Proverbs 3:11

Despise not the chastening of the Lord; either,

1. By making light of it, or not being duly affected with if; and so this is one extreme opposed to the other in the next clause. Or rather,

2. By accounting it an unnecessary, and useless, and troublesome thing; but rather esteem it as a privilege and favour from God, and a benefit to thyself; for such negatives do oft imply the contrary affirmatives by a common figure called meiosis, as Proverbs 17:21, and oft elsewhere. And this sense seems to agree better both with the following clause, which repeats the same thing with some aggravation, after the manner; and with the reason used to enforce this and the following command, Proverbs 3:12, which concerns not such as are insensible, but rather such as had too deep a sense of the evil of affliction. Neither be weary of his correction; neither esteem it tedious and intolerable, but endure it with patience and cheerfulness.