34:14 Turn away from evil and do what is right! 1
Strive for peace and promote it! 2
37:27 Turn away from evil! Do what is right! 3
Then you will enjoy lasting security. 4
119:101 I stay away 5 from the evil path,
so that I might keep your instructions. 6
4:27 Do not turn 7 to the right or to the left;
turn yourself 8 away from evil. 9
14:16 A wise person is cautious 10 and turns from evil,
but a fool throws off restraint 11 and is overconfident. 12
16:6 Through loyal love and truth 13 iniquity is appeased; 14
through fearing the Lord 15 one avoids 16 evil. 17
16:17 The highway 18 of the upright is to turn 19 away from evil;
the one who guards 20 his way safeguards his life. 21
12:9 Love must be 22 without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good.
1 tn Or “do good.”
2 tn Heb “seek peace and pursue it.”
3 tn Or “Do good!” The imperatives are singular (see v. 1).
4 tn Heb “and dwell permanently.” The imperative with vav (ו) is best taken here as a result clause after the preceding imperatives.
5 tn Heb “I hold back my feet.”
6 tn Heb “your word.” Many medieval Hebrew
7 sn The two verbs in this verse are from different roots, but nonetheless share the same semantic domain. The first verb is תֵּט (tet), a jussive from נָטָה (natah), which means “to turn aside” (Hiphil); the second verb is the Hiphil imperative of סוּר (sur), which means “to cause to turn to the side” (Hiphil). The disciple is not to leave the path of righteousness; but to stay on the path he must leave evil.
8 tn Heb “your foot” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The term רַגְלְךָ (raglÿkha, “your foot”) is a synecdoche of part (= foot) for the whole person (= “yourself”).
9 tc The LXX adds, “For the way of the right hand God knows, but those of the left hand are distorted; and he himself will make straight your paths and guide your goings in peace.” The ideas presented here are not out of harmony with Proverbs, but the section clearly shows an expansion by the translator. For a brief discussion of whether this addition is Jewish or early Christian, see C. H. Toy, Proverbs (ICC), 99.
10 tn Heb “fears.” Since the holy name (Yahweh, translated “the
11 tn The Hitpael of עָבַר (’avar, “to pass over”) means “to pass over the bounds of propriety; to act insolently” (BDB 720 s.v.; cf. ASV “beareth himself insolently”).
12 tn The verb בָּטַח here denotes self-assurance or overconfidence. Fools are not cautious and do not fear the consequences of their actions.
13 sn These two words are often found together to form a nominal hendiadys: “faithful loyal love.” The couplet often characterize the
14 tn Heb “is atoned”; KJV “is purged”; NAB “is expiated.” The verb is from I כָּפַר (kafar, “to atone; to expiate; to pacify; to appease”; HALOT 493-94 s.v. I כפר). This root should not be confused with the identically spelled Homonym II כָּפַר (kafar, “to cover over”; HALOT 494 s.v. II *כפר). Atonement in the OT expiated sins, it did not merely cover them over (cf. NLT). C. H. Toy explains the meaning by saying it affirms that the divine anger against sin is turned away and man’s relation to God is as though he had not sinned (Proverbs [ICC], 322). Genuine repentance, demonstrated by loyalty and truthfulness, appeases the anger of God against one’s sin.
15 tn Heb “fear of the
16 tn Heb “turns away from”; NASB “keeps away from.”
17 sn The Hebrew word translated “evil” (רַע, ra’) can in some contexts mean “calamity” or “disaster,” but here it seems more likely to mean “evil” in the sense of sin. Faithfulness to the
18 sn The point of righteous living is made with the image of a highway, a raised and well-graded road (a hypocatastasis, implying a comparison between a highway and the right way of living).
19 tn The form סוּר (sur) is a Qal infinitive; it indicates that a purpose of the righteous life is to turn away from evil. “Evil” here has the sense of sinful living. So the first line asserts that the well-cared-for life avoids sin.
20 sn The second half of the verse uses two different words for “guard”; this one is נֹצֵר (notser) “the one who guards his way,” and the first is שֹׁמֵר (shomer) “the one who guards his life” (the order of the words is reversed in the translation). The second colon then explains further the first (synthetic parallelism), because to guard one’s way preserves life.
21 tc The LXX adds three lines after 17a and one after 17b: “The paths of life turn aside from evils, and the ways of righteousness are length of life; he who receives instruction will be prosperous, and he who regards reproofs will be made wise; he who guards his ways preserves his soul, and he who loves his life will spare his mouth.”
22 tn The verb “must be” is understood in the Greek text.