14 The heart of the man of good sense goes in search of knowledge, but foolish things are the food of the unwise.
And Solomon said, Great was your mercy to David my father, as his life before you was true and upright and his heart was true to you; and you have kept for him this greatest mercy, a son to take his place this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in the place of David my father; and I am only a young boy, with no knowledge of how to go out or come in. And your servant has round him the people of your selection, a people so great that they may not be numbered, and no account of them may be given. Give your servant, then, a wise heart for judging your people, able to see what is good and what evil; for who is able to be the judge of this great people? Now these words and Solomon's request were pleasing to the Lord. And God said to him, Because your request is for this thing, and not for long life for yourself or for wealth or for the destruction of your haters, but for wisdom to be a judge of causes; I have done as you said: I have given you a wise and far-seeing heart, so that there has never been your equal in the past, and never will there be any like you in the future.
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Commentary on Proverbs 15 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
We take these verses together as forming a group which begins with a proverb regarding the good and evil which flows from the tongue, and closes with a proverb regarding the treasure in which blessing is found, and that in which no blessing is found.
Proverbs 15:1
1 A soft answer turneth away wrath,
And a bitter word stirreth up anger.
In the second line, the common word for anger ( אף , from the breathing with the nostrils, Proverbs 14:17) is purposely placed, but in the first, that which denotes anger in the highest degree ( חמה from יחם , cogn. חמם , Arab. hamiya , to glow, like שׁנה from ישׁן ): a mild, gentle word turns away the heat of anger ( excandescentiam ), puts it back, cf. Proverbs 25:15. The Dagesh in רּך follows the rule of the דחיק , i.e. , of the close connection of a word terminating with the accented eh, aah, ah with the following word ( Michlol 63b). The same is the meaning of the Latin proverb:
Frangitur ira gravis
Quando est responsio suavis