Psalms 112:5
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
A good man shows favor, and lends: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
American King James Version (AKJV)
A good man shows favor, and lends: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Well is it with the man that dealeth graciously and lendeth; He shall maintain his cause in judgment.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
All is well for the man who is kind and gives freely to others; he will make good his cause when he is judged.
Webster's Revision
A good man showeth favor, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
World English Bible
It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Well is it with the man that dealeth graciously and lendeth; he shall maintain his cause in judgment.
Barnes's Psalms 112:5 Bible Commentary
A good man showeth favor - He has the means to show favor to others, or to promote their welfare, and he is disposed to do this. It is the characteristic of a good man - of a heart that is truly pious - to do good to others; to promote their welfare here, and to assist them in their endeavor to secure happiness in the world to come.
And lendeth - The original word here - לוה lâvâh - means to join oneself to anyone; to cleave to him; then, to form the union which is constituted between debtor and creditor, borrower and lender. Here it is used in the latter sense, and it means that a good man will accommodate another - a neighbor - with money, or with articles to be used temporarily and returned again. A man who always "borrows" is not a desirable neighbor; but a man who never lends - who is never willing to accommodate - is a neighbor that no one would wish to live near - a crooked, perverse, bad man. True religion will always dispose a man to do acts of kindness in any and every way possible.
He will guide his affairs - The word used here means literally to hold, contain; to hold up, or sustain; to nourish, to furnish the means of living. Genesis 45:11; Genesis 47:12; Genesis 50:21. Here it means that he would uphold or manage his business.
With discretion - Margin, "judgment;" so the Hebrew. He would do it prudently, sensibly, economically, wisely. This is, or should be, one of the characteristics of a good man. Religion prompts to this; religion will aid a man in doing this; religion will tend to check everything of a contrary nature. A man who neglects his "affairs," who pays no attention to his business, who is indifferent whether he is successful or fails, is a man who gives "just so evidence" that he is a stranger to true religion.
Wesley's Psalms 112:5 Bible Commentary
112:5 Lendeth - Gives freely to some, and lends to others according to the variety of their conditions. Affairs - His domestick affairs. Discretion - Not getting his estate unjustly, nor casting it away prodigally, nor yet withholding it from such as need it.