Verse 10. — 'His children shall be worn away by want.' — Hypocrites, multiplied outwardly, become empty inwardly. — It is written: 'Into a malevolent soul wisdom shall not enter' (Wisdom i. 4). And by the Psalmist it is said: 'The rich have been in want, and have suffered hunger' (Psalm xxxiii. 11). For if their want and hunger were spoken of outward famine, surely they would not be rich who lacked the bread of the body. But because, while they are multiplied outwardly, they become empty inwardly, they are recorded to be at once both rich and needy — namely because they in no way deserve to be filled with the bread of wisdom.
And so the children of this hypocrite are worn away by want, because those who are born in hypocrisy from imitation of him, while they do not hold to the solidity of truth, fail in the poverty of their heart.