Brit-Am/Hebrew Nations Notes and Commentary
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Proverbs 27:1-3 Restraint in Speech and Responsibility
Proverbs 27 (NASB):
1 Do not boast about tomorrow,
For you do not know what a day may bring forth.
2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
A stranger, and not your own lips.
3 A stone is heavy and the sand weighty,
But the provocation of a fool is heavier than both of them.
Translation by Yair:
Proverbs 27: 1-3
1 Do not praise yourself about the day of tomorrow,
For you do not know what the day shall give birth to.
2 Let a stranger praise you and not your mouth,
An alien and not your own lips.
3 A stone may be weighty and a measure of sand burdensome but the anger of the thoughtless is weightier than all.
Commentary:
If matters seem to have begun to go well it may be best to keep it to oneself for a while.
You should be guarded against unpleasant surprises.
Do not boast about your own achievements. Let others do it for you, and if they do not, perhaps it is for the better?
Here the word we have translated as "thoughtless" in Hebrew is "avil" meaning "criminally irresponsible" or the like.
It is related to a similar word in Hebrew "avel" which means evil. Both words are related to the English word "evil."
To be foolish, thoughtless, and "criminally irresponsible" due to negligent attitude is indeed akin to evil.
In Old English both sense were applicable, cf.
Online Etymological Dictionary. Evil
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=evil
# In Old English and other older Germanic languages other than Scandinavian, "this word is the most comprehensive adjectival expression of disapproval, dislike or disparagement" [OED]. Evil was the word the Anglo-Saxons used where we would use bad, cruel, unskillful, defective (adj.), or harm (n.), crime, misfortune, disease (n.). In Middle English, bad took the wider range of senses and evil began to focus on moral badness. Both words have good as their opposite. Evil-favored (1520s) meant "ugly." Evilchild is attested as an English surname from 13c.
# The adverb is Old English yfele, originally of words or speech. Also as a noun in Old English, "what is bad; sin, wickedness; anything that causes injury, morally or physically."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^