I [am for] peace: but when I speak, they [are] for war.
Ver. 7. I am for peace] Heb. I am peace, or peaceable, as far as is possible, Romans 12:18; this was David's motto, and must be every man's study. But it is not peace, but party, that many men mind, Maxima pars studiorum est studium partium.
But when I speak, they are for war] They cry the alarm, being beliosi et bellicosi; salamander like, they live in the fire of contention; scorpion like, they are always putting forth the sting. Their spirits lie like that haven, Acts 27:12, towards the south-west and north-west, two opposite points; neither will they be otherwise, but the more they are sought to the worse they are. This is the guise of graceless persons.