It were pity such a villain should go without his reward. The wise man, therefore, doth not leave him without his judgment denounced, and it is a grievous one. For he that spendeth time to devise mischief shall not have time at last to devise help for the preventing of his own sudden mischief. He that by plots maketh the breaches of strife, shall at length be broken suddenly into pieces, without hope of piecing himself together again. . . . Of Satan it is said that he fell like lightning from heaven, the fall whereof is most sudden, and so that it never riseth again. And so cometh the calamity of malicious, froward hearts: such is the breaking fall of their destruction.--_Jermin._ Verse 16. This, curtly, is a restatement of the picture just passed; not exactly, but ripened a little, and advanced into a more mature expression.--_Miller._ It is an evidence of the good-will God bears to mankind, that those sins are in a special manner provoking to Him which are prejudicial to the comfort of human life and society.--_Henry._ The things which God hateth are the things which the devil maketh. He cannot be the author and hater of the same thing. And therefore it is not man, but the wicked things in man, which God abhorreth, and which, did not man love, God would still love man, although He hateth them.--_Jermin._ Verse 17. A proud look or "lofty eyes" might seem to have little to do with a "worthless man" (see Critical Notes on verse 12), but a man is a man of emptiness solely because he is depending, in divers ways, upon himself. Humility is the very first lesson towards salvation. A man could not live a whole long life taking "a little more sleep" if he was not arrogantly depending upon something within himself. "Hands that shed innocent blood:" The movements of such a man are all deadly. The amiable may be fairly stung by such rude speech, but the wise man intends to imply that a deceived impenitence deceives and festers all about it. The worldly father that misguides his son sheds his blood. It is astonishing how much there is in the Bible of this cruel language (Psa. v. 9; Isa. i. 21, &c.).--_Miller._ Verse 18. The heart underlies the seven vices which are an abomination to God, and in the midst, because it is the fountain from which evil flows in all directions.--_Starke._ Verse 19. If the heavenly "dew descends upon the brethren that dwell together in unity" (Psa. cxxxiii.), a withering blast will fall on those who, mistaking prejudice for principle, "cause divisions" for their own selfish ends (Rom. xvi. 17, 18). If we cannot attain unity of opinion, "perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor. i. 10), at least let us cultivate unity of Spirit (Phil. iii. 16).--_Bridges._