Proverbs 29:24
Read Proverbs 29:24 Using Other Translations
What does Proverbs 29:24 mean?
Whoso is partner with a thief
That robs and steals, and raises away another man's property;
which to do is sinful and contrary to the law of God, and
punishable by it; and so it is to join with him in the theft, or
to devise, or consent unto it; or to receive the stolen goods, or
to hide and conceal them; or to hide the thief, or the theft, and
not declare them; see ( Psalms 50:18
) ( Isaiah
1:23 ) . Such an one hateth his own soul;
that is, he is not careful of it, he is not concerned for its
welfare as he should be; for otherwise no man, properly speaking,
hates his own flesh or body, and much less his soul; but he is
negligent of the good of it, and, for the sake of the mammon of
unrighteousness, runs the risk of the ruin of it; by which he
shows that he loves the world more than his own soul; when the
profit of the whole world is nothing to the soul of man, (
Matthew
16:26 ) ; see ( Proverbs
8:36 ) ; he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth [it]
not;
or "does not declare it" {b}; he heareth the cursing of those
that have lost their goods, and yet he does not declare where
they are, and who is the author of the theft, though he knows;
or, being suspected of being concerned in it, or, at least, of
knowing who did it, be is had before a civil magistrate, and an
oath is given him, which he takes, and yet he conceals the
matter: which is an aggravation of his sin, and brings ruin to
his soul. So the Targum,
``an oath is determined (or brought to him) and he confesseth not.''Some understand this of a distinct evil, of hearing cursing and swearing, and taking the name of God in vain, and blasphemy against him; yet, through fear of incurring the displeasure of men, and being reckoned a busy body, or through indifference and want of zeal for the glory of God, do not discover it, or inform of it, to a proper person, for the punishment of such; see ( Leviticus 5:1 ) ; and render the words F3, as "he that is partner with a thief hateth his own soul; [so] he that heareth cursing, and betrayeth it not."
F2 (dygy alw) "et non indicat", Junius & Tremellius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schultens, Michaelis.
F3 So Gejerus.
