2:23 King Solomon then swore an oath by the Lord, “May God judge me severely, 2 if Adonijah does not pay for this request with his life! 3 2:24 Now, as certainly as the Lord lives (he who made me secure, allowed me to sit on my father David’s throne, and established a dynasty 4 for me as he promised), Adonijah will be executed today!” 2:25 King Solomon then sent 5 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he killed Adonijah. 6
15:22 He does not expect 7 to escape from darkness; 8
he is marked for the sword; 9
13:6 Righteousness 10 guards the one who lives with integrity, 11
but wickedness 12 overthrows the sinner.
21:12 The Righteous One 13 considers 14 the house 15 of the wicked;
he overthrows the wicked to their ruin. 16
1 tn Heb “for Adonijah.”
2 tn Heb “So may God do to me, and so may he add.”
3 tn Heb “if with his life Adonijah has not spoken this word.”
4 tn Heb “house.”
5 tn The Hebrew text adds, “by the hand of.”
6 tn Heb “and he struck him and he died.”
7 tn This is the meaning of the Hiphil imperfect negated: “he does not believe” or “he has no confidence.” It is followed by the infinitive construct functioning as the direct object – he does not expect to return (to escape) from darkness.
8 sn In the context of these arguments, “darkness” probably refers to calamity, and so the wicked can expect a calamity that is final.
9 tn Heb “he is watched [or waited for] by the sword.” G. R. Driver reads it, “he is marked down for the sword” (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 78). Ewald suggested “laid up for the sword.” Ball has “looks for the sword.” The MT has a passive participle from צָפָה (tsafah, “to observe, watch”) which can be retained in the text; the meaning of the form can then be understood as the result of the inspection (E. Dhorme, Job, 217).
10 sn Righteousness refers to that which conforms to law and order. One who behaves with integrity will be safe from consequences of sin.
11 tn Heb “blameless of way.” The term דָּרֶךְ (darekh) is a genitive of specification: “blameless in respect to his way.” This means living above reproach in their course of life. Cf. NASB “whose way is blameless”; NAB “who walks honestly.”
12 sn Righteousness and wickedness are personified in this proverb to make the point of security and insecurity for the two courses of life.
13 tn In the book of Proverbs, the Hebrew term צַּדִּיק (ysadiq) normally refers to a human being, and that is a possible translation here (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB), although it would have to refer to a righteous person who was a judge or a ruler with the right to destroy the wicked. Many commentators and English versions simply interpret this as a reference to God (cf. NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT).
14 tn The form מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is now used with the meaning “to consider; to give attention to; to ponder.” It is the careful scrutiny that is given to the household of the wicked before judgment is poured out on them.
15 tn Heb “house.” This term probably means “household” here – the family. One way to read the line is that the righteous judge (human or divine) takes into consideration the wicked person’s family before judging the wicked person. The other – and more plausible – interpretation is that the judge considers the household of the wicked and then on the basis of what was observed judges them.
16 tn Heb “to evil” (i.e., catastrophe); cf. NLT “to disaster.”