Proverbs 16:27

NETBible

A wicked scoundrel 1  digs up 2  evil, and his slander 3  is like a scorching fire. 4 

NIV ©

A scoundrel plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

NASB ©

A worthless man digs up evil, While his words are like scorching fire.

NLT ©

Scoundrels hunt for scandal; their words are a destructive blaze.

MSG ©

Mean people spread mean gossip; their words smart and burn.

BBE ©

A good-for-nothing man is a designer of evil, and in his lips there is a burning fire.

NRSV ©

Scoundrels concoct evil, and their speech is like a scorching fire.

NKJV ©

An ungodly man digs up evil, And it is on his lips like a burning fire.

KJV
An ungodly
<01100>
man
<0376>
diggeth up
<03738> (8802)
evil
<07451>_:
and in his lips
<08193>
[there is] as a burning
<06867>
fire
<0784>_.
{An...: Heb. A man of Belial}
NASB ©
A worthless
<1100>
man
<376>
digs
<3738>
up evil
<7463>
, While
<5921>
his words
<8193>
are like scorching
<6866>
fire
<784>
.
LXXM
anhr
<435> 
N-NSM
afrwn
<878> 
A-NSM
orussei
<3736> 
V-PAI-3S
eautw
<1438> 
D-DSM
kaka
<2556> 
A-APN
epi
<1909> 
PREP
de
<1161> 
PRT
twn
<3588> 
T-GPN
eautou
<1438> 
D-GSM
ceilewn
<5491> 
N-GPN
yhsaurizei
<2343> 
V-PAI-3S
pur
<4442> 
N-ASN
NET [draft] ITL
A wicked
<01100>
scoundrel
<0376>
digs up
<03738>
evil
<07451>
, and his slander
<08193>
is like a scorching
<06867>
fire
<0784>
.
HEBREW
tbru
<06867>
sak
<0784>
*wtpv {wytpv}
<08193>
lew
<05921>
her
<07451>
hrk
<03738>
leylb
<01100>
sya (16:27)
<0376>
NETBible

A wicked scoundrel 1  digs up 2  evil, and his slander 3  is like a scorching fire. 4 

NET Notes

1 tn Heb “a man of belial.” This phrase means “wicked scoundrel.” Some translate “worthless” (so ASV, NASB, CEV), but the phrase includes deep depravity and wickedness (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 125-26).

2 tn Heb “digs up” (so NASB). The “wicked scoundrel” finds out about evil and brings it to the surface (Prov 26:27; Jer 18:20). What he digs up he spreads by speech.

3 tn Heb “on his lips” (so NAB) The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause. To say that “evil” is on his lips means that he talks about the evil he has dug up.

4 sn The simile stresses the devastating way that slander hurts people. W. McKane says that this one “digs for scandal and…propagates it with words which are ablaze with misanthropy” (Proverbs [OTL], 494).