Proverbs 21:27

21:27 The wicked person’s sacrifice ¹  is an abomination;

how much more ²  when he brings it with evil intent! ³ 

Proverbs 7:10

7:10 Suddenly ⁴  a woman came out to meet him!

She was dressed like a prostitute ⁵  and with secret intent. ⁶ 

Proverbs 6:13

6:13 he winks with his eyes,

signals with his feet,

and points with his fingers; ⁷ 

Proverbs 10:6

10:6 Blessings ⁸  are on the head of the righteous,

but the speech ⁹  of the wicked conceals ¹⁰  violence. ¹¹ 

Proverbs 10:11

10:11 The teaching ¹²  of the righteous is a fountain of life, ¹³ 

but the speech ¹⁴  of the wicked conceals ¹⁵  violence. ¹⁶ 

Proverbs 12:2

12:2 A good person obtains favor from the Lord,

but the Lord ¹⁷  condemns a person with wicked schemes. ¹⁸ 

Proverbs 14:17

14:17 A person who has a quick temper ¹⁹  does foolish things,

and a person with crafty schemes ²⁰  is hated. ²¹ 

Proverbs 16:1-2

16:1 The intentions of the heart ²²  belong to a man, ²³ 

but the answer of the tongue ²⁴  comes from ²⁵  the Lord. ²⁶ 

16:2 All a person’s ways ²⁷  seem right ²⁸  in his own opinion, ²⁹ 

but the Lord evaluates ³⁰  the motives. ³¹ 

Proverbs 17:16

17:16 Of what ³²  use is money in the hand of a fool, ³³ 

since he has no intention ³⁴  of acquiring wisdom? ³⁵ 

[21:27]  ¹ tn Heb “the sacrifice of the wicked” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This is a subjective genitive. The foundational clause states that ritual acts of worship brought by the wicked (thus a subjective genitive) are detestable to God. The “wicked” refers here to people who are not members of the covenant (no faith) and are not following after righteousness (no acceptable works). But often they participate in sanctuary ritual, which amounts to hypocrisy.

[21:27]  ² sn This rhetorical device shows that if the act is abomination, the wicked heart is an even greater sin. It argues from the lesser to the greater.

[21:27]  ³ tn The noun זִמָּה (zimmah) means “plan; device; wickedness”; here it indicates that the person is coming to the ritual with “sinful purpose.” Some commentators suggest that this would mean he comes with the sacrifice as a bribe to pacify his conscience for a crime committed, over which he has little remorse or intent to cease (cf. NLT “with ulterior motives”). In this view, people in ancient Israel came to think that sacrifices could be given for any reason without genuine submission to God.

[7:10]  ⁴ tn The particle וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh) introduces a dramatic sense of the immediate to the narrative; it has a deictic force, “and look! – there was a woman,” or “all of a sudden this woman….”

[7:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “with the garment of a prostitute.” The noun שִׁית (shith, “garment”) is an adverbial accusative specifying the appearance of the woman. The words “she was” are supplied in the translation to make a complete English sentence.

[7:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “kept secret of heart”; cf. ASV, NRSV “wily of heart.” The verbal form is the passive participle from נָצַר (natsar) in construct. C. H. Toy lists the suggestions of the commentators: false, malicious, secret, subtle, excited, hypocritical (Proverbs [ICC], 149). The LXX has “causes the hearts of the young men to fly away.” The verb means “to guard; to watch; to keep”; to be guarded of heart means to be wily, to have secret intent – she has locked up her plans and gives nothing away (e.g., Isaiah 48:6 as well). Interestingly enough, this contrasts with her attire which gives everything away.

[6:13]  ⁷ sn The sinister sign language and gestures of the perverse individual seem to indicate any kind of look or gesture that is put on and therefore a form of deception if not a way of making insinuations. W. McKane suggests from the presence of חֹרֵשׁ (khoresh) in v. 14 that there may be some use of magic here (Proverbs [OTL], 325).

[10:6]  ¹⁰ sn The word “blessings” has the sense of gifts, enrichments, that is, the rewards or the results of being righteous. The blessings come either from the people the righteous deal with, or from God. CEV understands the blessings as praise for good behavior (“Everyone praises good people”).

[10:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.

[10:6]  ¹² tn Heb “covers.” Behind the speech of the wicked is aggressive violence (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 422).

[10:6]  ¹³ tn The syntax of this line is ambiguous. The translation takes “the mouth of the wicked” as the nominative subject and “violence” as the accusative direct object; however, the subject might be “violence,” hence: “violence covers the mouth of the wicked” (cf. KJV, ASV, NIV).

[10:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “mouth.” The word “mouth” is metonymy of cause, representing what the righteous say and teach.

[10:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a fountain of life is the mouth of the righteous” (NAB similar). The subject (“a fountain of life”) and the predicate (“the mouth of the righteous”) in the Hebrew text are reversed in the present translation (as in most English versions) for the sake of clarity and smoothness. The idea of this metaphor, “the fountain of life,” may come from Ps 36:9 (e.g., also Prov 13:14; 14:27; 16:22). What the righteous say is beneficial to life or life-giving. Their words are life-giving but the words of the wicked are violent. See R. B. Y. Scott, “Wise and Foolish, Righteous and Wicked,” VT 29 (1972): 145-65.

[10:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.

[10:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “covers.” Behind the speech of the wicked is aggressive violence (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 422).

[10:11]  ¹⁷ tn The syntax of this line is ambiguous. The translation takes “the mouth of the wicked” as the nominative subject and “violence” as the accusative direct object; however, the subject might be “violence,” hence: “violence covers the mouth of the wicked.”

[12:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “but he condemns”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a man of wicked plans.” The noun מְזִמּוֹת (mÿzimmot, “evil plans”) functions as an attributive genitive: “an evil-scheming man.” Cf. NASB “a man who devises evil”; NAB “the schemer.”

[14:17]  ¹⁹ sn The proverb discusses two character traits that are distasteful to others – the quick tempered person (“short of anger” or impatient) and the crafty person (“man of devices”). C. H. Toy thinks that the proverb is antithetical and renders it “but a wise man endures” (Proverbs [ICC], 292). In other words, the quick-tempered person acts foolishly and loses people’s respect, but the wise man does not.

[14:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a man of devices.”

[14:17]  ²¹ tc The LXX reads “endures” (from נָשָׂא, nasa’) rather than “is hated” (from שָׂנֵא, sane’). This change seems to have arisen on the assumption that a contrast was needed. It has: “a man of thought endures.” Other versions take מְזִמּוֹת (mÿzimmot) in a good sense; but antithetical parallelism is unwarranted here.

[16:1]  ²² tn Heb “plans of the heart” (so ASV, NASB, NIV). The phrase מַעַרְכֵי־לֵב (ma’arkhe-lev) means “the arrangements of the mind.”

[16:1]  ²³ tn Heb “[are] to a man.”

[16:1]  ²⁴ tn Here “the tongue” is a metonymy of cause in which the instrument of speech is put for what is said: the answer expressed.

[16:1]  ²⁵ sn The contrasting prepositions enhance the contrasting ideas – the ideas belong to people, but the words come from the Lord.

[16:1]  ²⁶ sn There are two ways this statement can be taken: (1) what one intends to say and what one actually says are the same, or (2) what one actually says differs from what the person intended to say. The second view fits the contrast better. The proverb then is giving a glimpse of how God even confounds the wise. When someone is trying to speak [“answer” in the book seems to refer to a verbal answer] before others, the Lord directs the words according to his sovereign will.

[16:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “ways of a man.”

[16:2]  ²⁶ sn The Hebrew term translated “right” (z~E) means “innocent” (NIV) or “pure” (NAB, NRSV, NLT). It is used in the Bible for pure oils or undiluted liquids; here it means unmixed actions. Therefore on the one hand people rather naively conclude that their actions are fine.

[16:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in his eyes.”

[16:2]  ²⁸ tn The figure (a hypocatastasis) of “weighing” signifies “evaluation” (e.g., Exod 5:8; 1 Sam 2:3; 16:7; Prov 21:2; 24:12). There may be an allusion to the Egyptian belief of weighing the heart after death to determine righteousness. But in Hebrew thought it is an ongoing evaluation as well, not merely an evaluation after death.

[16:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “spirits” (so KJV, ASV). This is a metonymy for the motives, the intentions of the heart (e.g., 21:2 and 24:2).

[17:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “why this?” The term זֶּה (zeh) is an enclitic use of the demonstrative pronoun for emphasis: “why ever” would this happen?

[17:16]  ²⁹ sn The sense seems to be “What good is money” since what the fool needs cannot be bought? The verse is a rhetorical question stating that money would be wasted on a fool.

[17:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “there is no heart”; NASB “he has no (+ common TEV) sense”; NLT “has no heart for wisdom.”

[17:16]  ³¹ sn W. McKane envisions a situation where the fool comes to a sage with a fee in hand, supposing that he can acquire a career as a sage, and this gives rise to the biting comment here: Why does the fool have money in his hands? To buy wisdom when he has no brains? (Proverbs [OTL], 505).