Proverbs 24:12
If thou say: I have not strength enough: he that seeth into the heart, he understandeth, and nothing deceiveth the keeper of thy soul, and he shall render to a man according to his works.
Open Proverbs 24:12 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Si dixeris : Vires non suppetunt ; qui inspector est cordis ipse intelligit : et servatorem animæ tuæ nihil fallit, reddetque homini juxta opera sua.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐὰν δὲ εἴπῃς Οὐκ οἶδα τοῦτον, γίνωσκε ὅτι Κύριος καρδίας πάντων γινώσκει· καὶ ὁ πλάσας πνοὴν πᾶσιν αὐτὸς οἶδεν πάντα, ὃς ἀποδίδωσιν ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- כִּֽי תֹאמַ֗ר הֵן֮ לֹא יָדַ֪עְנ֫וּ זֶ֥ה הֲֽלֹא תֹ֘כֵ֤ן לִבּ֨וֹת הֽוּא יָבִ֗ין וְנֹצֵ֣ר נַ֭פְשְׁךָ ה֣וּא יֵדָ֑ע וְהֵשִׁ֖יב לְאָדָ֣ם כְּפָעֳלֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
I have. Hebrew, "behold, we know not this man." (Pagnin) (Haydock)
He is a stranger. But all mankind are brethren, and have a charge to assist one another, even though they be enemies, Ecclesiasticus xvii. 12., and Exodus xxiii. 4. (Calmet)
Keeper. Hebrew notser, "preserver." As thou hast received many good things from God, shew mercy to thy neighbour.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian A Treatise on the Soul, The Soul's Vitality and Intelligence. Its Character and Seat in Man
In the first place, (we must determine) whether there be in the soul some supreme principle of vitality and intelligence which they call “the ruling power of the soul”, τὸ ἡγεμονικόν for if this be not admitted, the whole condition of the soul is put in jeopardy. Indeed, those men who say that there is no such directing faculty, have begun by supposing that the soul itself is simply a nonentity. One Dicæarchus, a Messenian, and amongst the medical profession Andreas and Asclepiades, have thus destroyed the (soul’s) directing power, by actually placing in the mind the senses, for which they claim the ruling faculty. …