Proverbs 16:27

An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
ungodly	בְּ֭לִיַּעַל Be.li.ya.'al	H1100	without profit · noun, common masculine singular absolute
man	אִ֣ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular construct
up	כֹּרֶ֣ה ko.Reh	H3738	properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
evil	רָעָ֑ה ra.'Ah	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
lips	שְׂ֝פָת֗וֹ se.fa.tav	H8193	the lip (as a natural boundary) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
burning	צָרָֽבֶת tza.Ra.vet	H6867	conflagration (of fire or disease) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
fire	כְּאֵ֣שׁ ke.'Esh	H784	fire (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the…
Proverbs 6:14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord.
1 Samuel 25:17 Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such…
Psalms 17:14-15 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid…
Psalms 52:2-4 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
Psalms 57:4 My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their t…
Proverbs 6:12 A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
Isaiah 5:18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 16:27-28

There are those that are not only vicious themselves, but spiteful and mischievous to others, and they are the worst of men; two sorts of such are here described: - 1. Such as envy a man the honour of his good name, and do all they can to blast that by calumnies and misrepresentations: They dig up evil; they take a great deal of pains to find out something or other on which to ground a slander, or which may give some colour to it. If none appear above ground, rather than want it they will dig for it, by diving into what is secret, or looking a great way back, or by evil suspicions and surmises, and forced innuendos. In the lips of a slanderer and backbiter there is as a fire, not only to bra…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 16:27

ungodly man--(Compare Pro 6:12). diggeth up evil--labors for it. in his lips . . . fire--His words are calumniating (Jam 3:6).

John Gill on Proverbs 16:27

An ungodly man diggeth up evil,.... Or "a man of Belial" (p), a worthless unprofitable man; a man without a yoke, not obedient to the law of God; such a man digs for sin as for a treasure; nor need he go far for it, he has enough in his own heart, out of the evil treasure of which he brings forth evil things; though he is more solicitious and diligent to search into the sins of others, and dig up them, which have long lain buried; as the Manichees raked up the sins of Austin in his youth; and as the Papists served Beza: but perhaps the evil of mischief is here rather intended, which a wicked man contrives and devises; a ditch he digs for others, though oftentimes he falls into it himself; an…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 16:27

27 A worthless man diggeth evil; And on his lips is, as it were, scorching fire. Regarding אישׁ בּליּעל, vid., Pro 6:12, and regarding כּרה, to dig round, or to bore out, vid., at Gen 49:5; Gen 50:5; here the figure, "to dig for others a pit," Pro 26:27, Psa 7:16, etc.: to dig evil is equivalent to, to seek to prepare such for others. צרבת Kimchi rightly explains as a form similar to קשּׁבת; as a subst. it means, Lev 13:23, the mark of fire (the healed mark of a carbuncle), here as an adj. of a fire, although not flaming (אשׁ להבה, Isa 4:5, etc.); yet so much the hotter, and scorching everything that comes near to it (from צרב, to be scorched, cogn. שׁרב, to which also שׂרף is perhaps relate…

The Church Fathers

The wicked man digs up evil, etc. And the prophet says, They have labored to commit iniquity (Jeremiah IX). It can also specifically be understood about the heretic, who breaks up the most beautiful and flourishing fields of divine utterances with the harmful ploughshare of his tongue, to draw out from their inner parts wicked senses that are not there. In whose lips a fire burns, by which he destroys himself and his listeners forever. Hence James also says, The tongue is set among our members, defiling the whole body; and sets on fire the wheel of our birth, being set on fire by hell.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Character Of The Wicked · Ungodly — Ungodly
Fire · Illustrative of: The tongue — Illustrative of: The tongue
Speaking · EVIL — EVIL

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Proverbs 16:27

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 16:27-28

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 16:27

John Gill on Proverbs 16:27

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 16:27

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 16:27

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 16:27-28

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 16:27

John Gill on Proverbs 16:27

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 16:27

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 16:27-29

Rashi on Proverbs 16:27