Proverbs 10:18

18 He who conceals hatred [has] lips of deceit, and he who utters slander--he is a fool.

Proverbs 10:18 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 10:18

He that hideth hatred [with] lying lips
Or he whose "lying lips hide hatred", which is much the same; who pretends to be a friend, and outwardly behaves as one, but inwardly nourishes and cherishes hatred in his heart, which he covers and conceals, till he has a proper opportunity of showing it; as Absalom to Ammon, Joab to Amasa, the men of Anathoth to Jeremiah, and Judas to Christ; see ( Proverbs 26:24-26 ) . Or, "he that hideth hatred [is a man of] lying lips" {m}; he is a liar, as the person next described is a fool. And he that uttereth slander is a fool; that brings it out by wholesale, and hides it not; who openly defames his neighbour, and in the most public manner; and with a multitude of words detracts from his good name, credit, and reputation, and loads him with calumny and reproach; such a man is a fool, a very wicked man: yea, not only the public slanderer, but the secret dissembler, who thinks himself a cunning man because he hides himself; each of these is a fool, the one as well as the other. Gersom thinks there is a comparison made between the dissembler and the slanderer; the one being a liar, and the other a fool; and that the former is more abominable and pernicious than the latter.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F13 "Est vir laborium falsitatis", Piscator, "vel fallacium", Gejerus.

Proverbs 10:18 In-Context

16 The wage of the righteous [leads] to life; the gain of the wicked to sin.

17 [On] the path to life is he who guards instruction, but he who rejects rebuke goes astray.

18 He who conceals hatred [has] lips of deceit, and he who utters slander--he is a fool.

19 In many words, transgression is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is prudent.

20 Choice silver is a tongue of righteousness, a heart of wickedness is {of little worth}.