[158] Prov. xix. 6; xiv. 20.
[159] Prov. xxi. 14.
[160] Prov. xvii. 8. More literally: "A precious stone is the gift in the eyes of him who gets possession of it, whithersoever he turneth he deals wisely." That is to say, the man who receives the gift, whether a judge or a witness or an opponent, is as it were retained for the giver, and induced to use his best faculties in behalf of his retainer.
[161] Prov. xix. 4: "Wealth addeth many friends, but the poor—his companion separates from him."
[162] Prov. xxii. 17.
[163] Prov. xviii. 23.
[164] Prov. xiv. 20; xix. 4.
[165] Prov. xix. 7. The sense of the Authorised Version is here retained, but it will be seen in Lecture [XII]. that there is good reason for treating the third clause of the verse as a mutilated fragment of another proverb: see p. [166].
[166] Prov. xxii. 7.
[167] Prov. xii. 9. This reading is obtained by following the LXX., whose translation ὁ δουλεύων ἐαυτῷ shows that they pointed וְעֹבֵד לוֹ. Cf. Eccles. x. 27: "Better is he that laboureth and aboundeth in all things than he that boasteth himself and lacketh bread."