Proverbs 20:14

14 malum est malum est dicit omnis emptor et cum recesserit tunc gloriabitur

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 aurem audientem et oculum videntem Dominus fecit utrumque
13 noli diligere somnum ne te egestas opprimat aperi oculos tuos et saturare panibus
14 malum est malum est dicit omnis emptor et cum recesserit tunc gloriabitur
15 est aurum et multitudo gemmarum vas autem pretiosum labia scientiae
16 tolle vestimentum eius qui fideiussor extitit alieni et pro extraneis aufer pignus ab eo
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.