Proverbs 23:17 - Exposition

Let not thine heart envy sinners, when thou seest them apparently happy and prosperous (comp. Proverbs 3:31 ; Proverbs 24:1 , Proverbs 24:19 ; Psalms 37:1 ; Psalms 73:3 ). The Authorized Version, in agreement with the Septuagint, Vulgate, Arabic, and other versions, takes the second clause of this verse as an independent one: but it seems evidently to be constructionally connected with the preceding, and to be governed by the same verb, so that there is no occasion to insert "be thou." But be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Jerome, corrected, would read, Non aemuletur cor tuum peccatores, sed timorem Domini tota die, As Delitzsch and Hitzig, followed by Nowack, have pointed out, the Hebrew verb, קָנָא ( kana ) , is here used in two senses. In the first clause it signifies to be envious of a person: in the second, to be zealous for a thing, both senses combining in the thought of being moved with eager desire. ζηλοτυπέω is used in this double sense, and aemulor in Latin. So the gnome comes to this—Show your heart's desire, not by envy of the sinner's fortune, but by zeal for true religion, that fear of the Lord which leads to strict obedience and earnest desire to please him.