Proverbs 15:26

15:26 The Lord abhors ¹  the plans ²  of the wicked, ³ 

but pleasant words ⁴  are pure. ⁵ 

Proverbs 24:9

24:9 A foolish scheme ⁶  is sin,

and the scorner is an abomination to people. ⁷ 

Mark 7:21-22

7:21 For from within, out of the human heart, come evil ideas, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 7:22 adultery, greed, evil, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, and folly.

Acts 8:20-22

8:20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, ⁸  because you thought you could acquire ⁹  God’s gift with money! 8:21 You have no share or part ¹⁰  in this matter ¹¹  because your heart is not right before God! 8:22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord ¹²  that he may perhaps forgive you for the intent of your heart. ¹³ 

¹ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) functions as a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.”

² tn The noun מַחְשְׁבוֹת (makhshÿvot) means “thoughts” (so KJV, NIV, NLT), from the verb חָשַׁב (khashav, “to think; to reckon; to devise”). So these are intentions, what is being planned (cf. NAB “schemes”).

³ tn The word רַע (“evil; wicked”) is a genitive of source or subjective genitive, meaning the plans that the wicked devise – “wicked plans.”

⁴ sn The contrast is between the “thoughts” and the “words.” The thoughts that are designed to hurt people the Lord hates; words that are pleasant (נֹעַם, no’am), however, are pure (to him). What is pleasant is delightful, lovely, enjoyable.

⁵ tc The MT simply has “but pleasant words are pure” (Heb “but pure [plural] are the words of pleasantness”). Some English versions add “to him” to make the connection to the first part (cf. NAB, NIV). The LXX has: “the sayings of the pure are held in honor.” The Vulgate has: “pure speech will be confirmed by him as very beautiful.” The NIV has paraphrased here: “but those of the pure are pleasing to him.”

⁶ tn Heb “the scheme of folly” (NIV similar). The genitive functions as an attributive genitive, meaning “foolish scheme.” But it could also be interpreted as a genitive of source, the scheme that comes from folly (or from the fool if “folly” were metonymical).

⁷ tn Heb “to a man”; cf. CEV “Everyone hates senseless fools.”

⁸ tn Grk “May your silver together with you be sent into destruction.” This is a strong curse. The gifts of God are sovereignly bestowed and cannot be purchased.

⁹ tn Or “obtain.”

¹⁰ tn The translation “share or part” is given by L&N 63.13.

¹¹ tn Since the semantic range for λόγος (logos) is so broad, a number of different translations could be given for the prepositional phrase here. Something along the lines of “in this thing” would work well, but is too colloquial for the present translation.

¹² tn Or “and implore the Lord.”

¹³ tn Grk “that if possible the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.” The passive construction is somewhat awkward in contemporary English and has thus been converted to an active construction in the translation.