52:3 You love evil more than good,
lies more than speaking the truth. 1 (Selah)
119:163 I hate and despise deceit;
I love your law.
6:17 haughty eyes, 2 a lying tongue, 3
and hands that shed innocent blood, 4
13:5 The righteous person hates anything false, 5
but the wicked person acts in shameful disgrace. 6
7:3 The royal advisers delight the king with their evil schemes,
the princes make him glad with their lies.
1 tn Or “deceit more than speaking what is right.”
2 sn The expression “high/ lofty [רָמוֹת, ramot] eyes” refers to a proud look suggesting arrogant ambition (cf. NCV “a proud look”). The use of “eyes” is a metonymy of adjunct, the look in the eyes accompanying the attitude. This term “high” is used in Num 15:30 for the sin of the “high hand,” i.e., willful rebellion or defiant sin. The usage of “haughty eyes” may be illustrated by its use with the pompous Assyrian invader (Isa 10:12-14) and the proud king of the book of Daniel (11:12). God does not tolerate anyone who thinks so highly of himself and who has such ambition.
3 tn Heb “a tongue of deception.” The genitive noun functions attributively. The term “tongue” functions as a metonymy. The term is used of false prophets who deceive (Jer 14:14), and of a deceiver who betrays (Ps 109:2). The
4 sn The hands are the instruments of murder (metonymy of cause), and God hates bloodshed. Gen 9:6 prohibited shedding blood because people are the image of God. Even David being a man of blood (in war mostly) was not permitted to build the Temple (1 Chr 22:8). But shedding innocent blood was a greater crime – it usually went with positions of power, such as King Manasseh filling the streets with blood (2 Kgs 21:16), or princes doing it for gain (Ezek 22:27).
5 tn Heb “a word of falsehood.” The genitive “falsehood” functions as an attributive genitive. The construct noun דְּבַר (dÿvar) means either “word” or “thing.” Hence, the phrase means “a false word” or “a false thing.”
6 tc The versions render this phrase variously: “is ashamed and without confidence” (LXX); “is ashamed and put to the blush” (Tg. Prov 13:5); “confounds and will be confounded” (Vulgate). The variety is due in part to confusion of בָּאַשׁ (ba’sh, “to stink”) and בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “to be ashamed”). Cf. NASB “acts disgustingly and shamefully.”
7 tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify that the Greek pronoun and verb are plural.
8 tn Many translations read “You are of your father the devil” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “You belong to your father, the devil” (NIV), but the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) emphasizes the idea of source or origin. Jesus said his opponents were the devil’s very offspring (a statement which would certainly infuriate them).
9 tn Grk “the desires of your father you want to do.”
10 tn Grk “That one” (referring to the devil).
11 tn Grk “he does not stand in the truth” (in the sense of maintaining, upholding, or accepting the validity of it).
12 tn Grk “Whenever he speaks the lie.”
13 tn Grk “he speaks from his own.”
14 tn Grk “because he is a liar and the father of it.”
15 tn Grk “who, knowing…, not only do them but also approve…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
16 tn Grk “are worthy of death.”
17 sn “Vice lists” like vv. 28-32 can be found elsewhere in the NT in Matt 15:19; Gal 5:19-21; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and 1 Pet 4:3. An example from the intertestamental period can be found in Wis 14:25-26.
18 tn On the term φάρμακοι (farmakoi) see L&N 53.101.
19 tn Or “lying,” “deceit.”