(19) For if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.--As St. Paul says (Galatians 6:5), "Every man shall bear his own burden." We cannot shield wrong-headed people from the consequences of their want of self-control, however much we may pity them for the suffering they have brought on themselves.

Verse 19. - Some connect this verse with the preceding, as though it signified, "If you are too severe in chastising your son, you will suffer for it." But there is no connecting particle in the Hebrew, and the statement seems to be of a general nature. A man of great wrath; literally, rough in anger; Vulgate, impatiens; Septuagint, κακόφρων ἀνήρ. Such a one shall suffer punishment; shall bear the penalty which his want of self-control brings upon him. For if thou deliver him, yet must thou do it again. You cannot save him from the consequences of his intemperance; you may do so once and again, but while his disposition is unchanged, all your efforts will be useless, and the help which you have given him will only make him think that he may continue to indulge his anger with impunity, or, it may be, he will vent his impatience on his deliverer.

Βλάπτει τὸν ἄνδρα θυμὸς εἰς ὀργὴν πεσών Anger, says an adage, "is like a ruin, which breaks itself upon what it falls." Septuagint, "If he destroy (ἐὰν δὲ λοιμεύηται), he shall add even his life;" if by his anger he inflict loss or damage on his neighbour, he shall pay for it in his own person; Vulgate, Et cum rapuerit, aliud apponet. Another interpretation of the passage, but not so suitable, is this: "If thou seek to save the sufferer (e.g. by soothing the angry man), thou wilt only the more excite him (the wrathful): therefore do not intermeddle in quarrels of other persons."

19:19. The spared and spoiled child is likely to become a man of great wrath. 20. Those that would be wise in their latter end, must be taught and ruled when young. 21. What should we desire, but that all our purposes may agree with God's holy will? 22. It is far better to have a heart to do good, and want ability for it, than to have ability for it, and want a heart to it. 23. Those that live in the fear of God, shall get safety, satisfaction, and true and complete happiness. 24. Indolence, when indulged, so grows upon people, that they have no heart to do the most needful things for themselves. 25. A gentle rebuke goes farthest with a man of understanding. 26. The young man who wastes his father's substance, or makes his aged mother destitute, is hateful, and will come to disgrace.A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment,.... Either a child that is of a wrathful disposition, and provokes his parent to wrath; or a parent that chastises his child in wrath; each shall suffer for it; or any man that gives way to wrath and anger and is continually quarrelling, he involves himself in trouble; and is punished, as his offence requires, according to law, either in his person or estate;

for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again; if he is got out of one broil, he will get into another quickly; if he clear of one lawsuit, another will be commenced against him in a short time; if he is discharged and freed from a penalty he is justly subject to, it must be done again and again; he will fall into the same evil, and there is no end of appearing, for him and serving him; a wrathful man brings himself into great trouble, as may be seen in Shimei, 2 Samuel 16:7, 1 Kings 2:46.