Proverbs 20:14

14 "Bad, bad," the buyer will say, but [when] one goes to him, then he will boast.

Proverbs 20:14 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 20:14

[It is] naught, [it is] naught, saith the buyer
When he comes to the shop of the seller, or to market to buy goods, he undervalues them, says they are not so good as they should be, nor so cheap as he can buy them at; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth;
after he has brought the seller to as low a price as he can, and has bought the goods, and gone away with them, and got home among his friends; then he boasts what a bargain he has bought, how good the commodity is, how he has been too many for the seller, and has outwitted him; and so glories in his frauds and tricks, and rejoices in his boasting, and all such rejoicing is evil, ( James 4:16 ) . Jarchi applies this to a man that is a hard student in the law, and through much difficulty gets the knowledge of it, when he is ready to pronounce himself unhappy; but when he is got full fraught with wisdom, then he rejoices at it, and glories in it.

Proverbs 20:14 In-Context

12 The ear that hears and the eye that sees, Yahweh has made {them both}.

13 Do not love sleep, lest you become poor; open your eyes [and] have plenty bread.

14 "Bad, bad," the buyer will say, but [when] one goes to him, then he will boast.

15 There is gold and many costly stones, but precious jewels are lips of knowledge.

16 Take his garment, for he has given security [to] a stranger, and on behalf of a foreigner--take it as pledge.