Proverbs 10:8

8 A wise man shall receive commandments with heart (A wise person shall take commandments to heart); a fool is beaten with (his own) lips.

Proverbs 10:8 Meaning and Commentary

Proverbs 10:8

The wise in heart will receive commandments
Such who have true wisdom in the hidden part of the heart, of which the fear of the Lord is the beginning: these will not only, as good subjects, honour their king, and attend to his lawful commands; and, as dutiful children, regard those of their parents; and, as faithful servants, hearken to those of their masters; but, as such that fear the Lord, will receive and cheerfully obey the commandments of God and Christ;

but a prating fool shall fall;
like Diotrephes, that prated against the Apostle John and other saints. Or, "a fool of lips" ^F2; whose folly is proclaimed and made known by his lips; who, out of the abundance of it in his heart, speaks and pours it out by his lips: such an one falls into sin and into mischief; he falls into disgrace in this world, and into hell in the next. The Targum is,

``the fool by his lips shall be taken;''

as in a snare.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (Mytpv lywa) "stultus labiis", Montanus

Proverbs 10:8 In-Context

6 The blessing of God is over the head of a just man; but wickedness covereth the mouth of wicked men. (The blessing of God is upon the heads of the righteous; but wickedness covereth the mouths of the wicked.)

7 The mind of a just man shall be with praisings; and the name of wicked men shall wax rotten. (The righteous shall be remembered with praise/The memory of the righteous is blessed; but the names of the wicked shall grow rotten.)

8 A wise man shall receive commandments with heart (A wise person shall take commandments to heart); a fool is beaten with (his own) lips.

9 He that goeth simply, goeth trustily; but he that maketh shrewd his ways, shall be [made] open. (He who goeth with honesty, or with integrity, goeth with security; but he who maketh his ways depraved, shall be exposed.)

10 He that beckoneth with the eye, shall give sorrow; a fool shall be beaten with (his own) lips.