Proverbs 13:6

13:6 Righteousness ¹  guards the one who lives with integrity, ² 

but wickedness ³  overthrows the sinner.

Proverbs 19:3

19:3 A person’s folly ⁴  subverts ⁵  his way,

and ⁶  his heart rages ⁷  against the Lord.

Proverbs 21:12

21:12 The Righteous One ⁸  considers ⁹  the house ¹⁰  of the wicked;

he overthrows the wicked to their ruin. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 22:12

22:12 The eyes of the Lord ¹²  guard knowledge, ¹³ 

but he overthrows the words of the faithless person. ¹⁴ 

[13:6]  ¹ sn Righteousness refers to that which conforms to law and order. One who behaves with integrity will be safe from consequences of sin.

[13:6]  ² tn Heb “blameless of way.” The term דָּרֶךְ (darekh) is a genitive of specification: “blameless in respect to his way.” This means living above reproach in their course of life. Cf. NASB “whose way is blameless”; NAB “who walks honestly.”

[13:6]  ³ sn Righteousness and wickedness are personified in this proverb to make the point of security and insecurity for the two courses of life.

[19:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “the folly of a man.”

[19:3]  ⁵ tn The verb סָלַף (salaf) normally means “to twist; to pervert; to overturn,” but in this context it means “to subvert” (BDB 701 s.v.); cf. ASV “subverteth.”

[19:3]  ⁶ tn The clause begins with vav on the nonverb phrase “against the Lord.” While clause structure and word order is less compelling in a book like Proverbs, this fits well as a circumstantial clause indicating concession.

[19:3]  ⁷ sn The “heart raging” is a metonymy of cause (or adjunct); it represents the emotions that will lead to blaming God for the frustration. Genesis 42:28 offers a calmer illustration of this as the brothers ask what God was doing to them.

[21:12]  ⁷ tn In the book of Proverbs, the Hebrew term צַּדִּיק (ysadiq) normally refers to a human being, and that is a possible translation here (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB), although it would have to refer to a righteous person who was a judge or a ruler with the right to destroy the wicked. Many commentators and English versions simply interpret this as a reference to God (cf. NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[21:12]  ⁸ tn The form מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is now used with the meaning “to consider; to give attention to; to ponder.” It is the careful scrutiny that is given to the household of the wicked before judgment is poured out on them.

[21:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “house.” This term probably means “household” here – the family. One way to read the line is that the righteous judge (human or divine) takes into consideration the wicked person’s family before judging the wicked person. The other – and more plausible – interpretation is that the judge considers the household of the wicked and then on the basis of what was observed judges them.

[21:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to evil” (i.e., catastrophe); cf. NLT “to disaster.”

[22:12]  ¹⁰ sn The “eyes of the Lord” is an anthropomorphic expression; the omniscience of God is the intended meaning. When scripture uses the “eyes” of the Lord, it usually means evaluation, superintending, or safeguarding.

[22:12]  ¹¹ tn There is a slight difficulty in that the abstract noun “knowledge” is used nowhere else in the book of Proverbs with the word “watch.” C. H. Toy (Proverbs [ICC], 418) wants to make a major change to read “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,” but there is no support for this and it reduces the line to a common idea. D. W. Thomas suggests changing the word “knowledge” to “lawsuit” based on an Arabic cognate (“A Note on דַּעַת in Proverbs 22:12,” JTS 14 [1963]: 93-94).

[22:12]  ¹² tn The object of the verb is the “words of the traitor” (בֹגֵד דִּבְרֵי, divre voged); cf. NASB “the words of the treacherous man.” What treacherous people say is treachery. In this context “traitor, treacherous” refers to one who is “unfaithful” (cf. NIV).