Proverbs 29:20

Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Seest	חָזִ֗יתָ cha.Zi.ta	H2372	to gaze at · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
man	אִ֭ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
hasty	אָ֣ץ 'atz	H213	to press · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
words	בִּדְבָרָ֑יו bid.va.Rav	H1697	a word · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
hope	תִּקְוָ֖ה tik.Vah	H8615	literally a cord (as an attachment) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
fool	לִכְסִ֣יל likh.Sil	H3684	properly · preposition + adjective, 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 26:12 Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
Proverbs 14:29 He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: there…
Proverbs 29:11 A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.
Proverbs 21:5 The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:20

Solomon here shows that there is little hope of bringing a man to wisdom that is hasty either, 1. Through rashness and inconsideration: Seest thou a man that is hasty in his matters, that is of a light desultory wit, that seems to take a thing quickly, but takes it by the halves, gallops over a book or science, but takes no time to digest it, no time to pause or muse upon a business? There is more hope of making a scholar and a wise man of one that is dull and heavy, and slow in his studies, than of one that has such a mercurial genius and cannot fix. 2. Through pride and conceitedness: Seest thou a man that is forward to speak to every matter that is started, and affects to speak first to i…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 29:20

(Compare Pro 21:5). hasty in . . . words?--implying self-conceit (Pro 26:12).

John Gill on Proverbs 29:20

Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words,.... Swift to speak either before God or men; that takes upon him to speak upon a subject, or return an answer to a question, before he has thoroughly thought of it, and well considered it, and digested what he should say; see Ecclesiastes 5:2; or "hasty in matters" (x); in his business; runs rashly and precipitately into things, without duly considering within himself what is right and proper to be done, and without taking the advice of others; there is more hope of a fool than of him; of one that has not the gift of elocution, or not so much sagacity in business, and yet takes time to think, and advises with others. (x) "praecipitem in negotii…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 29:20

20 Seest thou a man hasty in his words? The fool hath more hope than he. Cf. Pro 26:12. Such an one has blocked up against himself the path to wisdom, which to the fool, i.e., to the ingenuous, stands open; the former is perfect, of the latter something may yet be made. In this passage the contrast is yet more precise, for the fool is thought of as the dull, which is the proper meaning of כּסיל, vid., under Pro 17:24. There is more hope for the fool than for him, although he may be no fool in himself, who overthrows himself by his words. "The προπετὴς ἐν λόγῳ αὐτοῦ (Sir. 9:18) has, in the existing case, already overleaped the thought; the כסיל has it still before him, and comes at leng…

The Church Fathers

In all things be "quick to listen and slow to speak" lest the remark of Solomon be fulfilled in you: "If you see a man too ready of speech, know that a fool has more hope than he." And never dare to teach someone what you have not practiced yourself.
— John Cassian, CONFERENCE 14:9

Do you see a man quick to speak, etc. Indeed, stupidity is a grave vice, but verbosity is not lighter. For it often happens that a dull person, even one ignorant of letters, more quickly accepts the words of salutary reproof than one who, endowed with an abundance of speech, arrogantly prefers to spout what he knows or thinks he knows, rather than to listen to the words of the wise.
— 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

Rashness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Speaking · FOLLY IN — FOLLY IN
Tongue · Hasty — Hasty
Words · Hasty, folly of — Hasty, folly of

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 29:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 29:20

John Gill on Proverbs 29:20

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 29:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Proverbs 29:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Proverbs 29:20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 29:20

John Gill on Proverbs 29:20

Keil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 29:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Proverbs 29:19

Rashi on Proverbs 29:20