Proverbs 1:16

1:16 for they ¹  are eager ²  to inflict harm, ³ 

and they hasten ⁴  to shed blood. ⁵ 

Proverbs 4:16

4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they cause harm; ⁶ 

they are robbed of sleep ⁷  until they make someone stumble. ⁸ 

Isaiah 59:7-8

59:7 They are eager to do evil, ⁹ 

quick to shed innocent blood. ¹⁰ 

Their thoughts are sinful;

they crush and destroy. ¹¹ 

59:8 They are unfamiliar with peace;

their deeds are unjust. ¹² 

They use deceitful methods,

and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. ¹³ 

[1:16]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn The imperfect tense verbs may be classified as habitual or progressive imperfects describing their ongoing continual activity.

[1:16]  ⁵ 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.

[4:16]  ⁶ sn The verb is רָעַע (ra’a’), which means “to do evil; to harm.” The verse is using the figure of hyperbole to stress the preoccupation of some people with causing trouble. R. L. Alden says, “How sick to find peace only at the price of another man’s misfortune” (Proverbs, 47).

[4:16]  ⁷ sn Heb “their sleep is robbed/seized”; these expressions are metonymical for their restlessness in plotting evil.

[4:16]  ⁸ sn The Hiphil imperfect (Kethib) means “cause to stumble.” This idiom (from hypocatastasis) means “bring injury/ruin to someone” (BDB 505-6 s.v. כָּשַׁל Hiph.1).

[59:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “their feet run to evil.”

[59:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they quickly pour out innocent blood.”

[59:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their thoughts are thoughts of sin, destruction and crushing [are] in their roadways.”

[59:8]  ¹² tn Heb “a way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their pathways.”

[59:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “their paths they make crooked, everyone who walks in it does not know peace.”