to restrain or (reflex.) refrain · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
deliver
הַ֭צֵּלHa.tzel
H5337
to snatch away · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
drawn
לְקֻחִ֣יםle.ku.Chim
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal passive participle, masculine plural absolute
death
לַמָּ֑וֶתla.Ma.vet
H4194
death (natural or violent) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
ready
וּמָטִ֥יםu.ma.Tim
H4131
to waver · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
slain
לַ֝הֶ֗רֶגla.He.reg
H2027
slaughter · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine 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
Psalms 82:4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
Isaiah 58:6-7 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and…
1 John 3:16-17 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Job 29:17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
1 Samuel 26:8-9 Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the s…
Luke 10:31-32 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
Luke 23:23-25 And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.
Acts 18:17 Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 24:11-12
Here is, 1. A great duty required of us, and that is to appear for the relief of oppressed innocency. If we see the lives or livelihoods of any in danger of being taken away unjustly, we ought to bestir ourselves all we can to save them, by disproving the false accusations on which they are condemned and seeking out proofs of their innocency. Though the persons be not such as we are under any particular obligation to, we must help them, out of a general zeal for justice. If any be set upon by force and violence, and it be in our power to rescue them, we ought to do it. Nay, if we see any through ignorance exposing themselves to danger, or fallen in distress, as travellers upon the road, ship…
Neglect of known duty is sin (Jam 4:17).
ready--literally, "bowing down"
to be slain--that is, unjustly. God's retributive justice cannot be avoided by professed ignorance.
John Gill on Proverbs 24:11
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death,.... Or "taken for or unto death" (h), in a violent way; who are taken by thieves and robbers, and used in a barbarous manner, as the man in the parable, whom the priest and Levite took no notice of, and was helped by the good Samaritan; or who are unjustly sentenced and appointed to death by the civil magistrate; if any know their innocency, it becomes them to do all they can to save their lives, by bearing a testimony for them; for "a true witness delivereth souls", Proverbs 14:25; or by interceding for them, and giving counsel and advice concerning them, or by any lawful way they can; as Reuben delivered Joseph, Jonathan interceded…
Now, again, we meet with proverbs of several lines. The first here is a hexastich:
11 Deliver them that are taken to death,
And them that are tottering to destruction, oh stop them!
12 If thou sayest, "We knew not of it indeed," -
It is not so: The Weigher of hearts, who sees through it,
And He that observeth thy soul, He knoweth it,
And requiteth man according to his work.
If אם is interpreted as a particle of adjuration, then אם־תּחשׂוך is equivalent to: I adjure thee, forbear not (cf. Neh 13:25 with Isa 58:1), viz., that which thou hast to do, venture all on it (lxx, Syr., Jerome). But the parallelism requires us to take together מטים להרג (such as with tottering steps are led forth to d…
The Church Fathers
Deliver those who are being led to death, etc. It can be taken mystically. Deliver those who are deceived by heretics, by preaching the correct faith, by showing the examples of good works, liberate those who are being led to destruction by living evilly with Catholics. But also, if you see those fallen or about to fall in the struggle of persecution, strive to restore them to life with diligent exhortation; if you see those perishing from hunger, if you see those freezing, refresh them by giving food and clothing.
And so learn from your own experience to sympathize with those in trouble, and never to terrify with destructive despair those who are in danger, nor harden them with severe speeches, but rather restore them with gentle and kindly consolations, and as the wise Solomon says, "Spare not to deliver those who are led forth to death, and to redeem those who are to be slain," and after the example of our Saviour, break not the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, and ask of the Lord that grace, by means of which you yourself may faithfully learn both in deed and power to sing: "the Lord hath given me a learned tongue that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary."
"Redeem those who are ready to be slain; spare no effort." [Solomon] did not say, "Enquire curiously, and learn who they are," and yet for the most part they who are led away to execution are wicked. This especially is charity. For he that does good to a friend does it not altogether for God's sake; but he that does good to one unknown acts purely for God's sake. Do not spare your money; even if it is necessary to spend all, yet give.But we, when we see persons in extreme distress, bewailing themselves, suffering things more grievous than ten thousand deaths, and oftentimes unjustly, we [I say] are sparing of our money and unsparing of our brothers. We are careful of lifeless things but neglect the living soul!
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
Judgment · ACCORDING TO OPPORTUNITY AND WORKS — ACCORDING TO OPPORTUNITY AND WORKS
Selfishness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Unfaithfulness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Young Men · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
Saying 25: The wise do what they can to prevent injustice and suffering (e.g., Job 29:12-17).
Rashi on Proverbs 24:11
rescuing those taken, etc. To rescue those taken to death.
If you refrain from rescuing them, concerning this I said, “Your strength will be weak indeed.”
