Proverbs 1:16

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

and they hasten ⁴  to shed blood. ⁵ 

Proverbs 6:18

6:18 a heart that devises wicked plans, ⁶ 

feet that are swift to run ⁷  to evil,

Isaiah 59:7-8

59:7 They are eager to do evil, ⁸ 

quick to shed innocent blood. ⁹ 

Their thoughts are sinful;

they crush and destroy. ¹⁰ 

59:8 They are unfamiliar with peace;

their deeds are unjust. ¹¹ 

They use deceitful methods,

and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. ¹² 

[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.

[6:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “heart that devises plans of wickedness.” The latter term is an attributive genitive. The heart (metonymy of subject) represents the will; here it plots evil schemes. The heart is capable of evil schemes (Gen 6:5); the heart that does this is deceitful (Prov 12:20; 14:22).

[6:18]  ⁷ tc The MT reads “make haste to run,” that is, be eager to seize the opportunity. The LXX omits “run,” that is, feet hastening to do evil. It must have appeared to the LXX translator that the verb was unnecessary; only one verb occurs in the other cola.

[59:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “their feet run to evil.”

[59:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “they quickly pour out innocent blood.”

[59:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “their thoughts are thoughts of sin, destruction and crushing [are] in their roadways.”

[59:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their pathways.”

[59:8]  ¹² tn Heb “their paths they make crooked, everyone who walks in it does not know peace.”