27 He who diligently seeks good seeks favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come to him.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Procureth - Better, striveth after. He who desires good, absolutely, for its own sake, is also unconsciously striving after the favor which attends goodness.
He that diligently seeketh good,.... Or "early"; who rises early in the morning, as the word (e) signifies, and seeks both to do good, and to enjoy it all the day; who, in the first place, seeks the kingdom of God and his righteousness; who, in the morning of his youth, inquires after the best things; and diligently pursues what is for his own good and welfare, and that of others, and for the glory of God:
procureth favour, both of God and men: or, "seeketh favour" (f); or that which is acceptable and well-pleasing unto God;
but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him; that seeks to do hurt to others; that which he seeks to do to them shall come upon himself; see Psalm 9:15; so antichrist, that leads into captivity, shall go into captivity; and that kills with the sword, shall be killed by it, Revelation 13:10.
(e) "qui mane quaerit", Vatablus; "quarens mane", Montanus; "qui mane vestigat", Schultens; "bene consurgit diluculo", V. L. so the Targum and Ben Melech. (f) "quaerit favorem, beneplacitum", Vatablus, Michaelis; "benevolentiam", Junius & Tremellius, Mercerus, Gejerus.
Seeking mischief is here set against seeking good; for those that are not doing good are doing hurt, even to themselves.
good [and] mischief--that is, of others.
procureth . . . seeketh--implying success.
That self-sacrificing endeavour after the good of others finds its regard in the thought encircling the following proverbs.
27 He that striveth after good, seeketh that which is pleasing;
And he that searcheth after evil, it shall find him.
Here we have together three synonyms of seeking: בּקּשׁ (R. בק, findere), which has the general meaning quaerere, from the root-idea of penetrating and pressing forwards; דּרשׁ (R. דר .R( , terere), which from the root-idea of trying (proving) corresponds to the Lat. studere; and שׁחר (whence here שׁחר instead of משׁחר, as דּבר instead of מדבּר), which means mane, and thus sedulo quaere (vid., at Proverbs 1:28). From 27b, where by רעה is meant evil which one prepares for another, there arises for טוב the idea of good thoughts and actions with reference to others. He who applies himself to such, seeks therewith that which is pleasing, i.e., that which pleases or does good to others. If that which is pleasing to God were meant, then this would have been said (cf. Proverbs 12:2); the idea here is similar to Proverbs 10:32, and the word יבקּשׁ is used, and not ימצא, because reference is not made to a fact in the moral government of the world, but a description is given of one who is zealously intent upon good, and thus of a noble man. Such an one always asks himself (cf. Matthew 7:12): what will, in the given case, be well-pleasing to the neighbour, what will tend to his true satisfaction? Regarding the punctuation here, שׁחר, vid., at Proverbs 11:26. The subject to תבואנּוּ, which, Proverbs 10:24, stands as the fundamental idea, here follows from the governed רעה, which may be the gen. (Psalm 38:13) as well as the accus.
Seeketh - To do good to all men. Favour - With God and men.
*More commentary available at chapter level.