Grace - Like a beautiful chain or ornament.
Be not - Thou shalt not be afraid. Sudden - For sudden and unexpected evils are most frightful. And fear is here put for the evils feared. Desolation - Which cometh upon the wicked.
Shall be - A sure ground of confidence to thee. Taken - In the snares either of sin or mischief.
With - hold not - Do not deny it, but readily and chearfuly impart it. Good - Any thing which is good, either counsel, comfort, reproof, or the good things of the present life. Due - That is, to all men, by that great and sovereign law of love.
Say not - The former verse forbad the denial, and this forbids the delay of this duty.
Securely - Relying upon thine integrity.
Envy not - For his impunity and success.
Abomination - Therefore sooner or later he must be miserable. The righteous - They are God's friends, to whom he imparts the favours and comforts to which other men are strangers.
The house - Not only upon his own person, but also upon his posterity.
Shame - Instead of that glory which they seek.
A father - Of me, who have paternal authority over you and affection for you.
Tender - Young and tender in years, and tenderly educated. Only beloved - Beloved above all the rest.
Said - The following verses, at least as far as the tenth verse, are the words of David.
With all - Even with the price of all.
Exalt - Let her have thine highest esteem and affection.
Grace - A beautiful ornament, such as they used to put upon their heads.
For - They cannot sleep with quietness.
For - Wickedness is as pleasant to them as their bread.
But - Just men daily grow in knowledge, and grace, and consolation, 'till all be perfected and swallowed up in glory.
Darkness - Full of ignorance and error, of uncertainty and confusion, of danger and misery.
Heart - Thy thoughts, will, and affections. For - From thence proceed all the actions, as of the natural, so of the spiritual life, which lead to eternal life.
Mouth - All sorts of sinful words.
Right on - Direct all thine actions to a right end, and keep thy mind fixed upon that way which leads to it, and neither look or turn aside to the right - hand or the left.
Ponder - Consider thine actions before thou dost them, and see that they agree with the rule. And - Let thine actions be uniformly and constantly good in spite of all temptations.
The lips - It concerns thee to get and to use discretion, that thou mayest be able to resist those temptations to which thou art exposed.
But - The effect of that to which she entices men, is destruction.
Feet - Her manner of life.
Lest - To prevent thy serious consideration. Moveable - She transforms herself into several shapes, and has a thousand arts to ensnare. Know - Thou canst not discover all her practice.
Honour - Thy dignity and reputation, the strength of thy body and mind. Years - The flower of thine age. The cruel - To the harlot, who though she pretends love, yet in truth is one of the most cruel creatures in the world, wasting thy estate and body without pity, and damming thy soul for ever.
Strangers - Not only the strange women themselves, but others who are in league with them. Labors - Wealth gotten by thy labours.
A moment - In how little a time am I now come into remediless misery! Assembly - And that in the congregation of Israel, where I was taught better things.
Drink - Content thyself with those delights which God alloweth thee in the sober use of the marriage - bed.
Fountains - Thy children proceeding from thy wife and from thyself. Fountains are here put for rivers flowing from them. Dispersed - They shall in due time appear abroad to thy comfort, and for the good of others.
Fountain - Thy wife. Blessed - With children; for barrenness was esteemed a curse among the Israelites.
Satisfy thee - At all convenient times: for that there may be excess in the marriage - bed is manifest. Ravished - Love her fervently. It is an hyperbolical expression.
Holden - He is in perfect bondage to his lusts, and is neither able nor wiling to set himself at liberty.
Die - He shall die in his sins. Astray - From the way of life, and from eternal salvation.
Surety - Rashly, without considering how thou shalt discharge the debt as occasion require. Otherwise suretyship in some cases may be not only lawful, but an act of justice and charity. Stricken thy hand - Obliged thyself by giving thine hand, as the custom then was in such cases. With - With the creditor, whom he calls a stranger, because the usurers in Israel, who lent money to others, upon condition of paying use for it, were either Heathens, or were reputed as bad as Heathens, because this practice was forbidden by God's law, Deut 23:19.
Hand - Into the power. Friend - Of the debtor, for whom, as being thy friend, thou didst become surety; whereby thou art in his power, by his neglect or unfaithfulness, to expose thee to the payment of the debt. Make sure - Or, and prevail with thy friend, strive to win him by thine incessant and earnest solicitations.
Give not sleep - Until thou hast taken care for the discharge of this obligation.
Travelleth - Swiftly and unexpectedly. Armed man - Irresistibly.
Hate - Above many other sins which have a worse name in the world.
Deviseth - He whose practice it is to contrive wickedness. Swift - Such as greedily execute their wicked designs.
The law - The word of God, which thy parents delivered to thee.
Bind them - Constantly remember, and duly consider them.