Arrogant speech isn’t fitting for a fool, much less do lying lips fit a prince.
Parallel Translations
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Arrogant speech isn’t fitting for a fool, much less do lying lips fit a prince.
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Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
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Overbearing speech becometh not a churl; much less do lying lips a prince.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Proverbs 17:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 29:12 If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.
- Psalms 50:16-17 But to the wicked God says, “What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips, since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
- 2 Samuel 23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,
- Job 34:12 Yes surely, God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice.
- Psalms 101:3-5 I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me. A perverse heart will be far from me. I will have nothing to do with evil. I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. I won’t tolerate one who is arrogant and conceited.
- Proverbs 12:19 Truth’s lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary.
- Proverbs 16:10-13 Inspired judgments are on the lips of the king. He shall not betray his mouth. Honest balances and scales are Yahweh’s; all the weights in the bag are his work. It is an abomination for kings to do wrong, for the throne is established by righteousness. Righteous lips are the delight of kings. They value one who speaks the truth.
- Proverbs 26:7 Like the legs of the lame that hang loose, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.
- Matthew 7:5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (19 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, the lip of excellency.
Hebrew, the lip of excellency.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 17:7 Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much…
Pro 17:7 Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.
Ver. 7. Excellent speech becometh not a fool.] A Nabal, a sapless, worthless fellow, in whom all worth is withered and decayed, - qui nullas habet dicendi vires, as Cicero hath it, that can say no good except it be by rote, or at least by book, - what should he do discoursing of high points? God likes not fair words from a foul mouth. Christ silenced the devil when he confessed him to be the Son of the most high God. The leper’s lips should be covered, according to the law. The Lacedemonians, when a bad man had uttered a good speech in their council house, liking the speech but not the speaker, commanded one of better carriage to give the same counsel, and then they made use of it. {a} The people of Rome sware they would not believe Carbo though he sware. {b}
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Much less do lying lips a prince.] Or any ingenuous man, as some render it. A prince’s bare word should be better security than another man’s oath, said Alphonsns, King of Arragon. When Amurath, the great Turk, was exhorted by his cruel son, Mohammed, to break his faith with the inhabitants of Sfetigrade, in Epirus, he would not listen, saying, "That he which was desirous to be great among men, must either be indeed faithful of his word and promise, or at least seem to be so." {c} - thereby to gain the minds of the people, who naturally abhor the government of a faithless and cruel prince. What a foul blur was that to Christian religion, that Ladislaus King of Hungary should, by the persuasion of the Pope’s envoy, break his oath given to this Amurath at the great battle of Varna, and thereby open the mouth of that dead dog to rail upon Jesus Christ! {d} And how will the Papists ever be able to wipe off from their religion that stain that lies upon it ever since the Emperor Sigismund, by the consent and advice of the Council of Constance, brake his promise of safe conduct to John Huss and Jerome of Prague, and burnt them! But they have a rule to walk by now, Fides cum haereticis non est servanda: Promises made to heretics are not to be observed. And it is for merchants, say they, and not for princes, to stand to their oaths, any further than may stand with the public good. This divinity they may seem to have drawn out of Plato, who, in his third Dialogue of the Commonwealth, saith, That if it be lawful for any one to lie, it may be lawful doubtless for princes and governors, that aim therein at the public welfare. But God, by the mouth of his servant and secretary, Solomon, here assures us it is otherwise.
{a} Odi hominem; ignava opera, philosopha sententia.
{b} Liv.
{c} Turkish History, fol. 321.
{d} Turkish History, fol. 291.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Excellent speech; either,
Excellent speech; either,
1. Discourse of high and excellent things far above his capacity. Or,
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2. Lofty or eloquent speech, which fools oft affect, Or,
3. Virtuous and godly discourse.
A fool; either properly so called; or, as this word is most commonly used in this book, a wicked man, whose actions give the lie to his expressions.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Two things are here represented as very absurd: 1.…
Two things are here represented as very absurd: 1. That men of no repute should be dictators. What can be more unbecoming than for fools, who are known to have little sense and discretion, to pretend to that which is above them and which they were never cut out for? A fool, in Solomon's proverbs, signifies a wicked man, whom excellent speech does not become, because his conversation gives the lie to his excellent speech. What have those to do to declare God's statutes who hate instruction? Psa 50:16. Christ would not suffer the unclean spirits to say that they knew him to be the Son of God. See Act 16:17, Act 16:18. 2. That men of great repute should be deceivers. If it is unbecoming a despicable man to presume to speak as a philosopher or politician, and nobody heeds him, being prejudiced against his character, much more unbecoming is it for a prince, for a man of honour, to take advantage from his character and the confidence that is put in him to lie, and dissemble, and make no conscience of breaking his word. Lying ill becomes any man, but worst a prince, so corrupt is the modern policy, which insinuates that princes ought not to make themselves slaves to their words further than is for their interest, and Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare - He who knows not how to dissemble knows not how to reign.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Excellent speech becometh not a fool,.... A wicked man.…
Excellent speech becometh not a fool,.... A wicked man. Eloquence, or a sublime grand way of speaking, a copiousness and fluency of expression, become not such; because hereby he may be capable of doing more mischief; or such a style is unsuitable to the subject of his discourse, which is nothing but folly and wickedness. The Gospel is excellent speech, sound speech, that cannot be condemned; it treats of excellent things; concerning the person, office, and grace of Christ, and salvation by him; and very unfit is a wicked man to take it into his mouth, talk of it, and declare it;
much less do lying lips a prince; they rather become a fool, as excellent speech does a prince; who neither should speak lies himself, nor encourage, but abhor them in others. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, "a just man": but the word more property signifies a liberal man, as it is rendered in Isa 32:8; where it stands opposed to a churl or covetous man: and some Jewish (f) writers think by the "fool" is meant such an one to whom a "lip of abundance" (g), as it may be rendered, is very unsuitable; or to talk of his abundance, when he makes no good use of what he has for himself or others; and so, on the other hand, it is very disagreeable to the character of an ingenuous and liberal man to promise and not perform, and never intended it. It is true of such who are made a "willing" people in the day of Christ's power, Psa 110:3; where the same word is used as here; of his volunteers; that to speak lies one to another very ill becomes them; or to receive, or to speak, or profess false doctrines; for no lie is of the truth.
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(f) Kabvenaki in Mercer. in loc. (g) "labium abundantiae".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Excellent speech - Discourse of high and excellent things.
Excellent speech - Discourse of high and excellent things.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. Excellent speech becometh not a fool] This…
Verse 7. Excellent speech becometh not a fool] This proverb is suitable to those who affect, in public speaking, fine language, which neither comports with their ordinary conversation, nor with their education. Often fine words are injudiciously brought in, and are as unbecoming and irrelevant as a cart wheel among clockwork.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Pro 17:7. Excellent speech — Either, 1st, Discourse concerning…
Pro 17:7. Excellent speech — Either, 1st, Discourse concerning difficult, high, and excellent things, far above his capacity: or, 2d, Lofty, eloquent speech, which fools often affect: or, 3d, Virtuous and godly discourse; becometh not a fool — Either one properly so called, or, as the word fool is most commonly used in this book, a wicked man, whose actions give the lie to his expressions.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The margin renderings are more literal and give greater…
The margin renderings are more literal and give greater emphasis. What is pointed out is not the unfitness of lying lips for the princely-hearted, but the necessity of harmony, in each case, between character and speech.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain Men naturally speak as they are. The lip is…
Men naturally speak as they are. The lip is the organ of the heart. The lip of excellency, to speak suitably of high and lofty things, evidently becometh not a fool.†1 A grave discourse on godliness becometh not an ungodly man.†2 It carries no weight, and, so far from doing good, it often brings contempt.†3 Christ would not accept even a sound confession from the lips of Satan, lest it should bring an occasion of stumbling.†4 So unseemly was excellent speech from so corrupt a source!
Much less do lying lips become a prince — the Minister and Guardian of truth. (Pro 16:10 .) Yet in a world, where self reigns supreme, such inconsistencies are but too prevalent.†5 The pure doctrine of our Divine Master alone secures Christian consistency in heart, lip, and life. Never let us forget, that, if excellent speech becometh not a fool, it does become the gospel of Christ — the "saints of God." (Php 1:27 .) And oh! let it be fully manifested in all its gracious unction and power, for "the edifying" of the Church (Eph 4:29 ), and for the conviction of gain-sayers." (Col 4:6 .)
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Footnotes:
†1 Pro 26:7, Pro 26:9 . Compare Sir 20:20 .
†2 Psa 50:16-17.
†3 Mat 7:3-5. Rom 2:21-24 .
†4 Mar 1:34. Compare Act 16:16-18 .
†5 Heathen morality from the lips of one of her wisest teachers allowed the lying lips of princes, because they governed for the public good. ’All others’ — he adds — ’must abstain.’ Plato, De Repub. ’Qui nescit dissimulare, nescit negnare’ — has been too often a royal maxim. Far more becoming a prince was the saying of Louis IX. of France — ’If truth be banished from all the rest of the world, it ought to be found in the breast of princes.’ Alphonsus of Arragon declared (Lavater in loco) that ’one word of a prince should be a greater security than a private man’s oath.’ Undoubtedly the royal character ought to display a grandeur and dignity of principle, that should shine through every dark cloud of trial and perplexity.
Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Eloquent. Septuagint, "faithful." They cannot be expected from them.
Eloquent. Septuagint, "faithful." They cannot be expected from them.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Excellent speech--(Compare Margin). Such language as ill suits a…
Excellent speech--(Compare Margin). Such language as ill suits a fool, as lying (ought to suit) a prince (Pro 16:12-13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Excellent speech — Hebrew, lips of excellence.
7. Excellent speech — Hebrew, lips of excellence.
A fool — Several different words in this book are rendered by our word fool. They all seem to imply some bad qualifies, moral as well as intellectual. In the Hebrew mind the idea of folly and that of wickedness were so intimately blended as to find expression by the same word. The word used here is nabhal, which is about equivalent to our word dunce, or stupid fallow; one of no learning or intellectual culture, and impliedly incapable of it. Psa_14:1. The clause may be read thus: Not suitable (or agreeable) to a dunce is the lip of excellence, that is, cultivated, elevated language; or, as some think, assuming, imperious speech.
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A prince — נדיב, (nadhibh,) a nobleman, one of liberal culture. The passage may be rendered, much less is the lip of falsehood suitable to a man of cultivated mind. The idea seems to be, that his freer culture liberates him from the ordinary temptations to falsehood. He ought to know better, and does. Plato justifies lying in princes, but others must abstain. “He who knows not how to dissemble, knows not how to reign,” has been a royal maxim. But much better is that of Louis IX., of France: “If truth be banished from all the rest of the world, it ought to be found in the breast of princes.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. Excellent] Or, arrogant, R.V. marg.
7. Excellent] Or, arrogant, R.V. marg.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) Excellent speech becometh not a fool.—Rather, perhaps, Superfluous…
(7) Excellent speech becometh not a fool.—Rather, perhaps, Superfluous or pretentious words become not a vile person (nâbhâl), such as is described in Isa_32:6. (Comp. 1Sa_25:25.)
Much less do lying lips a prince.—Or, liberal person (Isa_32:8): noblesse oblige.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Excellent speech becometh not a fool. rty tpc; verba…
Excellent speech becometh not a fool. rty tpc; verba composita, Vulgate, i.e. studied, complicated, expressions; ceilh pista , "faithful lips," Septuagint. Others translate, "arrogant," "pretentious." It is literally, a lip of excess or superabundance, and is best taken in the above sense, as arrogant or assuming. A nabal, a "vicious fool," ought not to flaunt his unwisdom and his iniquities before the eyes of men, but to keep them hidden as much as possible. As such presumptuous behaviour is incongruous in the case of a fool, much less do lying lips become a prince; a noble person, such a one as is called in Isaiah (Isa_32:8) "liberal," where the same word, nadib, is used. This is an illustration of the saying, "Noblesse oblige." Thus the Greek gnome Eleuyerou gayeian legein. "A free man"s part it is the truth to speak.
To John the Good, King of France, is attributed the noble maxim which well became his chivalrous character, "Si la bonne foi etait bannie du reste du monde, il faudrait qu"on la retrouvat dans le coeur des rois" (Bonnechose, "Hist. de France," 1:310). "My son," says the rabbi in the Talmud, "avoid lying first of all; for a lie will tarnish the brightness of thy honour." For "prince," the Septuagint has, "a just man," which makes the maxim a mere truism.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Pro_17:7. Excellent speech, literally “a lip of excess or…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_17:7. Excellent speech, literally “a lip of excess or prominence, an assuming, imperious style of speech” (Zöckler). A prince, rather, a noble, a man of lofty disposition.
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_17:7
A TWOFOLD INCONGRUITY
I. Truth from the mouth of a godless man. This is not an unknown case. A man of immoral practices may inculcate precepts of purity—a dishonest man may, for the purpose of cloaking his own character, be loud in his praises of integrity and uprightness. But the speech of such a man will fall powerless on his hearers, even if they do not know thoroughly the character of the speaker. There will be a lack of the true ring of sincerity about his words—being words only, and not convictions, they will be “as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” Suppose that a barrister, who was very ignorant of law and possessed of very limited mental capacities, having undertaken the defence of an important case, were to apply to one of his most learned and eloquent legal brethren to write his speech for him. When he got up to deliver that which was not the production of his own mind—that which he was not able thoroughly to appreciate himself—would not the listeners be struck with a sense of incongruity, would they not feel that, however good the arguments, however vivid the illustrations, however powerful the appeals, there was something lacking—that the speaker was a stripling wearing the armour of a giant? Something of this same feeling is experienced when an immoral man gives utterance to moral sentiments—he does not know the meaning of his own words, he lacks the experience necessary to give weight to what he says. He speaks what is in itself true, but he is not a true man himself, and consequently the utterance is like a “jewel of gold in a swine’s snout.”
II. Untruth from the mouth of a man of exalted station. A prince (i.e., one who holds a high place among his fellow-men) is especially bound to be a man of truth and honour. It is here implied that he is to be an embodiment of truthfulness—that whether he owes his position to wealth, to birth, or to intellectual gifts—whatever else he lacks, he ought to be a truthful man; his words ought to be excellent, and they ought to be the reflection of excellence of character.
III. The second incongruity is more mischievous than the first. “Excellent speech becometh not a fool, much less do lying lips a prince.” If a moral fool is a man who holds no position in the world, what he says will not be of so much consequence, because his influence upon others is little. He will injure himself, and those immediately connected with him, but the harm done will not be so widely spread as if he were one of the great of the land. The first man, if he puts on a garb of morality, and adopts language which does not represent his true self, is a liar, but his lying does not injure others so much as it does himself. But a “lying prince” is an instrument of wide-spread evil. To lie in a cottage is a sin against God and man, but to lie in a palace is a greater sin, because the inmate of a palace holds in his hand an immense power for good and for evil. What he says and does is felt more or less indirectly throughout his dominion, and as his responsibility is so great, the guilt of using it wrongly is great also.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
God likes not fair words from a foul mouth. Christ silenced the devil when he confessed Him to be the Son of the Most High God. The leper’s lips should be covered, according to the law.—Trapp.
Lying lips are no less unbecoming in the mouth of a prince, who ought to honour the dignity of his station by the dignity of his manners. A prince of our own is said to have frequently used this proverbial saying, “He that knows not how to dissemble knows not how to reign.” You may judge from the text before us whether he deserved to be called the Solomon of his age. It was certainly a nobler saying of one of the kings of France,—that if truth were banished from all the rest of the world it ought to be found in the breasts of princes. A man’s dignity obliges him to a behaviour worthy of it, and of him whose favour has conferred it. All Christians are advanced to spiritual honours of the most exalted kind. They are the children of God, and heirs of the eternal kingdom, and ought to resemble their heavenly Father, who is the God of truth. When a young prince desired a certain philosopher to give him a directory for his conduct, all his instructions were comprised in one sentence, “Remember that thou art a king’s son.” Let Christians remember who they are, and how they came to be what they are, and act in character.—Lawson.
Force not thyself above, degrade not thyself below thy condition.—Wohlfarth.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain v. 7. Excellent speech, fine and high talk, in…
v. 7. Excellent speech, fine and high talk, in an assuming, dictatorial way, becometh not a fool; much less do lying lips a prince, for true nobility will have nothing to do with deceitfulness and crafty speeches.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Eloquent speech
Eloquent speech
"Fine speech" or "Excellent speech"
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much less are lying lips suitable for royalty
This describes people lying as if it were actually their "lips" that were lying. AT: "even more it is not suitable for royalty to lie" (See: Synecdoche)
A bribe is like a magic stone to the one who gives it
This speaks of a person's bribe working by comparing it to a magical stone or amulet. AT: "A bribe works like a magical stone for the one who gives it" or "A bribe works like magic for the one who is giving the bribe" (See: Simile)
wherever he turns
Here "turning" refers to the various things the person does. Specifically, this refers to the different things the person does by bribery. AT: "in whatever he does" or "in everything he tries to do by giving bribes" (See: Idiom and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
fool
bribe
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.