The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

The soul which blesseth, shall be made fat: and he that inebriateth, shall be inebriated also himself.

A liberal soul is made fat, And whoso is watering, he also is watered.

He who gives blessing will be made fat, but the curser will himself be cursed.

The beneficent soul shall be made rich, and he that satisfieth abundantly shall be satisfied also himself.

The soul that blesses shall be made fat. And whoever inebriates will likewise be inebriated himself.

Liberal soul - literally, "the soul that blesses," i. e., gives freely and fully. The similitudes are both of them essentially Eastern. Fatness, the sleek, well filled look of health, becomes the figure of prosperity, as leanness of misfortune Proverbs 13:4; Proverbs 28:25; Psalm 22:29; Isaiah 10:16. Kindly acts come as the refreshing dew and soft rain from heaven upon a thirsty land.

The liberal soul shall be made fat - He who gives to the distressed, in the true spirit of charity, shall get a hundred fold from God's mercy. How wonderful is the Lord! He gives the property, gives the heart to use it aright, and recompenses the man for the deed though all the fruit was found from himself!
He that watereth - A man who distributes in the right spirit gets more good himself than the poor man does who receives the bounty. Thus it is more blessed to give than to receive.

The liberal soul shall be made fat,.... Or, "the soul of blessing" (c): that is, as the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "the soul which blesseth"; not that merely prays for a blessing upon others, and wishes them well, and gives them good words; but bestows blessings on them, gives good things unto them liberally, cheerfully, and plentifully; and so is a blessing to the poor, and receives a blessing from them again; as such also do from the Lord, by whom they are "made fat"; or are blessed with temporal and spiritual blessings; and are in thriving and flourishing circumstances, both in soul and body. So he that comes full fraught with the blessing of the Gospel of Christ to others is enriched with it himself, and becomes more and more flourishing in gifts and grace;
and he that watereth shall be watered also himself; he that largely shares with others, like a flowing fountain of water, shall have an abundance communicated to him again from God, the inexhaustible fountain of mercies. Watering the plants in Christ's vineyard is one part of the work of a Gospel minister; "I have planted, Apollos watered", &c. 1-Corinthians 3:6; and such who do their work well are watered, rewarded, refreshed, and comforted of God, being largely taught and richly furnished for such service by him; so the Targum,
"and he that teacheth, also he himself shall learn.''
(c) "anima benedictionis", Montanus, Baynus, Cocceius, Michaelis; "anima benedictioni dedita", Schultens.

Both in temporal and spiritual things, God commonly deals with his people according to the measure by which they deal with their brethren.

liberal soul--(Compare Margin).
made fat--prospers (Proverbs 28:25; Deuteronomy 32:15; Luke 6:38).
watereth . . . watered--a common figure for blessing.

25 A liberal soul [soul of blessing] is made fat,
And he that watereth others is also watered.
A synonymous distich (vid., p. 7). A soul of blessing is one from whom blessings go out to others, who is even a blessing to all with whom he comes into fellowship; בּרצה denotes also particularly the gifts of love, 1-Samuel 25:27, בּרך denotes, if the Arab. is right, which derives it from the fundamental idea "to spread out:" to cause to increase and prosper by means of word and deed. The blessing which goes out from such a soul comes back again to itself: תדשּׁן (as Proverbs 13:4; Proverbs 28:25), it is made fat, gains thereby sap and strength in fulness; the Pual refers to the ordinance of God; Proverbs 22:9 is kindred in meaning to this anima benefica pinguefiet. In 25b יורא is the Aramaic form of writing, but without the Aramaic vocalization (cf. Proverbs 1:10. תּבא, Isaiah 21:12 ויּתא). Perhaps the א makes it noticeable that here a different word from יורה, morning rain, is used; however, Symm. translates πρωΐνός, and the Graec. Venet. (Kimchi following it) ὑετός. As a rule, we do not derive יורא from ירה, of which it would be the Hophal (= יוּרה, as הודע, Leviticus 4:23, = הוּדע) (Ewald, 131f.); for the idea conspergitur, which the Ho. of the Hiph. יורה, Hosea 6:3, expresses, is, as correlate to מרוה, as a parallel word to תדשּׁן, one not of equal force. Jerome was guided by correct feeling, for he translates: et qui inebriat ipse quoque inebriabitur. The stem-word is certainly רוה, whether it is with Hitzig to be punctuated יוּרא = ירוה, or with Fleischer we are to regard יורא as derived per metathesin from ירוה, as for Arab. ârây (to cause to see) is used
(Note: Hitzig's comparison of rawaâ, finem respicere, as transposed from waray is incorrect; the former verb, which signifies to consider, thus appears to be original.)
the vulgar Arab. ârway (in the Syr. Arab.) and âwray (in the Egypt. Arab.). We prefer the latter, for the passing of יורה (from ירוה) into יורה is according to rule, vid., at Proverbs 23:21.

Fat - Shall be enriched both with temporal and spiritual blessings.