Whoever is an accomplice of a thief is an enemy of his own soul. He takes an oath, but dares not testify.
Parallel Translations
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Whoever is an accomplice of a thief is an enemy of his own soul. He takes an oath, but dares not testify.
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Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not.
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Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth the adjuration and uttereth nothing.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Proverbs 29:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 5:1 “ ‘If anyone sins, in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he doesn’t report it, then he shall bear his iniquity.
- Proverbs 1:11-19 If they say, “Come with us. Let’s lay in wait for blood. Let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit. We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder. You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse.” My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood. For the net is spread in vain in the sight of any bird; but these lay in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.
- Proverbs 8:36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.”
- Psalms 50:18-22 When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers. “You give your mouth to evil. Your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother’s son. You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes. “Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be no one to deliver.
- Isaiah 1:23 Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
- Proverbs 15:32 He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who listens to reproof gets understanding.
- Judges 17:2 He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears—behold, the silver is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “May Yahweh bless my son!”
- Proverbs 6:32 He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who does it destroys his own soul.
- Mark 11:17 He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”
- Proverbs 20:2 The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Pro 29:24 Whoso is partner with a thief hateth…
Pro 29:24 Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth [it] not.
Ver. 24. Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul.] Since to hold the bag is as bad as to fill it; to consent to sin or to conceal it, as bad as to commit it. By the one as well as by the other, a man may easily become, as Korah did, "a sinner against his own soul," and cruelly cut the throat of it. Let our public thieves look to this. See Isa 1:23.
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He heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not.] See Lev 5:1. {See Trapp on "Lev 5:1"} To conceal treason is treason, so here. "Have no fellowship therefore with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." Let me be counted proud or pragmatic, saith Luther, {a} rather than found guilty of sinful silence, while my Lord suffereth.
{a} Luth. Epist. ad Staupic
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 Whoso is partner with a thief, by receiving a…
Whoso is partner with a thief, by receiving a share of the stolen goods upon condition of his concealment of the theft,
hateth his own soul; he carrieth himself towards it as if he hated it; he woundeth and destroyeth it.
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He heareth cursing; he heareth the voice of swearing, as is said, Lev 5:1; the oath given to him by a judge adjuring him and other suspected persons to give information concerning it; and
betrayeth it not; which he is bound to do, both by virtue of his oath, and for the public good, which ought to be preferred before all private contracts or friendships.
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 See here what sin and ruin those involve themselves…
See here what sin and ruin those involve themselves in who are drawn away by the enticement of sinners. 1. They incur a great deal of guilt: He does so that goes partner with such as rob and defraud, and casts in his lot among them, Pro 1:11, etc. The receiver is as bad as the thief; and, being drawn in to join with him in the commission of the sin, he cannot escape joining with him in the concealment of it, though it be with the most horrid perjuries and execrations. They hear cursing when they are sworn to tell the whole truth, but they will not confess. 2. They hasten to utter ruin: They even hate their own souls, for they wilfully do that which will be the inevitable destruction of them. See the absurdities sinners are guilty of; they love death, than which nothing is more dreadful, and hate their own souls, than which nothing is more dear.
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 Whoso is partner with a thief,.... That robs and…
Whoso is partner with a thief,.... That robs and steals, and raises away another man's property; which to do is sinful and contrary to the law of God, and punishable by it; and so it is to join with him in the theft, or to devise, or consent unto it; or to receive the stolen goods, or to hide and conceal them; or to hide the thief, or the theft, and not declare them; see Psa 50:18. Such an one
hateth his own soul; that is, he is not careful of it, he is not concerned for its welfare as he should be; for otherwise no man, properly speaking, hates his own flesh or body, and much less his soul; but he is negligent of the good of it, and, for the sake of the mammon of unrighteousness, runs the risk of the ruin of it; by which he shows that he loves the world more than his own soul; when the profit of the whole world is nothing to the soul of man, Mat 16:26; see Pro 8:36;
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he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not; or "does not declare it" (b); he heareth the cursing of those that have lost their goods, and yet he does not declare where they are, and who is the author of the theft, though he knows; or, being suspected of being concerned in it, or, at least, of knowing who did it, be is had before a civil magistrate, and an oath is given him, which he takes, and yet he conceals the matter: which is an aggravation of his sin, and brings ruin to his soul. So the Targum,
"an oath is determined (or brought to him) and he confesseth not.''
Some understand this of a distinct evil, of hearing cursing and swearing, and taking the name of God in vain, and blasphemy against him; yet, through fear of incurring the displeasure of men, and being reckoned a busy body, or through indifference and want of zeal for the glory of God, do not discover it, or inform of it, to a proper person, for the punishment of such; see Lev 5:1; and render the words (c), as "he that is partner with a thief hateth his own soul; so he that heareth cursing, and betrayeth it not."
(b) "et non indicat", Junius & Tremellius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schultens, Michaelis. (c) So Gejerus.
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 Bewrayeth it not - Which he is bound to…
Bewrayeth it not - Which he is bound to do for the publick good.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 24. Hateth his own soul] נפשו naphsho, his…
Verse 24. Hateth his own soul] נפשו naphsho, his life, as the outraged law may at any time seize on and put him to death.
He heareth cursing] אלה alah, the execration or adjuration, (for all culprits were charged, as before God, to tell the truth,) ולא יגד velo yaggid, but HE will not tell IT. He has no fear of God, nor reverence for an oath, because his heart is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
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 29:24. Whoso is partner with a thief —…
Pro 29:24. Whoso is partner with a thief — By receiving a share of stolen goods, upon condition of his concealing the theft; hateth his own soul — Acts as if he hated it; for he wounds and destroys it; he heareth cursing — He heareth the voice of swearing, as is said Lev 5:1; namely, the oath given to him by a judge, adjuring him, and other suspected persons, to give information concerning it; and bewrayeth it not — Which he was bound to do for the public good. The Vulgate reads, adjurantem audit, et non indicat: he hears him who adjures him, but will not declare. Dr. Waterland renders the clause, he is adjured and yet makes no discovery.
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 On the first discovery of the theft, the person…
On the first discovery of the theft, the person wronged Jdg 17:2, or the judge of the city (marginal reference), pronounced a solemn curse on the thief and on all who, knowing the offender, were unwilling to give evidence against him. The accomplice of the thief hears that curse, and yet is silent, and so falls under it, and “destroys his own soul.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Charles Bridges 1846 · Public Domain This is a warning under the eighth commandment. Do…
This is a warning under the eighth commandment. Do we realize the same solemnity of obligation as under the first? Many professors attach a degree of secularity to a detailed application of the duties of the second table. But both stand on the same authority. The transgressions of both are registered in the same book. The place in the decalogue cannot be of moment, if it be but there with the imprimatur — "I am the LORD thy God." The law acknowledges no difference between the thief and his partner. Consenting to sin — receiving the stolen goods — involves us in the guilt and punishment.†1 The accomplice may be less practised in sin. He may be only commencing his course. But the first step is the way of death, — acting as if he hated his own soul.†2 One step naturally leads on to another. Suppose him to be called to give evidence upon oath concerning his knowledge or privity of the deed. Would not this be a temptation to perjury, rather than to discover his fellow? Under the perverted obligation of his bond of secrecy he heareth cursing — the solemn adjuration to declare the truth on pain of the curse of God†3 — and he bewrayeth it not. ’He keeps his wicked counsel, and will not betray.’
Oh! how frightful is the history of thousands, whose fellowship with sinners has drawn them into fellowship with sin, and ultimately to take the lead in sin! — whose entrance into the path has led them step by step into the very depths of depravity! And of those thousands, how few — it is to be feared — retrace their steps, and become, like Onesimus, true followers of Christ, and faithful servants to man!†4
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Footnotes:
†1 Pro 1:10-15. Psa 50:18-21 . Isa 1:23-24 .
†2 Compare Pro 6:32 ; Pro 8:36 ; Pro 15:32 .
†3 Compare Lev 5:1 . Num 5:21 . 1Ki 22:16 . Mat 26:63 .
†4 Epistle to Phm 1:1-25 .
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 Soul, and exposeth himself to death, though this was…
Soul, and exposeth himself to death, though this was only inflicted for stealing a man, Exodus xxi. 16. The night-thief might also be killed in the fact, Exodus xxii. 2. But if the person who had stolen denied it on oath, he was put to death for perjury, Leviticus v. 1.
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 hateth . . . soul--(Compare Pro 8:36).
hateth . . . soul--(Compare Pro 8:36).
heareth cursing-- (Lev 5:1), risks the punishment, rather than reveal truth.
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 24. Partner with a thief — Divides with a…
24. Partner with a thief — Divides with a thief, each taking part.
He heareth cursing — The curse against theft, (Lev_5:1,) or he hears the adjuration or oath administered to him.
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Bewrayeth it not — Will not reveal the secret — will not inform — because he would implicate both himself and others. Comp. also Jdg_17:2. “The explanation of the proverb is found in the Jewish method of dealing with theft. On the first discovery of the fact the person wronged, (as in Jdg_17:2,) or the judge of the city, (as in Lev_5:1,) pronounced a solemn curse, alike on the thief himself and on all who, knowing the offence, were unwilling to give evidence against the wrong doer. The accomplice of the thief hears that curse and yet is silent, and so falls under it, and destroys his own soul.” — Speaker’s Commentary.
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 24. cursing] Rather, the adjuration, sc. of the judge…
24. cursing] Rather, the adjuration, sc. of the judge (Lev_5:1), or of the owner of the lost property (Jdg_17:2), who puts him on his oath to divulge if he has knowledge of the theft.
bewrayeth] Rather, uttereth, as the same Heb. word is rendered both in A.V. and R.V. in Lev_5:1.
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 (24) Hateth his own soul.—See above on Pro_1:19.
(24) Hateth his own soul.—See above on Pro_1:19.
He heareth cursing.—Rather, the oath or adjuration of the judge that anyone cognisant of the theft shall give information with regard to it. He hears and remains silent, and thus becoming the accomplice of the thief, he shares his punishment.
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 Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own…
Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul. The accomplice of a thief puts his own safety in danger. This is explained by what follows: He heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not; better, he heareth the adjuration , and telleth not. This refers to the course of proceeding defined by Lev_5:1, and intimated in Jud_1:17:2. When a theft was committed, the person wronged or the judge pronounced an imprecation on the thief and on any one who was privy to the crime, and refrained from giving information; a witness who saw and knew of it, and was silent under this formal adjuration, has to bear his iniquity; he is not only an accomplice of a criminal, he is also a perjurer; one sin leads to another. Some commentators explain the first hemistich as referring only to the crime of receiving or using stolen goods, by which a man commits a crime and exposes himself to punishment; but it is best taken, as above, in connection with the second clause, and as elucidated thereby.
Vers. 24-27. Prevalence in alliance with religion.
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I PRUDENCE AND RELIGION ARE EVER IN HARMONY. There can be no divorce between them. We are not placed between cross lights here. What intelligent regard to self prescribes, God"s Law commands. Approach the facts of life from these two opposite sides, travel by either of these two paths, they meet at last in duty, in safety, in peace, and salvation.
II SOME EXAMPLES OF THIS HARMONY.
1. All dishonesty or complicity with it is self-destructive. (Ver. 24) Enlightened experience says so, and stamps itself in the clear dictum, "Honesty is the best policy." God"s Word says so, and here and in a thousand similar declarations and warnings pronounces a curse upon the sin.
2. Fear of man is perilous; confidence in the Eternal is safety. (Ver. 25) Experience again ratifies this. The coward dies a thousand deaths; the brave, but once. The feeble-hearted daily miss opportunities; the brave create them. Moral cowardice springs from want of inner conviction of the might of truth; moral strength, from the inner certainty that nothing but truth is victorious. Positive revelation here again fortifies the hints of common knowledge.
3. The vanity of honour from others; the true honour that comes from God. (Ver. 26) What bitter things have been written down in the experience of men of the world concerning the favour of the great, and the folly of courting it and depending upon it! and how does the same lesson echo back from the page of Holy Writ! Act well your part in Jehovah"s sight; seek the honour that cometh from him only; how common and Divine wisdom effect a juncture once more!
4. Eternal antipathies. (Ver. 27) What experience teaches us in one form, that fellowship must be founded on sympathy, that tastes must be respected, that deep, undefinable feelings attract us to or repel us from others, God"s Word again confirms: "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." Acquaintance is mere collocation of persons; friendship and Christian communism are the eternal affinity of souls in God. J.
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_29:24. He heareth cursing. Rather the curse, i.e., according…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Pro_29:24. He heareth cursing. Rather the curse, i.e., according to Zöckler, “the curse which according to the law (Lev_5:1. sq.) marks a theft as an offence demanding a heavy penalty.” Delitzsch translates “he heareth the oath,” and explains it “as that of the judge who adjures the partner of the thief by God to tell the truth.” (See also Lev_5:1).
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_29:24
CRIMINAL PARTNERSHIP
I. Partnerships are self-revealing. That proverb is an old and true one—“Tell me what company you keep, and I will tell you what you are.” A man seeks the society and shares the pursuits of those who are likeminded with himself; if he chooses the fellowship of the good it shows that there is something in his character that has an affinity to theirs, and if he willingly associates himself with bad men, he proclaims himself to be a bad man. Good men do not “walk in the counsel of the ungodly,” or “sit in the seat of the scornful”—men who are found in such places must be counted among the ungodly and scornful, although they may be negative rather than positive sinners.
II. Criminal partnerships are self-destroying. As we have seen, partners with criminals are criminals themselves in spirit if not in actual deed, and must therefore meet with the doom of the transgressor. Probably the proverb is directed against those who shelter themselves under the idea that those who do not commit the crime themselves, but only consent to it beforehand, or conceal it afterwards, are not so very guilty; but this is nowhere the teaching of Scripture, nor is it the verdict of the human conscience.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
A partnership life is becoming more and more common and necessary in our commercial England. Great undertakings can only be carried out by companies. Modern legislation has greatly encouraged these combinations, by limiting the monetary liability of its members. Hence, joint-stock companies are multitudinous and multiplying. Such companies are often, perhaps generally, projected and managed by selfish, needy, and unprincipled speculators; and honest men are often tempted by the glowing promises of their lying programmes to become their adherents, and they soon find themselves in the unfortunate position referred to in the text.—Dr. David Thomas.
The receiver and resetter is at least as guilty as the thief. I say at least; for in one obvious respect he is worse. His is a general trade, which gives encouragement to many thieves, by holding out to them the means of disposing of their stolen property and evading the law. He is thus, in fact, a partaker in the guilt of all. One thief cannot set up and maintain a resetter; but one resetter may keep at their nefarious trade many thieves.—Wardlaw.
This is a warning under the eighth commandment. Do we realise the same solemnity of obligation as under the first? Many professors attach a degree of secularity to a detailed application of the duties of the second table. But both stand on the same authority. The transgressions of both are registered in the same book. The place in the decalogue cannot be of moment, if it be but there with the imprimatur—“I am the Lord thy God.”—Bridges.
It is the cursed policy of Satan, that he strives to join men in wickedness. In drunkenness there must be a good fellow; in wantonness there must be a corrival; in bloody duels there must be a second; in theft there must be a partner, yoking men together to draw upon themselves the heavy burden of God’s displeasure.… Wherefore, although it may be a love unto the things stolen, or else a love unto the stealer, which maketh others to join with him, certainly he showeth little love to God’s law, certainly he proveth great hatred, which he has to his own soul. For while he joineth with another in stealing some worldly goods, he joineth with Satan in stealing his own soul from himself. And whatsoever fear he may have of some curse which the other hath laid upon him, if that he doth reveal it, he hath much more cause to feel the curse of God’s wrath, if he doth conceal it. He hath but heard the one, he shall feel the other.—Jermin.
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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 29:24 You are sworn to tell the truth: See…
29:24 You are sworn to tell the truth: See Lev 5:1.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.