PROVERBS CHAPTER 16.
V. 25. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, when his conduct, in his own judgment, is good and fitting, but the end thereof are the ways of death; his judgment being wrong, his error leads him into destruction. Cp. chap. 14, 12.
V. 26. He that laboreth, laboreth for himself, his spirit or soul, under the pressure of life’s necessities, impels him to work earnestly for his daily bread; for his mouth craveth it of him, drives him forward, compels him, goads him on, for it is the Lord’s rule that man must work in order to gain the necessities of life.
V. 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil, his worthlessness causing him to dig pits for others; and in his lips there is as a burning fire, his words and statements are like a scorching fire or iron, whose searing heat destroys everything.
V. 28. A froward man, one who makes use of malice, soweth strife, for his conduct is bound to create enmity; and a whisperer, a backbiter, separateth chief friends, causing close friends to be divided, for such is the effect of slander skillfully disseminated.
V. 29. A violent man enticeth his neighbor, deliberately and maliciously persuading him to his hurt, and leadeth him into the way that is not good, where he will be in a position to execute the ruin which he planned.