Proverbs 17:23

A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment. A WICKED (MAN) (OR JUDGE) TAKETH A GIFT OUT OF THE BOSOM (TAKEN OUT OF THE GIVER'S BOSOM), TO PERVERT THE WAYS OF JUDGMENT - to pervert the due course of justice by quibbles and loopholes of escape. The "bosom" implies the secrecy of the offer of the bribe: a gift hidden in the bosom (; )....

Verse Proverbs 17:23. _A GIFT OUT OF THE BOSOM_] Out of his _purse_; as in their _bosoms_, above their girdles, the Asiatics carry their _purses_. I have often observed this....

The words “out of the bosom,” from the fold of the garment, rather than from the bag or girdle in which money was usually carried, possibly point to the stealthiness with which the “gift” (or, bribe) is offered to the judge....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 17:1 (Comp, Proverbs 15:16, Proverbs 15:17; Proverbs 16:8.) BETTER (sweeter) IS A DRY MORSEL, AND QUIETNESS THEREWITH. Dry bread was soaked in wine or water before it was eaten. Thus Boaz bid Ruth "dip her morsel in the vinegar" (Ruth 2:14); thus Jesus gave the sop to Judas when he had dipped it (John 13:26). The Septuagint is pleonastic, "Better is a morsel with joy in peace." Ab

A WICKED [MAN] TAKETH A GIFT OUT OF THE BOSOM,.... Of another, of a rich man, who takes it out from thence, and offers it to him as a bribe. This he takes in the most secret manner, that it might not be seen by others; though the Arabic version renders it, "he that receives a gift in his own bosom commits iniquity"; it is true of both the giver and the receiver; the one gives out of his bosom, and the other takes if from thence, and puts it into his own, and both are wicked. And the words are by some rendered, though it seems contrary to the accents, "a gift out of the bosom of the wicked he will take" z; the unjust judge, who is bribed with it: TO PERVERT THE WAYS OF JUDGMENT; to turn the course of justice, and hinder it from taking place; favouring a bad cause, and pronouncing a wrong sentence, which is wresting judgment. z שחד מחיק רשע יקח "munus de sinu impii accipiet", Baynus....

CHAPTER 17 DIVERSE PROVERBS Of the twenty-eight proverbs found in this chapter we point out but a few. “The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold; but the LORD trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). Man may try silver and gold, but God only the hearts. And He tries the hearts by the refining process, trials and afflictions, the process which rests in His own hands. (See Psalms 66:10; Malachi 3:3; 1 Peter 1:7 .) “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love, but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends” (Proverbs 17:9). To

PROVERBS 17. Fresh points are the rise of the able and clever slave to a place in the family (Proverbs 17:2), the practice of bribes (Proverbs 17:8; Proverbs 17:23), the value of adversity as a test of friendship (Proverbs 17:17): also the subject of suretyship, dealt with in Proverbs 6:1, is resumed (Proverbs 17:18). PROVERBS 17:1. For the connexion betwee

GIFT. bribe. Compare Proverbs 17:8. This is the act of the briber, not the bribed. BOSOM. lap. See note on Proverbs 16:33....

_out of the bosom_ i.e. the fold of the garment in which it had been concealed; denoting the stealthy action either of the suitor who proffers, or more probably of the judge who receives the bribe. Comp. Proverbs 21:14....

TEXT Proverbs 17:20-28 20. He that hath a wayward heart findeth no good; And he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief. 21. He that begetteth a fool doeth it to his sorrow; And the father of a fool hath no joy. 22. A cheerful heart is a good medicine; But a broken spirit drieth up the bones. 23. A wicked man receiveth a bribe out of the bosom, To pervert the ways of justice. 24. Wisdom is before the face of him that hath understanding; But the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. 25. A foolish son is a grief to his father, And bitterness to her that bare him. 26. Also to punish the righteous is not good, Nor to smite the noble for their uprightness. 27. He that spareth his words hath knowledge; And he that is of a cool