Proverbs 17:13

17:13 As for the one who repays ¹  evil for good,

evil will not leave ²  his house. ³ 

Isaiah 10:7

10:7 But he does not agree with this,

his mind does not reason this way, ⁴ 

for his goal is to destroy,

and to eliminate many nations. ⁵ 

Isaiah 10:15

10:15 Does an ax exalt itself over the one who wields it,

or a saw magnify itself over the one who cuts with it? ⁶ 

As if a scepter should brandish the one who raises it,

or a staff should lift up what is not made of wood!

[17:13]  ¹ tn The sentence begins with the participle מֵשִׁיב (meshiv, “the one who repays”). The whole first colon may be taken as an independent nominative absolute, with the formal sentence to follow. Some English versions have made the first colon a condition by supplying “if” (NAB, NIV, TEV, NLT).

[17:13]  ² tn The verb מוּשׁ (mush) means “to depart; to remove.” The Kethib is a Hiphil, which would yield a meaning of “to take away”; so the Qere, which is the Qal, makes more sense in the line.

[17:13]  ³ sn The proverb does not explain whether God will turn evil back on him directly or whether people will begin to treat him as he treated others.

[10:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”

[10:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”

[10:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “the one who pushes it back and forth”; KJV “him that shaketh it”; ASV “him that wieldeth it.”