Proverbs 3:27-28

ADVICES TO THE PERFORMANCE OF CERTAIN DUTIES, AND AVOIDANCE OF CERTAIN EVILS, Proverbs 3:27-32.

27, 28. Withhold not good… to whom it is due Literally, to the owners of it. Here we have a change of style. The following five verses contain negative counsels touching duties to our neighbour, as if he had said: In order to enjoy the blessings above named, especially strong confidence in the Lord as thy protector, avoid doing evil to others; of which he gives samples of things “most commonly practised.” Good may mean here an act of justice or of kindness; the payment of a debt, or the bestowment of a favour. The 28th verse is exegetical of the 27th, and explains it more fully. It is one of the bad habits of some men always to postpone the payment of a debt as long as possible, even when they have the full ability to pay. Indeed, some men never pay until they are repeatedly solicited, or forced by law; and if they do a favour at all, they do it slowly and grudgingly. The contrary disposition is what the wise man indirectly commends. “He that gives cheerfully gives double.” The Geneva Bible reads the 27th verse thus: “Withholde not the good from the owners of it, thogh there be power in thine hand to do it.”