He that is surety for a stranger shall smart [for it],.... Or in "breaking shall be broken" q, ruined and undone; he engaging or becoming a bondsman for one whose circumstances he knew not; and these being bad bring a load upon him, such an heavy debt as crushes him to pieces. Mr. Henry observes that our Lord Jesus Christ became a surety for us when we were strangers, and he smarted for it, he was bruised and wounded for our sins; but then he knew our circumstances, and what the consequence would be, and became a surety on purpose to pay the whole debt and set us free; which he was capable of doing: without being broken or becoming a bankrupt himself; for he was not broken, nor did he fail, Isaiah 42:4. Jarchi's note is,
"the wicked shall be broken, to whose heart idolatry is sweet;''
and he that hateth suretyship is sure; or those "that strike" r, that is, with the hand, used in suretyship; see Proverbs 6:1; such an one is safe from coming into trouble by such means. The Targum is,
"and hates those that place their hope in God.''
q רע ירוע "frangendo frangetur", Michaelis; so Pagninus and others. r תוקעים "complodentes", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius "defigentes", Mercerus.