Genesis 34:30

34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin ¹  on me by making me a foul odor ²  among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I ³  am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”

Psalms 5:10

5:10 Condemn them, ⁴  O God!

May their own schemes be their downfall! ⁵ 

Drive them away ⁶  because of their many acts of insurrection, ⁷ 

for they have rebelled against you.

Psalms 26:4-5

26:4 I do not associate ⁸  with deceitful men,

or consort ⁹  with those who are dishonest. ¹⁰ 

26:5 I hate the mob ¹¹  of evil men,

and do not associate ¹²  with the wicked.

Psalms 28:3

28:3 Do not drag me away with evil men,

with those who behave wickedly, ¹³ 

who talk so friendly to their neighbors, ¹⁴ 

while they plan to harm them! ¹⁵ 

Psalms 94:20-21

94:20 Cruel rulers ¹⁶  are not your allies,

those who make oppressive laws. ¹⁷ 

94:21 They conspire against ¹⁸  the blameless, ¹⁹ 

and condemn to death the innocent. ²⁰ 

Psalms 139:19

139:19 If only ²¹  you would kill the wicked, O God!

Get away from me, you violent men! ²² 

Proverbs 1:11

1:11 If they say, “Come with us!

We will ²³  lie in wait ²⁴  to shed blood; ²⁵ 

we will ambush ²⁶  an innocent person ²⁷  capriciously. ²⁸ 

Proverbs 1:15-16

1:15 My child, do not go down ²⁹  their way, ³⁰ 

withhold yourself ³¹  from their path; ³² 

1:16 for they ³³  are eager ³⁴  to inflict harm, ³⁵ 

and they hasten ³⁶  to shed blood. ³⁷ 

Proverbs 12:5

12:5 The plans ³⁸  of the righteous are just;

the counsels of the wicked are deceitful. ³⁹ 

[34:30]  ¹ tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.

[34:30]  ² tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.

[34:30]  ³ tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.

[5:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “declare/regard them as guilty.” Declaring the psalmist’s adversaries guilty is here metonymic for judging them or paying them back for their wrongdoing.

[5:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “may they fall from their plans.” The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation. The psalmist calls judgment down on the evildoers. Their plans will be their downfall in that God will judge them for their evil schemes.

[5:10]  ⁶ tn Or “banish them.”

[5:10]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew noun used here, פֶּשַׁע (pesha’), refers to rebellious actions. The psalmist pictures his enemies as rebels against God (see the next line).

[26:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “sit.”

[26:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “go.” The psalmist uses the imperfect form of the verb to emphasize that he does not make a practice of associating with such people.

[26:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[those who] conceal themselves.”

[26:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “assembly, company.”

[26:5]  ¹² tn Heb “sit.” The psalmist uses the imperfect form of the verb to emphasize that he does not make a practice of associating with such people.

[28:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”

[28:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “speakers of peace with their neighbors.”

[28:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and evil [is] in their heart[s].”

[94:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a throne of destruction.” “Throne” stands here by metonymy for rulers who occupy thrones.

[94:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Is a throne of destruction united to you, one that forms trouble upon a statute?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course not!” The translation, while not preserving the interrogative form of the statement, reflects its rhetorical force.

[94:21]  ¹⁸ tn Or “attack.”

[94:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the life of the blameless.”

[94:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and the blood of the innocent they declare guilty.”

[139:19]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (see Pss 81:8; 95:7, as well as GKC 321 §109.b).

[139:19]  ²² tn Heb “men of bloodshed.”

[1:11]  ²³ tn This cohortative נֶאֶרְבָה (ne’ervah) could denote resolve (“We will lie in wait!”) or exhortation (“Let us lie in wait!”). These sinners are either expressing their determination to carry out a violent plan or they are trying to entice the lad to participate with them.

[1:11]  ²⁴ tn The verb אָרַב (’arav, “to lie in wait”) it is used for planning murder (Deut 19:11), kidnapping (Judg 21:20), or seduction (Prov 23:28).

[1:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for blood.” The term דָּם (dam, “blood”) functions as a metonymy of effect for “blood shed violently” through murder (HALOT 224 s.v. 4).

[1:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “lie in hiding.”

[1:11]  ²⁷ tn The term “innocent” (נָקִי, naqi) intimates that the person to be attacked is harmless.

[1:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “without cause” (so KJV, NASB); NCV “just for fun.” The term חִנָּם (khinnam, “without cause”) emphasizes that the planned attack is completely unwarranted.

[1:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “do not walk.”

[1:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in the way with them.”

[1:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “your foot.” The term “foot” (רֶגֶל, regel) is a synecdoche of part (= your foot) for the whole person (= yourself).

[1:15]  ³² sn The word “path” (נְתִיבָה, nÿtivah) like the word “way” (דֶּרֶךְ, derekh) is used as an idiom (developed from a hypocatastasis), meaning “conduct, course of life.”

[1:16]  ³³ tn Heb “their feet.” The term “feet” is a synecdoche of the part (= their feet) for the whole person (= they), stressing the eagerness of the robbers.

[1:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “run.” The verb רוּץ (ruts, “run”) functions here as a metonymy of association, meaning “to be eager” to do something (BDB 930 s.v.).

[1:16]  ³⁵ tn Heb “to harm.” The noun רַע (ra’) has a four-fold range of meanings: (1) “pain, harm” (Prov 3:30), (2) “calamity, disaster” (13:21), (3) “distress, misery” (14:32) and (4) “moral evil” (8:13; see BDB 948-49 s.v.). The parallelism with “swift to shed blood” suggests it means “to inflict harm, injury.”

[1:16]  ³⁶ tn The imperfect tense verbs may be classified as habitual or progressive imperfects describing their ongoing continual activity.

[1:16]  ³⁷ tc The BHS editors suggest deleting this entire verse from MT because it does not appear in several versions (Codex B of the LXX, Coptic, Arabic) and is similar to Isa 59:7a. It is possible that it was a scribal gloss (intentional addition) copied into the margin from Isaiah. But this does not adequately explain the differences. It does fit the context well enough to be original.

[12:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “thoughts.” This term refers not just to random thoughts, however, but to what is planned or devised.

[12:5]  ³⁹ sn The plans of good people are directed toward what is right. Advice from the wicked, however, is deceitful and can only lead to trouble.