He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.
He that covereth a transgression seeketh love - (Proverbs 10:12.) Promoteth love (cf. Proverbs 17:19; Proverbs 11:27). We ought to 'cover' a fault when the glory of God and the good of our neighbour and of the commonweal do not require its publication.
But he that repeateth a matter separateth (very) friends. "Repeateth" - i:e., reviveth the remembrance of some injury or cause of quarrel which ought to be consigned to oblivion; or repeats to another some transgression which ought, for love's sake, rather to have been 'covered' (Proverbs 16:28).