Proverbs 29:11

A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
fool	כְסִ֑יל khe.Sil	H3684	properly · adjective, masculine singular absolute
uttereth	יוֹצִ֣יא yo.Tzi'	H3318	to go (causatively · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
mind	ר֭וּחוֹ ru.cho	H7307	wind · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
wise	וְ֝חָכָ֗ם ve.cha.Kham	H2450	wise · conjunction + adjective, masculine singular absolute
keepeth	יְשַׁבְּחֶֽנָּה ye.shab.be.Che.nah	H7623	properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
afterwards	בְּאָח֥וֹר be.'a.Chor	H268	the hinder part · preposition + 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

Proverbs 19:11 The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.
Proverbs 12:16 A fool’s wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame.
Micah 7:5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
Amos 5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
Proverbs 12:23 A prudent man concealeth knowledge: but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness.
Judges 16:17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my m…
Proverbs 14:33 Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:11

Note, 1. It is a piece of weakness to be very open: He is a fool who utters all his mind, - who tells every thing he knows, and has in his mouth instantly whatever he has in his thoughts, and can keep no counsel, - who, whatever is started in discourse, quickly shoots his bolt, - who, when he is provoked, will say any thing that comes uppermost, whoever is reflected upon by it, - who, when he is to speak of any business, will say all he thinks, and yet never thinks he says enough, whether choice or refuse, corn or chaff, pertinent or impertinent, you shall have it all. 2. It is a piece of wisdom to be upon the reserve: A wise man will not utter all his mind at once, but will take time for a…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 29:11

(Compare Pro 12:16; Pro 16:32). mind--or, "spirit," for anger or any ill passion which the righteous restrain.

John Gill on Proverbs 29:11

A fool uttereth all his mind,.... At once; tells all he knows, all that is in his breast; whatever he thinks, and all that he intends to do; what or whom he loves or hates. Or, "a fool brings out all his wrath"; so the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions: he cannot restrain it, nor hide it; it breaks out at once, even all of it, and is soon known, as in Proverbs 12:16; but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards; reserves his mind, and thoughts, and designs, to himself; and does not discover them until a proper opportunity offers, when to disclose them is most to advantage; or he restrains his wrath and anger, defers showing it to a proper time, when it may answer a better purp…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 29:11

11 All his wrath the fool poureth out; But the wise man husheth it up in the background. That רוּחו is not meant here of his spirit (Luther) in the sense of quaecunque in mente habet (thus e.g., Fleischer) the contrast shows, for ישׁבּחנּה does not signify cohibet, for which יחשׁכנּה (lxx ταμιεύεται) would be the proper word: רוּח thus is not here used of passionate emotion, such as at Pro 16:31; Isa 25:4; Isa 33:11. שׁבּח is not here equivalent to Arab. sabbah, αἰνεῖν (Imman., Venet., and Heidenheim), which does not supply an admissible sense, but is equivalent to Arab. sabbakh, to quiet (Ahron b. Josef: קטפיאון = καταπαύειν), the former going back to the root-idea of extending (amplifi…

The Church Fathers

The fool utters all his spirit. Driven by impatience, the whole spirit is uttered outwardly. It is thus more quickly expelled by disturbance because no inner discipline of wisdom restrains it.
— Bede, Commentary on Proverbs

We ought then to restrain every movement of anger and moderate it under the direction of discretion, that we may not by blind rage be hurried into that which is condemned by Solomon: "The wicked man expends all his anger, but the wise man dispenses it bit by bit," i.e., a fool is inflamed by the passion of his anger to avenge himself; but a wise man, by the ripeness of his counsel and moderation little by little diminishes it, and gets rid of it.
— John Cassian, The First Conference of Abbot Joseph, Chapter 27

But the wise man defers and reserves it for the future. For when harmed, he does not desire to avenge himself at present, because even while suffering, he chooses to endure, yet he does not ignore that everything will be avenged in the final judgment. The ancient translation has this passage thus: The impious man utters all his anger, but the wise man measures it out by parts, because surely the fool is inflamed by disturbance for his own vengeance; the wise man, however, gradually diminishes and expels it with the maturity of advice and moderation.
— 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

Fool · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Prudence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Speaking · FOLLY IN — FOLLY IN

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 29:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 29:11

John Gill on Proverbs 29:11

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 29:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 29:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:11

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 29:11

John Gill on Proverbs 29:11

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 29:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 29:11

Rashi on Proverbs 29:11