Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 14:16
A wise [man] feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
16. rageth ] Or, beareth himself insolently, R.V. The rendering however, rageth, or loses his temper, is borne out by Psa 78:21; Psa 78:59, where both A.V. and R.V. render the same Heb. word, was wroth.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. A wise man feareth] He can never trust in himself, though he be satisfied from himself. He knows that his suffiency is of GOD; and he has that fear that causes him to depart from evil, which is a guardian to the love he feels. Love renders him cautious; the other makes him confident. His caution leads him from sin; his confidence leads him to God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Feareth; trembleth at Gods judgments, when they are either inflicted or threatened.
From evil; from sin, which is the procuring cause of all calamities.
Rageth; fretteth against God, or is enraged against his messengers who bring the threatening, or disquieteth himself in vain or, transgresseth, as this verb in its simple form and first conjugation commonly signifies; or, goeth on in sin constantly and resolutely, according to the emphasis which this conjugation commonly adds to the simple verb. And this is most fitly opposed to
departing from evil; as being
confident is opposed to fearing. Is confident; secure and insensible of his danger till Gods judgments overtake him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. (Compare Pro 3:7;Pro 28:14).
ragethacts proudly andconceitedly.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A wise [man] feareth, and departeth from evil,…. He fears God, and is careful not to offend him; wherefore he departs from sin, stands at a distance from it, abstains from all appearance of it; being influenced by the goodness and grace of God unto him, he fears the Lord and his goodness, and therefore avoids all occasions of sinning against him: his motive is not merely fear of punishment, as Jarchi, but a sense of goodness; and now, as it is through the influence of divine fear that men depart from evil; so to do this shows a good understanding, and that such a man is a wise man, Pr 16:6;
but the fool rageth, and is confident; he fears neither God nor men, he sets his mouth against both; he “rages” in heart, if not with his mouth, against God and his law, which forbid the practice of such sins he delights in; and against all good men, that admonish him of them, rebuke him for them, or dissuade him from them: and “is confident” that no evil shall befall him; he has no concern about a future state, and is fearless of hell and damnation, though just upon the precipice of ruin; yet, as the words may be rendered, “he goes on confidently”, nothing can stop him; he pushes on, regardless of the laws of God or men, of the advices and counsels of his friends, or of what will be the issue of his desperate courses in another world.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
16 The wise feareth and departeth from evil;
But the fool loseth his wits and is regardless.
Our editions have with Munach, as if were a substantive with its adjective; but Cod. 1294 has with Rebia, and thus it must be: is the subject, and what follows is its complex predicate. Most interpreters translate 16b: the fool is over-confident (Zckler), or the fool rushes on (Hitzig), as also Luther: but a fool rushes wildly through, i.e., in a daring, presumptuous manner. But denotes everywhere nothing else than to fall into extreme anger, to become heated beyond measure, Pro 26:17 (cf. Pro 20:2), Deu 3:26, etc. Thus 16a and 16b are fully contrasted. What is said of the wise will be judged after Job 1:1, cf. Psa 34:15; Psa 37:27: the wise man has fear, viz., fear of God, or rather, since is not directly to be supplied, that careful, thoughtful, self-mistrusting reserve which flows from the reverential awe of God; the fool, on the contrary, can neither rule nor bridle his affections, and without any just occasion falls into passionate excitement. But on the other side he is self-confident, regardless, secure; while the wise man avoids the evil, i.e., carefully goes out of its way, and in N.T. phraseology “works out his own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
16 A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
Note, 1. Holy fear is an excellent guard upon every holy thing, and against every thing that is unholy. It is wisdom to depart from evil, from the evil of sin, and thereby from all other evil; and therefore it is wisdom to fear, that is, to be jealous over ourselves with a godly jealousy, to keep up a dread of God’s wrath, to be afraid of coming near the borders of sin or dallying with the beginnings of it. A wise man, for fear of harm, keeps out of harm’s way, and starts back in a fright when he finds himself entering into temptation. 2. Presumption is folly. He who, when he is warned of his danger, rages and is confident, furiously pushes on, cannot bear to be checked, bids defiance to the wrath and curse of God, and, fearless of danger, persists in his rebellion, makes bold with the occasions of sin, and plays upon the precipice, he is a fool, for he acts against his reason and his interest, and his ruin will quickly be the proof of his folly.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Wisdom Or Conceit
Verse 16 declares that the wise depart from, do not dally with evil; but the conceited and over-confident foolishly expose themselves, Pro 3:7; Pro 22:3; Pro 27:12; Psa 34:14; Rom 12:16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(16) A wise man feareth.(Comp. Pro. 3:7.)
The fool rageth.Gives way to passionate excitement, and is confident in his own wisdom; he has no quietness and confidence (Isa. 30:15) in God.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. The fool rageth, and is confident Or, is haughty and confident, and so presses on to the evil which the wise man avoids. This is the meaning generally given to , rageth, or is haughty; but I see no reason why the word here should not follow the primitive sense of the root, to pass over, on, or through, only adding the intensity which belongs to the form in which it is found, thus: The wise man fears and turns aside from evil; but the fool is confident and rushes upon it. He sees nothing to fear. This brings out the antithesis, which is only implied in our version. Comp. Pro 21:24; Pro 22:3.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 16. A wise man feareth and departeth from evil,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Pro 14:16 A wise [man] feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
Ver. 16. A wise man feareth and departeth from evil. ] He trembleth at the judgments while they hang in the threatenings, meets God with entreaties of peace, and so redeems his own sorrows. Solo auditu contremisco, saith Jerome, speaking of that terrible text, Eze 16:42 : “I tremble at the very hearing of it.” So Erasmus, repeating those words, “His blood will I require at thy hands”; Eze 3:18 these, saith he, are fulmina, non verba – not words, but thunderbolts. A good child, if but threatened only, will amend his fault; yea, if he but hear others threatened. Daniel was more troubled than Nebuchadnezzar was. Dan 4:19 Habakkuk, when in a vision he saw the judgments of God that were to come upon the Chaldeans, it made his very heart to ache and quake within him. Pro 3:16
But the fool rageth and is confident.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
evil. Hebrew. ra a’. See App-44.
rageth = rusheth on.
confident. Hebrew. batah. App-69.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 14:16
Pro 14:16
“A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil; But the fool beareth himself insolently and is confident.”
Frankenberg and Toy give various readings here: “The wise man guards himself anxiously against evil, but the fool lightly takes part therein”; or, “The wise man is cautious and avoids misfortune, but the fool is arrogant and confident.
Pro 14:16. A wise man does not take dangerous chances, but a foolish man will (Pro 22:3). Joseph was a wise man who feared God and departed from the evil in which Potiphars wife would have ensnared him (Gen 39:9-12).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
feareth: Pro 3:7, Pro 16:6, Pro 16:17, Pro 22:3, Gen 33:9, Gen 42:18, Neh 5:15, Job 31:21-23, Psa 119:120, 1Th 5:22
the fool: Pro 7:22, Pro 28:14, Pro 29:9, 1Ki 19:2, 1Ki 20:10, 1Ki 20:11, 1Ki 20:18, Ecc 10:13, Mar 6:17-19, Mar 6:24, Mar 6:25, Joh 9:40
Reciprocal: Gen 19:9 – pressed Num 22:27 – and Balaam’s anger 2Ch 10:10 – My little finger 2Ch 18:26 – until I return Job 17:9 – hold on Pro 12:15 – way Pro 15:21 – a man Pro 18:6 – fool’s Isa 56:2 – keepeth his Jer 44:10 – neither Mat 5:22 – fool 2Co 7:11 – fear Heb 4:1 – us therefore 1Pe 1:17 – in fear
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Pro 14:16. A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil He trembles at Gods judgments when they are either inflicted or threatened; and shuns sin, which is the procuring cause of all calamities; but the fool rages Frets against God, or is enraged against his messengers who declare the threatening; or, as the Hebrew, , should rather be translated here, transgresseth, or goeth on in sin constantly and resolutely; which is fitly opposed to departing from evil; as his being confident, in the next clause, that is, secure and insensible of danger, till Gods judgments overtake him, is opposed to fearing. Bishop Patricks interpretation is, A wise man, being admonished of his error, and of his danger, is afraid of incurring the divine displeasure; and instantly starts back from that evil way into which he was entering, or wherein he was engaged: but a fool storms at those that would stop him in his course, and proceeds boldly and securely to his own ruin.