Proverbs 30:10 - Exposition

Accuse not a servant unto his master. Calumniate, slander not; μὴ καταλαλήσης , Theodotion; μὴ διαβάλης , Symmachus. Do not secretly bring a charge against a man's slave, and make his master suspicious of him; have a kind feeling for those in lowly condition, and do not render their lot more unbearable by insinuating false or frivolous accusations against them. Ewald and others would render, "Entice not a servant to slander his master;" but there is no need so to take the expression, as the hiph. of the verb is used in post-biblical Hebrew in the sense of "to calumniate." The Septuagint has, "Deliver not a servant into the hands of his master," which seems to refer to the treatment of runaway slaves ( Deuteronomy 23:15 ). Lest he curse thee, and thou be found guilty, and have to atone for it. The slandered slave imprecates a curse on his slanderer, and, as the latter has incurred vengeance by his word or action, the curse will not fall harmless ( Proverbs 26:2 ); God's righteous retribution will overtake him, and he shall suffer for it.