Proverbs 8:13

8:13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;

I hate arrogant pride and the evil way

and perverse utterances.

Proverbs 23:17

23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,

but rather be zealous in fearing the Lord all the time.


tn The verb שָׂנֵא (sane’) means “to hate.” In this sentence it functions nominally as the predicate. Fearing the Lord is hating evil.

tn Since both גֵּאָה (geah, “pride”) and גָּאוֹן (gaon, “arrogance; pride”) are both from the same verbal root גָּאָה (gaah, “to rise up”), they should here be interpreted as one idea, forming a nominal hendiadys: “arrogant pride.”

tn Heb “and a mouth of perverse things.” The word “mouth” is a metonymy of cause for what is said; and the noun תַהְפֻּכוֹת (tahpukhot, “perverse things”) means destructive things (the related verb is used for the overthrowing of Sodom).

tn The verb in this line is אַל־יְקַנֵּא (’al-yÿqanne’), the Piel jussive negated. The verb means “to be jealous, to be zealous”; it describes passionate intensity for something. In English, if the object is illegitimate, it is called “envy”; if it is correct, it is called “zeal.” Here the warning is not to envy the sinners. The second colon could use the verb in the positive sense to mean “but rather let your passion burn for the fear of the Lord.”

tn Heb “the fear of the Lord.” This expression features an objective genitive: “fearing the Lord.”