Proverbs 13:2

A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth.—See above on Proverbs 12:14.

Shall eat violence.—Comp. Proverbs 1:31; Proverbs 26:6.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:1 There is great hope of those that reverence their parents. There is little hope of any who will not hear those that deal faithfully with them. 2. By our words we must be justified or condemned, Mt 12:37. 3. He that thinks before he speaks, that suppresses evil if he have thought it, keeps his soul from a great deal both of guilt and grief. Many a one is ruined by an ungoverned tongue. 4. The slothful desire the gains the diligent get, but hate the pains the diligent take; therefore they have nothing. This is especially true as to the soul. 5. Where sin reigns, the man is loathsome. If his conscience were awake, he would abhor himself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The fruit of his mouth - Speech rightly used is itself good, and must therefore bring good fruit.

Eat violence - i. e., Bring upon itself repayment in kind for its deeds of evil.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. shall eat—that is, obtain (Pr 12:14).

transgressors—as in Pr 2:22.

violence—or, "mischief" to themselves.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Shall eat good; shall receive much comfort, and credit, and benefit to himself.

By the fruit of his mouth; by his wise and profitable discourses.

The soul, i.e. the person, as the soul is oft used.

The transgressors; who transgress with their lips, as this general phrase may be restrained from the former clause.

Shall eat violence; shall have that violence and injury returned upon themselves, which they have offered to others in word or deed.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth,.... Or, "of the mouth"; either another's or his own, since the word his is not in the text; though it is supplied by the Targum, Aben Ezra, the Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions, as by us. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "shall eat of the fruits of righteousness". I should choose to translate the whole thus: "a good man shall eat of the fruit of his mouth": so Aben Ezra interprets it, "a good man shall eat"; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it. The sense is, that a good man brings forth good things out of the good treasure of his heart by his mouth; which not only minister grace to the hearers, and are for the use of edifying to others, but also to himself; while he gives wholesome counsel and advice to others, it is of service to himself; while he comforts others, he comforts himself; and while he teaches and instructs others, he teaches and instructs himself: so a good minister of Jesus Christ, while he feeds others with knowledge and understanding, he himself is nourished up with the words of faith and good doctrine; so Jarchi refers it to a man's doctrine, and the reward of it here and hereafter;

but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence; Jarchi interprets it,

"the delight of transgressors is violence;'' (u).

that is, what their souls desire, choose, will, and take pleasure in, even using violence, and doing mischief to others; and to the same purpose is the note of Gersom: but Aben Ezra supplies it from the former clause, as we do; and the sense is, that the same measure they mete out to others shall be measured out to them again; what they give others to eat, they shall eat themselves, even the bread of violence; see Proverbs 4:16. And this will be the case of all perfidious and treacherous ones, as the word (w) used signifies; of false teachers and cruel persecutors; and of Babylon, of whom it will he said, "reward her as she rewarded you", Revelation 18:6.

(u) "Anima cupido praevaricatorum est violentis", Gussetius, p. 524. (w) "perfidiosorum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "perfidorum", Cocceius, Schultens.

Geneva Study Bible

A man shall eat good by the fruit {a} of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.

(a) If he uses his tongue to God's glory, and the profit of his neighbour, God will bless him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. Comp. with the first clause of this verse Proverbs 12:14.

the soul] i.e. the desire (Proverbs 6:30, and Proverbs 13:4 below), or appetite. His desire is to inflict violence on others; it shall be fed, or satisfied, by violence inflicted on him. This is more forcible and preserves the parallelism better than the desire of the treacherous is for violence, R.V. marg.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth (Proverbs 12:14; Proverbs 18:20). By his kindly speech and wise counsels he shall gain the good will of his neighbours and the blessing of God. Schultens observes that the word rendered "good" (tob) means what is pleasant to taste and smell, while that translated "violence" (chamas) signifies literally what is crude and unripe. The soul of the transgressors shall eat violence (Proverbs 1:31). The Authorized Version introduces the verb from the first clause unnecessarily. The meaning of this rendering is that sinners, especially the treacherous, bring on themselves retribution; the injuries which they devise against others recoil on their own heads (Proverbs 10:6). The Hebrew is, "The soul (i.e. the desire, or delight) of the perfidious (is) violence." Such men have only one thing at heart, viz. to wrong their neighbour, and to increase their own property by any, even nefarious, precedings. Septuagint, "Of the fruits of righteousness the good man shall eat; but the lives of transgressors shall perish untimely." Proverbs 13:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

2 From the fruit of the mouth of a man he himself enjoys good;

   But the delight of the godless is violence.

2a equals Proverbs 12:14, where ישׂבּע for יאכל. A man with a fruit-bringing mouth, himself enjoys also the blessing of his fruit-producing speech; his food (cf. βρῶμα, John 4:34) is the good action in words, which in themselves are deeds, and are followed by deeds; this good action affords enjoyment not merely to others, but also to himself. Ewald and Bertheau attract יאכל to 2b; so also does Fleischer: "the violence which the בּגדים wish to do to others turns back upon themselves; they must eat it also, i.e., bear its evil consequences." The thought would then be like Proverbs 10:6 : os improborum obteget violentia, and "to eat violence" is parallel to "to drink (Proverbs 26:6) violence (injury)." But wherefore then the naming of the soul, of which elsewhere it is said that it hungers or satiates itself, but never simply (but cf. Luke 12:19) that it eats? On the contrary, נפשׁ means also appetitus, Proverbs 23:2, and particularly wicked desire, Psalm 27:12; here, as Psalm 35:25, the object of this desire (Psychol. p. 202). Regarding בגדים, vid., above, p. 85. There are such as do injury in a cunning deceitful manner to their neighbour to their own advantage. While the former (the righteous) distributes to his neighbour from the inner impulse without having such a result in view, yet according to God's direction he derives enjoyment himself therefrom: the desire of the latter goes to חמס, ἀδικία, and thus to the enjoyment of good unrighteously and violently seized.