21:7 The violence 1 done by the wicked 2 will drag them away
because 3 they refuse to do what is right. 4
24:2 for their hearts contemplate violence,
and their lips speak harm. 5
1 tn The “violence” (שֹׁד, shod) drags away the wicked, probably either to do more sin or to their punishment. “Violence” here is either personified, or it is a metonymy of cause, meaning “the outcome of their violence” drags them away.
2 tn Heb “violence of the wicked.” This is a subjective genitive: “violence which the wicked do.”
3 tn The second colon of the verse is the causal clause, explaining why they are dragged away. They are not passive victims of their circumstances or their crimes. They choose to persist in their violence and so it destroys them.
4 tn Heb “they refuse to do justice” (so ASV); NASB “refuse to act with justice.”
5 sn This nineteenth saying warns against evil associations. Evil people are obsessed with destruction and trouble. See on this theme 1:10-19; 3:31 and 23:17. D. Kidner observes that a close view of sinners is often a good antidote to envying them (Proverbs [TOTC], 153).