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If you do good, know to whom you do it, and your good deeds will have thanks.
Verse 1. To whom. All must not be admitted into the house, nor treated with marks of particular esteem. Yet daily alms must be given without too scrupulous an enquiry. Lu. 6:30. Calmet.—It would be wrong to encourage sinners, who would run to their ruin. But we must relieve the penitent. Worthington.
Do good to a godly man, and you will find a reward— if not from him, then from the Most High.
Verse 2. Lord. Christ rewards what good is done to his poor brethren.
No good will come to him who continues to do evil, nor to him who gives no alms.
Verse 3. For. Greek (4.) “Give to the pious, and receive not the sinner, (6.) Do,” and so forth Bible.—The gospel enjoins us to do good to all. Saint Augustine (Dort. iii. 16.) and Saint Thomas Aquinas (ii. 2. q. xxxii. a ix.) explain this in a spiritual sense, that we must not partake in the crimes of others. We may also make presents to the virtuous, and pass over people of a different character, particularly when they would abuse our gifts. The honest poor must be preserved.
Give to the godly man, and don’t help the sinner.
Do good to one who is lowly. Don’t give to an ungodly man. Keep back his bread, and don’t give it to him, lest he subdue you with it; for you would receive twice as much evil for all the good you would have done to him.
For the Most High also hates sinners, and will repay vengeance to the ungodly.
The remainder of this verse is omitted by the best authorities.
Give to the good man, and don’t help the sinner.
A man’s friend won’t be fully tried in prosperity. His enemy won’t be hidden in adversity.
Or, punished
In a man’s prosperity, his enemies are grieved. In his adversity, even his friend leaves.
Never trust your enemy, for his wickedness is like corrosion in copper.
Verse 10. Rusteth. So his malice always returns, ( Calmet.) and he shews what he is. Vat.—Christianity does not blame due reserve in treating with those whom we know not, or who have formerly injured us. Though we must love them from our heart, yet we need not intrust our secrets to them, nor even to every friend. Joab always retained a hatred for Abner, and Absalom for his brother and father, though they dissembled their resentment. Calmet.—So the wicked commonly act. Bible.—We must love, but not trust them, being wise as serpents. Matthew 10. Worthington.
Though he humbles himself and walks bowed down, still be careful and beware of him. You will be to him as one who has wiped a mirror, to be sure it doesn’t completely tarnish.
Verse 11. Of him. Greek adds, “and thou shalt be to him as one who has rubbed a mirror, (of brass from the rust. It returns perpetually. Calmet.) and shalt know that the rust is not removed for ever. Grabe. Bible.
Don’t set him next to you, lest he overthrow you and stand in your place. Don’t let him sit on your right hand, lest he seek to take your seat, and at the last you acknowledge my words, and be pricked with my sayings.
Who will pity a charmer that is bitten by a snake, or any who come near wild beasts?
Verse 13. Beasts. Vipers, and so forth Why should they familiarize themselves with such? Some Italians still handle serpents without fear, pretending that they are the descendants of Saint Paul. Calmet.—But he was never married, (1 Corinthians 7 Bible.) and they are rather of the race of the Marsi, who formerly claimed the same privilege, having made use of some drugs to prevent the poison. The ancients believed that they could charm serpents.
Even so, who will pity him who goes to a sinner, and is associated with him in his sins?
For a while he will stay with you, and if you falter, he will not stay.
The enemy will speak sweetly with his lips, and in his heart plan to throw you into a pit. The enemy may weep with his eyes, but if he finds opportunity, he will want more blood.
Verse 16. Blood. Jeremiah 41:6. Samson yielded to the tears of women. Judges 14:16 and 16:6.
If adversity meets you, you will find him there before you. Pretending to help you, he will trip you.
He will shake his head, clap his hands, whisper much, and change his countenance.
Verse 18. Eyes. Is taken from verse 16. It is not in Greek Bible.—His tears are like those of crocodiles, which cry when they are going to kill a man. Calmet.