Proverbs 16:27

An ungodly man diggeth up evil,.... Or "a man of Belial" (p), a worthless unprofitable man; a man without a yoke, not obedient to the law of God; such a man digs for sin as for a treasure; nor need

An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire. An ungodly man diggeth up evil - i:e., diggeth a pit to entrap in evil his victim (Proverbs 26:27; Psalms 119:85; Job 6:27).

Diggeth up evil; inventeth or designeth mischief to others, and prosecuteth his evil designs with great and constant industry. In his lips there is as a burning fire; as his thoughts, so also his words are very vexatious and pernicious; his tongue is set on fire of hell, and sets himself and others on fire by lies and slanders, and other provoking speeches.

Proverbs 16:27 An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips [there is] as a burning fire.Ver. 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil,] i.e., He ransacketh and raketh out of the dust, out of the dunghill, such old evils as have long lain hid, to lay in the saints’ dishes, and to upbraid them with. Thus the Manichees dealt by Augustine when they could not answer his arguments, they hit him in the teeth with his youthful follies; whereunto his reply was only this, Quae vos reprehenditis, ego damnavi: What you discommend in me, I have long since condemned. The malicious Papists did the like to reverend Beza, reprinting his wit-wanton poems (put forth in his youth), on purpose to despite him; and objecting to him his former miscarriage which he had sorely repented. This, when one of them did with great bitterness, all the answer he had, was, Hic homo invidet mihi gratiam Christi; This man envies me the grace of Jesus Christ. Neither dealt Aaron and Miriam much more gently with their brother Moses, when they "spake against him because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married." Who was this Ethiopian woman but Zipporah? - for an Ethiopian and a Midianite are all one and the same. And when did he marry her? Many a year ago. But they were resolved to pick a hole in Moses’ s coat; and having nothing else to fasten on, they dig up this evil, and throw it as dirt in his face. In his lips there is a burning fire.] The tongue, in its shape and colour, resembleth a flame of fire. "It is oft set on fire of hell, and itself setteth on fire the whole course of nature." "Their breath, as fire, shall devour you," as the fire of Etna devoured Empedocles, that would needs go too near it. "But what shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?" - false though thou speak the truth, if with a mind to do mischief: - "Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper," yea, that very fire of hell, from whence thou wast enkindled.

(27) Diggeth up evil.—Digs, as it were, a pit for others by his malicious plottings and slanders (Psalms 7:15). In his lips there is as a burning fire.—“Set on fire of hell” (James 3:6).

Verse 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil] How will the following suit? Effodiuntur opes irritamenta malorum "Wealth, the incitement to all evil, is digged up out the earth." A wicked man labours as much to bring about an evil purpose, as the quarryman does to dig up stones. In his lips-a burning fire.] His words are as inflammable, in producing strife and contention among his neighbours, as fire is in igniting dry stubble.

27. ungodly] Rather, worthless, R.V. See Proverbs 6:12, note. diggeth up] This is the literal meaning of the word, but it is here used metaphorically of one who digs pits for his neighbour, as a hunter for his prey, Psalms 7:15 [Heb. 16], Psalms 57:6 [Hebrews 7]. We may therefore render, deviseth, with R.V. burning] Rather, scathing, or, as R.V., scorching. His words blight and wither, like the great forest fire, by which “all faces are scorched” (Ezekiel 20:47 [Heb. 21:3], where the Heb. word is the same).

The four verses speak of the same thing, and the well-known opprobrious name, the “man of Belial,” stands at the head as stigmatizing the man who delights in causing the mischief of which they treat. Diggeth up evil - i.

27. An ungodly man — ΰιωׁ αμιςμ, (ish beliyya’hal,) a man of Belial, a bad, vile, or worthless man.