Proverbs 1:32

1:32 For the waywardness ¹  of the

simpletons will kill ²  them,

and the careless ease ³  of fools will destroy them.

Malachi 2:2

2:2 If you do not listen and take seriously ⁴  the need to honor my name,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will send judgment ⁵  on you and turn your blessings into curses – indeed, I have already done so because you are not taking it to heart.

Romans 11:8-10

11:8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,

to this very day.” ⁶ 

11:9 And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

11:10 let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see,

and make their backs bend continually.” ⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “turning away” (so KJV). The term מְשׁוּבַת (mÿshuvat, “turning away”) refers to moral defection and apostasy (BDB 1000 s.v.; cf. ASV “backsliding”). The noun מְשׁוּבַת (“turning away”) which appears at the end of Wisdom’s speech in 1:32 is from the same root as the verb תָּשׁוּבוּ (tashuvu, “turn!”) which appears at the beginning of this speech in 1:23. This repetition of the root שׁוּב (shuv, “to turn”) creates a wordplay: Because fools refuse to “turn to” wisdom (1:23), they will be destroyed by their “turning away” from wisdom (1:32). The wordplay highlights the poetic justice of their judgment. But here they have never embraced the teaching in the first place; so it means turning from the advice as opposed to turning to it.

² sn The Hebrew verb “to kill” (הָרַג, harag) is the end of the naive who refuse to change. The word is broad enough to include murder, massacre, killing in battle, and execution. Here it is judicial execution by God, using their own foolish choices as the means to ruin.

³ tn Heb “complacency” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “smugness.” The noun שַׁלְוַה (shalvah) means (1) positively: “quietness; peace; ease” and (2) negatively: “self-sufficiency; complacency; careless security” (BDB 1017 s.v.), which is the sense here. It is “repose gained by ignoring or neglecting the serious responsibilities of life” (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 29).

⁴ tn Heb “and if you do not place upon [the] heart”; KJV, NAB, NRSV “lay it to heart.”

⁵ tn Heb “the curse” (so NASB, NRSV); NLT “a terrible curse.”

⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10.

⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 69:22-23.