Proverbs 26:22

The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
words	דִּבְרֵ֣י div.Rei	H1697	a word · noun, common masculine plural construct
talebearer	נִרְגָּן nirgân	H5372	a slanderer
wounds	כְּמִֽתְלַהֲמִ֑ים ke.mit.la.ha.Mim	H3859	properly · preposition + verb, hithpael active participle, masculine plural absolute
down	יָרְד֥וּ ya.re.Du	H3381	to descend (literally · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
parts	חַדְרֵי chad.rei-	H2315	an apartment (usually literal) · noun, common masculine plural construct
belly	בָֽטֶן Va.ten	H990	the belly · noun, common feminine 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

Proverbs 18:8 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
Proverbs 20:19 He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.
Ezekiel 22:9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 26:20-22

Contention is as a fire; it heats the spirit, burns up all that is good, and puts families and societies into a flame. Now here we are told how that fire is commonly kindled and kept burning, that we may avoid the occasions of strife and so prevent the mischievous consequences of it. If then we would keep the peace, 1. We must not give ear to talebearers, for they feed the fire of contention with fuel; nay, they spread it with combustible matter; the tales they carry are fireballs. Those who by insinuating base characters, revealing secrets, and misrepresenting words and actions, do what they can to make relations, friends, and neighbours, jealous one of another, to alienate them one from an…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 26:22

(Compare Pro 18:8).

John Gill on Proverbs 26:22

The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. These expressions are the same with those in Proverbs 18:8; and are here repeated, as being found along with others by the men of Hezekiah, Proverbs 25:1; as some others likewise are; and also because of the importance of them; and to impress the minds of men with a sense of the evil of such a practice, that they may shun it, and avoid those that are given to it. See Gill on Proverbs 18:8.

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 26:22

22 The words of the tale-bearer are like dainty morsels; And they glide down into the innermost parts. A repetition of Pro 18:8.

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 26:22

This proverb repeats 18:8.

Rashi on Proverbs 26:22

as though waging battle Heb. כמתלהמים, an expression of מתלחמים. Our Sages however, explained כמתלהמים, כמתלהם, like death to them. The words of the spies became their death. the innermost parts of the body lit. they go down into the chambers of the stomach. This is the death of dropsy.

The Church Fathers

The words of a whisperer are as simple, etc. He calls the whisperer an instigator of strife and double-tongued, who pretends to praise words and seeks to hear that from which he can sow discord.
— 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

Slander · . — .
Speaking · EVIL — EVIL
Talebearer · 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).