Proverbs 3:30 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

If he have done thee no harm— "Contend not without reason; be not punctilious, litigious, quarrelsome;" we are not here forbidden to defend ourselves; but to be cautious, lest we offend against charity, justice, wisdom. Seneca says, "To contend with one's equal is uncertainty; with one's superior, madness; with one's inferior, meanness." Schultens observes, that two senses offer themselves to him upon this verse: the one, Contend not with a man without reason; because he hath not cherished any evil against you: i.e. because he is mild, placid, benign; and from the goodness of his disposition would not repel injury with injury: a grievous crime, yet how common! The other sense profits more closely upon retaliation, and a desire of revenge, thus: Because he is weaker, and of less power than to have courage to cherish any hatred; or to attempt any evil against thee: a detestable wickedness, which yet has always reigned in the world. See his note.