TRV
Bede
Late Patristic · AD 500–800 · 6,271 passages across 45 books
Commentary
Proverbs 6:3
Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
Therefore, do what I say, my son, etc. Run, hurry, rouse your friend. Not only remember to keep vigil yourself by living well, but also detach by preaching the one over whom you preside from the body of sin.
Proverbs 6:4
Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
Do not give sleep to your eyes, etc. He gives sleep to his eyes who utterly neglects the care of his subjects; but he dozes who indeed knows their blameworthy deeds but, due to weariness of mind, does not correct them with deserving rebuke.
Proverbs 6:5
Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand, etc. Just as a gazelle seeks to escape from the hand of the captor, strive so much that, with your listener being healthily instructed, you are freed from the surety of his life. Or certainly, because the gazelle is by nature a pure animal, swift in running, and most keen in sight. Hence it is also named in Greek from seeing, that is, dorcas. But the bird, by flying, usually seeks the altar. When you are engaged in teaching your subjects, strive to be pure from all sins, vigorous in good works, keen in detecting the snares of the wicked, and supported by the wings of virtues: so that, having completed the task of preaching, you may deserve to fly to the heights and enter the pastures of heavenly life.
Proverbs 6:6
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Go to the ant, O sluggard! etc. Here he exhorts anyone wandering, that if he is not sufficient in teaching others, he should at least not neglect to manage his own cares, and if he cannot learn wisdom in teaching from a man, he should learn the wisdom of working from an ant.
Proverbs 6:7
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
Which, having no guide, etc. If such a small animal, lacking a leader and devoid of reason, foresees things for itself by nature as its guide for the future, much more so should you, created in the image of God, called to see His glory, aided by the teaching of doctors, having the very Creator as your guide, in the present time gather the fruits of good works, by which you may live eternally. For indeed, this life is compared to harvest and summer because now, amidst the fervors of temptations, is the time to gather the rewards of future good deeds. But the day of judgment is likened to the cold of winter, because then, assuredly, no opportunity is left for working for life, but everyone is compelled to bring forth from the storehouse of past actions what he has reserved. Therefore, the Lord commands, saying: "But pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath" (Matthew 24). For in winter, the opportunity, and on the Sabbath, the permission by law is lacking to gather the fruits of life, and to escape perpetual poverty.
Proverbs 6:9
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
How long, sluggard, will you sleep? etc. How long will you sleep in vices when you can rise to do well, you who, weighed down by noxious sloth, always say, "Let me still lie a little, and thus afterward I will rise by repenting"? For it happens that, while you always delay doing good work, suddenly the judge who considers your evil deeds will be present. This is what follows:
Proverbs 6:11
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
"And poverty will come upon you like a traveler," etc. For poverty and misery are the ultimate punishment, in which the damned deserve nothing of wealth: they will come like a traveler, because unforeseen and sudden; like an armed man, because they cannot be conquered perpetually. It is clear according to the letter, that sloth is the nurse of poverty and indigence. But if you are diligent, etc. The earthly fruits we reap are not comparable to a spring, but to a cistern, because they feed the gatherer for a time and eventually run out; but he who is diligent in laboring for heavenly riches, the harvest of this, like a spring, will come, because it will perfect the enduring reward of labors. And poverty will flee far from you. Because I will be satisfied, he says, when your glory is made manifest.
Proverbs 6:12
A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth.
An apostate man, a useless man walks with a perverse mouth, etc. He spoke of heresies and other kinds of vices; he had instructed a teacher, aroused the sluggard, but now he reproves the schismatic. Where it should be noted that he who wished to call the sower of quarrels, first named him an apostate, because unless he first fell inwardly in the manner of the proud angel by turning his mind from the sight of the Creator, he would not come outwardly to sow quarrels. He is rightly said to nod with his eyes, scrape with his foot, speak with his finger. For there is an inward custody that orderly preserves the outer members. Therefore, he who has lost the state of his mind flows out into the inconsistency of movement and indicates by external mobility that nothing roots within.
Proverbs 6:16
These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
There are six things that the Lord hates, etc. He more fully indicates how detestable he is to God by sowing discord. But when the Lord says "soul," He does it in a human manner, to signify that He hates such people with full intention and not lightly. Thus it is in Isaiah: "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates" (Isaiah 1).
Proverbs 6:17
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, etc. He enumerates six capital crimes, which yet, in comparison to the one who sows discord, he somewhat diminishes as lesser, because indeed the greater crime is that which disrupts the unity and fraternity connected by the grace of the Holy Spirit. For anyone can proudly lift up their eyes, lie with their tongue, be polluted with murder, plot evil against their neighbor, subject their members to other crimes, bear false witness against someone. This should not be thought to be the same as what he previously called a lying tongue. For a lie can be spoken, but not against a neighbor. For even blessed Augustine teaches that there are eight kinds of lies in the book he wrote on Lies. Anyone who is lost can inflict such evils on themselves or others, while maintaining the peace of the Church. But Donatus and Arius and their followers did something graver, who tore apart the concord of fraternal unity by sowing discord.
Proverbs 6:20
My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Preserve, my son, the precepts of your father, etc. Now under the guise of the adulterous woman, he forbids listening to heresy.
Proverbs 6:21
Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
Bind them in your heart forever, etc. And keep the precepts of the Lord fixed in your mind, and safeguard your speech with their sweetness on all sides, lest you fall into sin in your speech.
Proverbs 6:22
When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
When you walk, let them guide you, etc. Let your meditation of the Lord’s law be so constant that when you are working while awake, you recall this with diligent mind; when you wish to sleep, you will rest in this memory; when you wake up, first recall this to your mind; for in this way you will neither err while awake, nor be harmed by the fear of the night. Another interpretation: When you walk in the progress of righteousness, let the commandments of God be with you to instruct you; when you sleep in death, let them guard your soul, so that the enemy does not seize it; when you awaken in the resurrection, speak with them in seeking the rewards which they promised you if you kept them.
Proverbs 6:25
Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
Do not be captured by her glances. This applies to the adulteress. But even if heretics seem to live and act well, be careful not to be deceived by their doctrines.
Proverbs 6:26
For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
For the price of a harlot is hardly a loaf of bread. Remember that the pleasure of fornication is brief and the punishment for the fornicator is perpetual. Just as one loaf of bread only dispels hunger for a day, and nevertheless he who has been satisfied by the eaten bread will hunger afterward, so he who goes into a harlot may indeed dispel his lust for a moment, but afterwards returns with greater fervor.
Proverbs 6:27
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Can a man hide fire in his bosom, etc.? It is permitted only to him who is solidified in the Catholic faith, such that he cannot be separated from it by the sweetness of words or cunning, to read the books of heretics.
Proverbs 6:30
Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
The fault is not great when someone has been found stealing, etc. Theft is not considered a great fault by its own estimation, but by comparison with a greater sin, that is, adultery; as it is said to Jerusalem who sinned more grievously, Sodomy is justified in comparison to you; not because Sodomy had none or few sins, but because Jerusalem sinned more.
Proverbs 6:34
For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
For jealousy and the fury of a husband will not spare in the day of vengeance, etc. And this is to be understood of the Lord, because He who now spares reprobates will not spare on the day of death; nor will He acquiesce to the prayers of those who call to Him too late; nor will He accept gifts, for there is neither time nor facility for them there. For He is jealous if anyone presumes to corrupt His bride, that is, the Church, or any faithful soul.
Proverbs 7:1
My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
My son, keep my words, etc. And this section is the same as previously explained more fully under the person of the harlot.
Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
And my law as the apple of your eye. Keep what I teach as diligently as if nothing right could be seen without it.