[656] Prov. x. 13. [657] Prov. xix. 29. [658] "Quos divi conscia facti Mens habet attonitos et surdo verbere cædit, Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum." --JUV., _Sat._, xiii., 193. [659] Matt. xiii. 15. [660] Prov. xvii. 12. [661] Prov. xxvi. 4. [662] Prov. xxvi. 5. [663] Prov. xxix. 11. [664] Prov. xxvi. 8. [665] Prov. xxvi. 6. [666] Prov. xxvi. 7. [667] Prov. xxvi. 9. [668] Prov. xxvi. 10. This rendering Delitzsch obtained by altering the vowel points in the first שׂכֵר into שְׂכַר, and the sense is good, if a little far-fetched. On the other hand, the received reading gives a plain though a somewhat insipid meaning: "Much produces all,"--whoever has a little and uses it well quickly gets more,--"but he that hires a fool is as he who hires passers by," _i.e._ the employment of a fool is a barren undertaking which practically leads to nothing. [669] Prov. xxvi. 11. [670] Prov. xxviii. 26; _cf._ ix. 8 and xxiii. 9. [671] Prov. xxvi. 12. [672] נָבָל, Psalm xiv. 1. XXVII. _LIVING DAY BY DAY._ "Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day will bring forth."--PROV. xxvii. 1. "The grave and destruction are never satisfied; and the eyes of men are never satisfied;" and LXX. adds, "An abomination to the Lord is he who sets his eye, and undisciplined men uncontrolled in tongue."--PROV. xxvii. 20. "Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof, so he that waits on his Lord eats of the honour."--PROV. xxvii. 18. Here is a wholesome lesson for us. We are to trust no future, however pleasant; we are to dwell in no past, however honourable. Life consists of a present, given to us day by day; this is our whole wealth; squandered, it cannot be recovered; neglected, it withers as a leaf. Titus, the Roman Emperor, would say in the evening, when he had omitted his duties or failed in his purposes, _Perdidi diem_, "I have lost a day;"--yes, that lost day is lost for ever; other days may come, but not that one; the duties of that day may be performed afterwards or by other hands, but still the day is lost, because it passed away empty. The thief which cheats us of our days, and beggars us of our wealth, is the specious thought that to-morrow belongs to us. The illusion is as old as the world, but is to-day as fresh and powerful as ever. We have to shake ourselves free of a spell, and awake out of a dream, to see that when to-morrow comes it is already to-day.