Proverbs 8:8

All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Froward.—That is, twisted, or crooked.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:1-11 The will of God is made known by the works of creation, and by the consciences of men, but more clearly by Moses and the prophets. The chief difficulty is to get men to attend to instruction. Yet attention to the words of Christ, will guide the most ignorant into saving knowledge of the truth. Where there is an understanding heart, and willingness to receive the truth in love, wisdom is valued above silver and gold.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Words of the ideal Wisdom, which find their highest fulfillment in that of the Incarnate Word. Compare Luke 4:22; Matthew 11:19.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. in righteousness—or, "righteous" (Ps 9:8,11:7).

froward—literally, "twisted," or contradictory, that is, to truth.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

All the words of my mouth; all my precepts, promises, threatenings, &c.

Nothing froward or perverse in them; not the least mixture of vanity, or error, or folly in them, as there is in the words of the wisest philosophers, &c.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

All the words of my mouth are in righteousness,.... Or "with righteousness" (x); are connected with it, are agreeable to it; are righteous ones, consistent with righteousness, with the righteous nature, will, and law of God: or "are concerning righteousness" (y) the necessity of righteousness in order to eternal life; the insufficiency of man's own righteousness to entitle to it; the need, worth, and excellency of the righteousness of Christ for that purpose; and of the propriety and usefulness of a life of righteousness and holiness, which the grace of God instructs men in;

there is nothing froward or perverse in them; that is contrary to right reason, or to the law of God, or to the Scriptures of truth, or to the analogy of faith; nor is there any contradiction in the doctrines of the Gospel one to another, but an entire harmony and uniformity in them; they are not "yea" and "nay".

(x) "cum justitia", Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis; , Sept. (y) "Gloriatio de justitia sua, vel invitatio ad accipiendam justitiam per fidem", Cocceius.

Geneva Study Bible

All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. in righteousness] or, “righteousness,” R.V.

marg. froward] Rather, crooked, R.V.; σκολιόν, LXX.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - In righteousness; i.e. joined with righteousness equivalent to "righteous." In Proverbs 3:16 the Septuagint has an addition which may perhaps be an echo of this passage: "Out of her mouth proceedeth righteousness, and she beareth upon her tongue law and mercy." But more probably it is derived partly from Isaiah 45:23, and partly from Proverbs 31:26. There is nothing froward or perverse in them. In the utterance of Wisdom there is nothing crooked, no distortion of the truth; all is straightforward and direct. Proverbs 8:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The בּ of בּצדק is that of the close connection of a quality with an action or matter, which forms with a substantive adverbia as well as virtual adjectiva, as here: cum rectitudine (conjuncta i. e. vera) sunt omnia dicta oris mei (Fl.); it is the ב of the distinctive attribute (Hitzig), certainly related to the ב essentiae (Proverbs 3:26, according to which Schultens and Bertheau explain), which is connected with the abstract conception (e.g., Psalm 33:4), but also admits the article designating the gender (vid., at Psalm 29:4). The opposite of צדק (here in the sense of veracitas, which it means in Arab.) is נפתּל ועקּשׁ, dolosum ac perversum. עקּשׁ (cf. Gesen. 84, 9) is that which is violently bent and twisted, i.e., estranged from the truth, which is, so to speak, parodied or caricatured. Related to it in meaning, but proceeding from a somewhat different idea, is נפתל. פּתל, used primarily of threads, cords, ropes, and the like, means to twist them, to twine them over and into one another, whence פּתיל, a line or string made of several intertwisted threads (cf. Arab. ftı̂lt, a wick of a candle or lamp); Niph., to be twisted, specifically luctari, of the twisting of the limbs, and figuratively to bend and twist oneself, like the crafty (versutus) liars and deceivers, of words and thoughts which do not directly go forth, but by the crafty twistings of truth and rectitude, opp. ישׁר, נכון (Fl.). There is nothing of deception of error in the utterances of wisdom; much rather they are all נכצים, straight out from her (cf. Isaiah 57:2), going directly out, and without circumlocution directed to the right end for the intelligent, the knowing (cf. Nehemiah 10:29); and ישׁרים, straight or even, giving no occasion to stumble, removing the danger of erring for those who have obtained knowledge, i.e., of good and evil, and thus the ability of distinguishing between them (Gesen. 134, 1) - briefly, for those who know how to estimate them.