If the snake bites before it is charmed, then is there no profit for the charmer's tongue.
KJV
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.
Commentary
Commentary
Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment,.... See
Jer 8:17
. Or rather, "without a whisper" (t); without hissing, or any noise, giving no warning at all: so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "in silence"; some serpents bite, others sting, some both; see
Pro 23:32
; some hiss, others not, as here;
and a babbler is no better; a whisperer, a backbiter, a busy tattling body, that goes from house to house, and, in a private manner, speaks evil of civil governments, of ministers of the word, and of other persons; and; in a secret way, defames men, and detracts from their characters: such an one is like a venomous viper, a poisonous serpent or adder; and there is no more guarding against him than against such a creature that bites secretly.
(t) "absque susurro", Pagniuus; "absque sibilo", Tigurine version.
Commentary
Commentary