Proverbs 4:16-27

4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they cause harm; ¹ 

they are robbed of sleep ²  until they make someone stumble. ³ 

4:17 For they eat bread ⁴  gained from wickedness ⁵ 

and drink wine obtained from violence. ⁶ 

4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the bright morning light, ⁷ 

growing brighter and brighter ⁸  until full day. ⁹ 

4:19 The way of the wicked is like gloomy darkness; ¹⁰ 

they do not know what causes them to stumble. ¹¹ 

4:20 My child, pay attention to my words;

listen attentively ¹²  to my sayings.

4:21 Do not let them depart ¹³  from your sight,

guard ¹⁴  them within your heart; ¹⁵ 

4:22 for they are life to those who find them

and healing to one’s entire body. ¹⁶ 

4:23 Guard your heart with all vigilance, ¹⁷ 

for from it are the sources ¹⁸  of life.

4:24 Remove perverse speech ¹⁹  from your mouth; ²⁰ 

keep devious talk far from your lips. ²¹ 

4:25 Let your eyes look directly ²²  in front of you

and let your gaze ²³  look straight before you.

4:26 Make the path for your feet ²⁴  level, ²⁵ 

so that ²⁶  all your ways may be established. ²⁷ 

4:27 Do not turn ²⁸  to the right or to the left;

turn yourself ²⁹  away from evil. ³⁰ 

[4:16]  ¹ 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]  ² sn Heb “their sleep is robbed/seized”; these expressions are metonymical for their restlessness in plotting evil.

[4:16]  ³ 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).

[4:17]  ⁴ tn The noun is a cognate accusative stressing that they consume wickedness.

[4:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “the bread of wickedness” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). There are two ways to take the genitives: (1) genitives of apposition: wickedness and violence are their food and drink (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT), or (2) genitives of source: they derive their livelihood from the evil they do (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 93).

[4:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “the wine of violence” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). This is a genitive of source, meaning that the wine they drink was plundered from their violent crime. The Hebrew is structured in an AB:BA chiasm: “For they eat the bread of wickedness, and the wine of violence they drink.” The word order in the translation is reversed for the sake of smoothness and readability.

[4:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “like light of brightness.” This construction is an attributive genitive: “bright light.” The word “light” (אוֹר, ’or) refers to the early morning light or the dawn (BDB 21 s.v.). The point of the simile is that the course of life that the righteous follow is like the clear, bright morning light. It is illumined, clear, easy to follow, and healthy and safe – the opposite of what darkness represents.

[4:18]  ⁸ tn The construction uses the Qal active participle of הָלַךְ (halakh) in a metaphorical sense to add the idea of continuance or continually to the participle הוֹלֵךְ (holekh). Here the path was growing light, but the added participle signifies continually.

[4:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “until the day is established.” This expression refers to the coming of the full day or the time of high noon.

[4:19]  ¹⁰ sn The simile describes ignorance or spiritual blindness, sinfulness, calamity, despair.

[4:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in what they stumble.”

[4:20]  ¹² tn Heb “incline your ear.” The verb הַט (hat) is the Hiphil imperative from נָטָה (natah, Hiphil: “to turn to; to incline”). The idiom “to incline the ear” gives the picture of “lean over and listen closely.”

[4:21]  ¹³ tn The Hiphil form יַלִּיזוּ (yallizu) follows the Aramaic with gemination. The verb means “to turn aside; to depart” (intransitive Hiphil or inner causative).

[4:21]  ¹⁴ tn Or “keep” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV and many others).

[4:21]  ¹⁵ sn The words “eyes” and “heart” are metonymies of subject representing the faculties of each. Cf. CEV “think about it all.”

[4:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to all of his flesh.”

[4:23]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “more than all guarding.” This idiom means “with all vigilance.” The construction uses the preposition מִן (min) to express “above; beyond,” the word “all” and the noun “prison; guard; act of guarding.” The latter is the use here (BDB 1038 s.v. מִשְׁמָר).

[4:23]  ¹⁸ sn The word תּוֹצְאוֹת (tots’ot, from יָצָא, yatsa’) means “outgoings; extremities; sources.” It is used here for starting points, like a fountainhead, and so the translation “sources” works well.

[4:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “crookedness.” The noun עִקְּשׁוּת (’iqqÿshut) refers to what is morally twisted or perverted. Here it refers to things that are said (cf. NAB “dishonest talk”; NRSV “crooked speech”). The term “mouth” functions as a metonymy of cause for perverse speech. Such perverse talking could be subtle or blatant.

[4:24]  ²⁰ tn Heb “crookedness of mouth.”

[4:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “deviousness of lips put far from you.”

[4:25]  ²² tn The jussives in this verse are both Hiphil, the first from the verb “to gaze; to look intently [or, carefully],” (נָבַט, navat) and the second from the verb “to be smooth, straight” (יָשָׁר, yashar).

[4:25]  ²³ tn Heb “your eyelids.” The term “eyelids” is often a poetic synonym for “eye” (it is a metonymy of adjunct, something connected with the eye put for the eye that sees); it may intensify the idea as one might squint to gain a clearer look.

[4:26]  ²⁴ tn Heb “path of your foot.”

[4:26]  ²⁵ sn The verb is a denominative Piel from the word פֶּלֶס (peles), “balance; scale.” In addition to telling the disciple to keep focused on a righteous life, the sage tells him to keep his path level, which is figurative for living the righteous life.

[4:26]  ²⁶ tn The vav prefixed to the beginning of this dependent clause denotes purpose/result following the preceding imperative.

[4:26]  ²⁷ tn The Niphal jussive from כּוּן (cun, “to be fixed; to be established; to be steadfast”) continues the idiom of walking and ways for the moral sense in life.

[4:27]  ²⁸ sn The two verbs in this verse are from different roots, but nonetheless share the same semantic domain. The first verb is תֵּט (tet), a jussive from נָטָה (natah), which means “to turn aside” (Hiphil); the second verb is the Hiphil imperative of סוּר (sur), which means “to cause to turn to the side” (Hiphil). The disciple is not to leave the path of righteousness; but to stay on the path he must leave evil.

[4:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “your foot” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV). The term רַגְלְךָ (raglÿkha, “your foot”) is a synecdoche of part (= foot) for the whole person (= “yourself”).

[4:27]  ³⁰ tc The LXX adds, “For the way of the right hand God knows, but those of the left hand are distorted; and he himself will make straight your paths and guide your goings in peace.” The ideas presented here are not out of harmony with Proverbs, but the section clearly shows an expansion by the translator. For a brief discussion of whether this addition is Jewish or early Christian, see C. H. Toy, Proverbs (ICC), 99.