Proverbs 16:27

16:27 A wicked scoundrel ¹  digs up ²  evil,

and his slander ³  is like a scorching fire. ⁴ 

Micah 7:3

7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ⁵ 

government officials and judges take bribes, ⁶ 

prominent men make demands,

and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ⁷ 

Matthew 14:7-8

14:7 so much that he promised with an oath ⁸  to give her whatever she asked. 14:8 Instructed by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

Matthew 27:23-26

27:23 He asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!”

Jesus is Condemned and Mocked

27:24 When ⁹  Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves!” ¹⁰  27:25 In ¹¹  reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” 27:26 Then he released Barabbas for them. But after he had Jesus flogged, ¹²  he handed him over ¹³  to be crucified. ¹⁴ 

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).

⁵ tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”

⁶ tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”

⁷ tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.

⁸ tn The Greek text reads here ὁμολογέω (Jomologew); though normally translated “acknowledge, confess,” BDAG (708 s.v. 1) lists “assure, promise with an oath” for certain contexts such as here.

⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁰ sn You take care of it yourselves! Compare the response of the chief priests and elders to Judas in 27:4. The expression is identical except that in 27:4 it is singular and here it is plural.

¹¹ tn Grk “answering, all the people said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

¹² tn The Greek term φραγελλόω (fragellow) refers to flogging. BDAG 1064 s.v. states, “flog, scourge, a punishment inflicted on slaves and provincials after a sentence of death had been pronounced on them. So in the case of Jesus before the crucifixion…Mt 27:26; Mk 15:15.”

¹³ tn Or “delivered him up.”

¹⁴ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.