Proverbs 5:22-23

5:22 The wicked ¹  will be captured by his ²  own iniquities, ³ 

and he will be held ⁴  by the cords of his own sin. ⁵ 

5:23 He will die because ⁶  there was no discipline;

because of the greatness of his folly ⁷  he will reel. ⁸ 

Job 18:16-18

18:16 Below his roots dry up,

and his branches wither above.

18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,

he has no name in the land. ⁹ 

18:18 He is driven ¹⁰  from light into darkness

and is banished from the world.

Job 21:30

21:30 that the evil man is spared

from the day of his misfortune,

that he is delivered ¹¹ 

from the day of God’s wrath?

Psalms 37:20

37:20 But ¹²  evil men will die;

the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated ¹³  –

they will go up in smoke. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 37:22

37:22 Surely ¹⁵  those favored by the Lord ¹⁶  will possess the land,

but those rejected ¹⁷  by him will be wiped out. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 37:28

37:28 For the Lord promotes ¹⁹  justice,

and never abandons ²⁰  his faithful followers.

They are permanently secure, ²¹ 

but the children ²²  of evil men are wiped out. ²³ 

Psalms 37:37-38

37:37 Take note of the one who has integrity! Observe the godly! ²⁴ 

For the one who promotes peace has a future. ²⁵ 

37:38 Sinful rebels are totally destroyed; ²⁶ 

evil men have no future. ²⁷ 

Psalms 52:5

52:5 Yet ²⁸  God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. ²⁹ 

He will scoop you up ³⁰  and remove you from your home; ³¹ 

he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)

Psalms 104:35

104:35 May sinners disappear ³²  from the earth,

and the wicked vanish!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 145:20

145:20 The Lord protects those who love him,

but he destroys all the wicked.

Isaiah 3:10-11

3:10 Tell the innocent ³³  it will go well with them, ³⁴ 

for they will be rewarded for what they have done. ³⁵ 

3:11 Too bad for the wicked sinners!

For they will get exactly what they deserve. ³⁶ 

[5:22]  ¹ tn The suffix on the verb is the direct object suffix; “the wicked” is a second object by apposition: They capture him, the wicked. Since “the wicked” is not found in the LXX, it could be an old scribal error; or the Greek translator may have simply smoothed out the sentence. C. H. Toy suggests turning the sentence into a passive idea: “The wicked will be caught in his iniquities” (Proverbs [ICC], 117).

[5:22]  ² tn The word is the subject of the clause, but the pronominal suffix has no clear referent. The suffix is proleptic, referring to the wicked.

[5:22]  ³ tn Heb “his own iniquities will capture the wicked.” The translation shifts the syntax for the sake of smoothness and readability.

[5:22]  ⁴ sn The lack of discipline and control in the area of sexual gratification is destructive. The one who plays with this kind of sin will become ensnared by it and led to ruin.

[5:22]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew is structured chiastically: “his own iniquities will capture the wicked, by the cords of his own sin will he be held.”

[5:23]  ⁶ tn The preposition בּ (bet) is used in a causal sense: “because” (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV).

[5:23]  ⁷ sn The word אִוַּלְתּוֹ (’ivvalto, “his folly”) is from the root אול and is related to the noun אֶוִיל (’evil, “foolish; fool”). The noun אִוֶּלֶת (’ivvelet, “folly”) describes foolish and destructive activity. It lacks understanding, destroys what wisdom builds, and leads to destruction if it is not corrected.

[5:23]  ⁸ sn The verb שָׁגָה (shagah, “to swerve; to reel”) is repeated in a negative sense. If the young man is not captivated by his wife but is captivated with a stranger in sinful acts, then his own iniquities will captivate him and he will be led to ruin.

[18:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “outside.” Cf. ESV, “in the street,” referring to absence from his community’s memory.

[18:18]  ¹⁰ tn The verbs in this verse are plural; without the expressed subject they should be taken in the passive sense.

[21:30]  ¹¹ tn The verb means “to be led forth.” To be “led forth in the day of trouble” means to be delivered.

[37:20]  ¹² tn Or “for,” but Hebrew כי in this case would have to extend all the way back to v. 17a. Another option is to understand the particle as asseverative, “surely” (see v. 22).

[37:20]  ¹³ tc The meaning of the MT (כִּיקַר כָּרִים [kiqar karim], “like what is precious among the pastures/rams”) is uncertain. One possibility is to take the noun כָּרִים as “pastures” and interpret “what is precious” as referring to flowers that blossom but then quickly disappear (see v. 2 and BDB 430 s.v. יָקָר 3). If כָּרִים is taken as “rams,” then “what is precious” might refer to the choicest portions of rams. The present translation follows a reading in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpPs37), כיקוד כורם (“like the burning of an oven”). The next line, which pictures the Lord’s enemies being consumed in smoke, supports this reading, which assumes confusion of the Hebrew letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) at the end of the first word in the sequence.

[37:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they perish in smoke, they perish.” In addition to repeating the verb for emphasis, the psalmist uses the perfect form of the verb to picture the enemies’ demise as if it had already taken place. In this way he draws attention to the certitude of their judgment.

[37:22]  ¹⁵ tn The particle כִּי is best understood as asseverative or emphatic here.

[37:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “those blessed by him.” The pronoun “him” must refer to the Lord (see vv. 20, 23), so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “cursed.”

[37:22]  ¹⁸ tn Or “cut off”; or “removed” (see v. 9).

[37:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world. The active participle describes characteristic behavior.

[37:28]  ²⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.

[37:28]  ²¹ tn Or “protected forever.”

[37:28]  ²² tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:28]  ²³ tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.

[37:37]  ²⁴ tn Or “upright.”

[37:37]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for [there is] an end for a man of peace.” Some interpret אַחֲרִית (’akharit, “end”) as referring to offspring (see the next verse and Ps 109:13; cf. NEB, NRSV).

[37:38]  ²⁶ tn Or “destroyed together.” In this case the psalmist pictures judgment sweeping them away as a group.

[37:38]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the end of evil men is cut off.” As in v. 37, some interpret אַחֲרִית (’akharit, “end”) as referring to offspring (see Ps 109:13). The perfect verbal forms in v. 38 probably express general truths. Another option is that they are used emphatically to state with certitude that the demise of the wicked is as good as done.

[52:5]  ²⁸ tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.

[52:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”

[52:5]  ³⁰ tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.

[52:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “from [your] tent.”

[104:35]  ³² tn Or “be destroyed.”

[3:10]  ³³ tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”

[3:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “that it is good.”

[3:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”

[3:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for the work of his hands will be done to him.”