Proverbs - 24:26



26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Proverbs 24:26.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.
He kisseth the lips Who giveth a right answer.
Lips he kisseth who is returning straightforward words.
Every man shall kiss his lips that gives a right answer.
He gives a kiss with his lips who gives a right answer.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Better, He shall kiss lips that giveth a right answer, i. e., he shall gain the hearts of men as much as by all outward signs of sympathy and favor. Compare 2-Samuel 15:1-6.

Kiss his lips - Shall treat him with affection and respect.

Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer. Either as a witness to a question put to him in court, to which he answers aptly and uprightly; or rather as a judge, who, having heard a cause, answers and gives his opinion of it faithfully, and pronounces a righteous sentence; everyone will love and respect him, and hearken to him and obey him; both affection and obedience are signified by a kiss; see Psalm 2:12.

kiss his lips--love and obey, do homage (Psalm 2:12; Song 8:1).
right answer--literally, "plain words" (compare Proverbs 8:9), opposed to deceptive, or obscure.

Then follows a distich with the watchword נצחים:
26 He kisseth the lips
Who for the end giveth a right answer.
The lxx, Syr., and Targ. translate: one kisseth the lips who, or: of those who...; but such a meaning is violently forced into the word (in that case the expression would have been שׂפתי משׁיב or שׂפתים משׁיבים). Equally impossible is Theodotion's χείλεσι καταφιληθήσεται, for ישּׁק cannot be the fut. Niph. Nor is it: lips kiss him who... (Rashi); for, to be thus understood, the word ought to have been למשׁיב. משׁיב is naturally to be taken as the subj., and thus it supplies the meaning: he who kisseth the lips giveth an excellent answer, viz., the lips of him whom the answer concerns (Jerome, Venet., Luther). But Hitzig ingeniously, "the words reach from the lips of the speaker to the ears of the hearer, and thus he kisses his ear with his lips." But since to kiss the ear is not a custom, not even with the Florentines, then a welcome answer, if its impression is to be compared to a kiss, is compared to a kiss on the lips. Hitzig himself translates: he commends himself with the lips who...; but נשׁק may mean to join oneself, Genesis 41:40, as kissing is equivalent to the joining of the lips; it does not mean intrans. to cringe. Rather the explanation: he who joins the lips together...; for he, viz., before reflecting, closed his lips together (suggested by Meri); but נשׁק, with שׂפתים, brings the idea of kissing, labra labris jungere, far nearer. This prevails against Schultens' armatus est (erit) labia, besides נשׁק, certainly, from the primary idea of connecting (laying together) (vid., Psalm 78:9), to equip (arm) oneself therewith; but the meaning arising from thence: with the lips he arms himself... is direct nonsense. Fleischer is essentially right, Labra osculatur (i.e., quasi osculum oblatum reddit) qui congrua respondet. Only the question has nothing to do with a kiss; but if he who asks receives a satisfactory answer, an enlightening counsel, he experiences it as if he received a kiss. The Midrash incorrectly remarks under דּברים נצחים, "words of merited denunciation," according to which the Syr. translates. Words are meant which are corresponding to the matter and the circumstances, and suitable for the end (cf. Proverbs 8:9). Such words are like as if the lips of the inquirer received a kiss from the lips of the answerer.

Shall kiss - Shall respect him. A right answer - That speaks pertinently and plainly, and truly.

*More commentary available at chapter level.


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