ืึผื ืืืืื carries in it its subject ืื ; ืืึผื , like the Arab. l'd , l'dh , is a weaker form of ืืึผืฅ , flectere, inclinare , intrans. recedere : they are turned aside, inclined out of the way to the right and left in their walk ( ืึผ as Proverbs 17:20).
Verse 16
With the resumption of ืืืฆึผืืื , the watchful protection which wisdom affords to its possessors is further specified in these verses:
16 To save thee from the strange woman,
From the stranger who useth smooth words;
The subject here continued is the fourfold wisdom named in Proverbs 2:10, Proverbs 2:11. ืืจ signifies alienus , which may also be equivalent to alius populi , but of a much wider compass - him who does not belong to a certain class ( e.g., the non-priestly or the laity), the person or thing not belonging to me, or also some other than I designate; on the other hand, ื ืืจื , peregrinus , scarcely anywhere divests itself of the essential mark of a strange foreign origin. While thus ืืฉึผืื ืืจื is the non-married wife, ื ืืจืึผื designates her as non-Israelitish. Prostitution was partly sanctioned in the cultus of the Midianites, Syrians, and other nations neighbouring to Israel, and thus was regarded as nothing less than customary. In Israel, on the contrary, the law (Deuteronomy 23:18.) forbade it under a penalty, and therefore it was chiefly practised by foreign women (Proverbs 23:27, and cf. the exception, Ruth 2:10),
(Note: In Talmudic Heb. ืืจืืืช (Aramean) has this meaning for the Biblical ื ืืจืึผื .)
an inveterate vice, which spread itself particularly from the latter days of Solomon, along with general ungodliness, and excusing itself under the polygamy sanctioned by the law, brought ruin on the state. The Chokma contends against this, and throughout presents monogamy as alone corresponding to the institution and the idea of the relation. Designating marriage as the “covenant of God,” it condemns not only adulterous but generally promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, because unhallowed and thus unjustifiable, and likewise arbitrary divorce. Regarding the ancient ceremonies connected with the celebration of marriage we are not specially informed; but from Proverbs 2:17, Malachi 2:14 (Ewald, Bertheau, Hitzig, but not Kรถhler), it appears that the celebration of marriage was a religious act, and that they who were joined together in marriage called God to witness and ratify the vows they took upon themselves. The perf. in the attributive clause ืืืจืื ืืืืืงื proceeds on the routine acquired in cajoling and dissembling: who has smoothed her words, i.e., learned to entice by flattering words (Fl.).
Verses 17-19
17 Who forsakes the companion of her youth,
And forgets the covenant of her God;
18 For she sinks down to death together with her house,
And to the shadow of Hades her paths -
19 All they who go to her return not again,
And reach not the paths of life
ืืึผืึผืฃ , as here used, has nothing to do with the phylarch-name, similar in sound, which is a denom. of ืืืฃ ; but it comes immediately from ืืืฃ , to accustom oneself to a person or cause, to be familiar therewith (while the Aram. ืืืฃ , ืืืฃ , to learn, Pa. to teach), and thus means, as the synon. of ืจืข , the companion or familiar associate ( vid., Schultens). Parallels such as Jeremiah 3:4 suggested to the old interpreters the allegorical explanation of the adulteress as the personification of the apostasy or of heresy. Proverbs 2:18 the lxx translate: ฮตฬฬฮธฮตฯฮฟ ฮณฮฑฬฯ ฯฮฑฯฮฑฬ ฯฯออ ฮธฮฑฮฝฮฑฬฯฯอ ฯฮฟฬฮฝ ฮฟฮนฬอฮบฮฟฮฝ ฮฑฯ ฬฯฮทอฯ : she (the dissolute wife) has placed her house beside death (the abyss of death). This ืฉืืื [ ฮตฬฬฮธฮตฯฮฟ ] is perhaps the original, for the text as it lies before us is doubtful, though, rightly understood, admissible. The accentuation marks ืึผืืชืึผ as the subject, but ืึผืืช is elsewhere always masc., and does not, like the rarer ืืจื , Proverbs 2:15, admit in usage a double gender; also, if the fem. usage were here introduced (Bertheau, Hitzig), then the predicate, even though ืืืชื were regarded as fem., might be, in conformity with rule, ืฉืื , as e.g., Isaiah 2:17. ืฉืืื is, as in Psalms 44:26, 3rd pr. of ืฉืืึผื , Arab. saฬkh , to go down, to sink; the emendation ืฉืืื (Joseph Kimchi) does not recommend itself on this account, that ืฉืืื and ืฉืืื mean, according to usage, to stoop or to bend down; and to interpret (Ralbag, ืืฉืืคืืื ) ืฉืืื transitively is inadmissible. For that reason Aben Ezra interprets ืืืชื as in apposition: to death, to its house; but then the poet in that case should say ืืึพืฉืืืื , for death is not a house. On the other hand, we cannot perceive in ืืืชื an accus. of the nearer definition (J. H. Michaelis, Fl.); the expression would here, as 15a, be refined without purpose. Bรถttcher has recognised ืืืชื as permutative, the personal subject: for she sinks down to death, her house, i.e., she herself, together with all that belongs to her; cf. the permutative of the subject, Job 29:3; Isaiah 29:23 ( vid., comm. l.c.), and the more particularly statement of the object, Exodus 2:6, etc. Regarding ืจืคืืื , shadows of the under-world (from ืจืคื , synon. ืืื , weakened, or to become powerless), a word common to the Solomonic writings, vid., Comment. on Isaiah, p. 206. What Proverbs 2:18 says of the person of the adulteress, Proverbs 2:19 says of those who live with her ืืืชื , her house-companions. ืึผืืื , “those entering in to her,” is equivalent to ืึผืืื ืืืื ; the participle of verbs eundi et veniendi takes the accusative object of the finite as gen. in st. constr., as e.g., Proverbs 1:12; Proverbs 2:7; Genesis 23:18; Genesis 9:10 (cf. Jeremiah 10:20). The ืืฉืืึผืืึผื , with the tone on the ult., is a protestation: there is no return for those who practise fornication,
(Note: One is here reminded of the expression in the Aeneid, vi. 127-129:
Revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras ,
Hoc opes, hoc labor est .
See also an impure but dreadful Talmudic story about a dissolute Rabbi, b. Aboda zara, 17a.)
and they do not reach the paths of life from which they have so widely strayed.
(Note: In correct texts ืืืึพืืฉืืื has the Makkeph. Vid., Torath Emeth, p. 41; Accentuationssystem, xx. ยง2.)
Verses 20-22
With ืืืขื there commences a new section, coordinating itself with the ืืืฆึผืืื (“to deliver thee”) of Proverbs 2:12, Proverbs 2:16, unfolding that which wisdom accomplishes as a preserver and guide:
20 So that thou walkest in the good way,
And keepest the right paths.
21 For the upright shall inhabit the land,
And the innocent shall remain in it.
22 But the godless are cut off out the land,
And the faithless are rooted out of it.
Wisdom - thus the connection - will keep thee, so that thou shalt not fall under the seductions of man or of woman; keep, in order that thou... ืืืขื (from ืืขื = ืืขื ื , tendency, purpose) refers to the intention and object of the protecting wisdom. To the two negative designations of design there follows, as the third and last, a positive one. ืืืืื (contrast to ืจืขืื , Proverbs 14:19) is here used in a general ethical sense: the good ( Guten , not Gรผtigen , the kind). ืฉืืืจ , with the object of the way, may in another connection also mean to keep oneself from, cavere ab (Psalms 17:4); here it means: carefully to keep in it. The promise of Proverbs 2:21 is the same as in the Mashal Psalms 37:9, Psalms 37:11, Psalms 37:22; cf. Proverbs 10:30. ืืจืฅ is Canaan, or the land which God promised to the patriarchs, and in which He planted Israel, whom He had brought out of Egypt; not the earth, as Matthew 5:5, according to the extended, unlimited N.T. circle of vision. ืืึผืชืจืึผ ( Milel) is erroneously explained by Schultens: funiculis bene firmis irroborabunt in terra . The verb ืืชืจ , Arab. watar , signifies to yoke (whence ืืชืจ , a cord, rope), then intrans. to be stretched out in length, to be hanging over ( vid., Fleischer on Job 30:11); whence ืืชืจ , residue, Zephaniah 2:9, and after which the lxx here renders ฯ ฬฯฮฟฮปฮตฮนฯฮธฮทฬฯฮฟฮฝฯฮฑฮน , and Jerome permanebunt . In 22b the old translators render ืืกึผืืึผ as the fut. of the pass. ื ืกึผื , Deuteronomy 28:63; but in this case it would be ืื ึผืกืืึผ . The form ืืกึผืืึผ , pointed ืืกึผืืึผ , might be the Niph. of ืกืื , but ืกืื can neither be taken as one with ื ืกื , of the same meaning, nor with Hitzig is it to be vocalized ืืกึผืืึผ ( Hoph. of ื ืกื ); nor, with Bรถttcher (ยง1100, p. 453), is ืืกึผืืึผ to be regarded as a veritable fut. Niph. ืืกึผืืึผ is, as at Proverbs 15:25; Psalms 52:7, active: evellant ; and this, with the subj. remaining indefinite (for which J. H. Michaelis refers to Hosea 12:9), is equivalent to evellentur . This indefinite “they” or “one” (“ man ”), Fleischer remarks, can even be used of God, as here and Job 7:3 - a thing which is common in Persian, where e.g., the expression rendered hominem ex pulvere fecerunt is used instead of the fuller form, which would be rendered homo a Deo ex pulvere factus est . ืึผืืืืื bears (as ืึผืื proves) the primary meaning of concealed, i.e., malicious (treacherous and rapacious, Isaiah 33:1), and then faithless men.
(Note: Similar is the relation in Arab. of labbasa to libaฬs ( ืืืึผืฉื ); it means to make a thing unknown by covering it; whence telbฤฑฬs , deceit, mulebbis , a falsifier.)