Proverbs 16:28 (BSB)

A perverse man spreads dissension, and a gossip divides close friends.

From Proverbs 16. Also in the ESV.

Commentary on Proverbs 16:28

• Matthew Henry (Presbyterian), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Proverbs 16:27-28: There are those that are not only vicious themselves, but spiteful and mischievous to others, and they are the worst of men; two sorts of such are here described: - 1. Such as envy a man the honour of his good name, and do all they can to blast that by calumnies and misrepresentations: They dig up evil; they take a great deal of pains...
• John Gill (Reformed Baptist), Exposition of the Old and New Testaments on Proverbs 16:28: A violent man enticeth his neighbour,.... As false teachers do, who are grievous wolves, not sparing the flock, and who by good words and fair speeches deceive the heart of the simple; and as the man of sin, that has shed the blood of the saints, and been drunk with the same, deceives with his miracles and sorceries them that dwell on the earth; and...
• Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (Reformed), Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible on Proverbs 16:28: (Compare Pro 6:14; Pro 10:31). whisperer--prater, talebearer (Pro 18:8; Pro 26:20).
• Keil & Delitzsch (Lutheran), Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament on Proverbs 16:28: Pro 16:28 28 A man of falsehood scattereth strife, And a backbiter separateth confidential friends. Regarding תּהפּכות (מדבר) אישׁ, vid., Pro 2:12, and מדון ישׁלּח, Pro 6:14; the thought of 28b is found at Pro 6:19. נרגּן (with ן minusculum, which occurs thrice with the terminal Nun) is a Niphal formation from רגן, to murmur (cf. נזיד, from זיד), and denotes the whisperer, viz., the backbiter, ψίθυρος, Sir.