Proverbs 6:14

6:14 he plots evil with perverse thoughts ¹  in his heart,

he spreads contention ²  at all times.

Proverbs 6:18

6:18 a heart that devises wicked plans, ³ 

feet that are swift to run ⁴  to evil,

Proverbs 16:29-30

16:29 A violent person ⁵  entices ⁶  his neighbor,

and leads him down a path that is terrible. ⁷ 

16:30 The one who winks his eyes ⁸  devises perverse things,

and ⁹  one who compresses his lips ¹⁰  brings about ¹¹  evil.

Psalms 35:20

35:20 For they do not try to make peace with others, ¹² 

but plan ways to deceive those who are unsuspecting. ¹³ 

Psalms 55:20

55:20 He ¹⁴  attacks ¹⁵  his friends; ¹⁶ 

he breaks his solemn promises to them. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ¹⁸ 

powerful men stalk ¹⁹  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 18:18-20

Jeremiah Petitions the Lord to Punish Those Who Attack Him

18:18 Then some people ²¹  said, “Come on! Let us consider how to deal with Jeremiah! ²²  There will still be priests to instruct us, wise men to give us advice, and prophets to declare God’s word. ²³  Come on! Let’s bring charges against him and get rid of him! ²⁴  Then we will not need to pay attention to anything he says.”

18:19 Then I said, ²⁵ 

“Lord, pay attention to me.

Listen to what my enemies are saying. ²⁶ 

18:20 Should good be paid back with evil?

Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. ²⁷ 

Just remember how I stood before you

pleading on their behalf ²⁸ 

to keep you from venting your anger on them. ²⁹ 

Micah 2:1-2

Land Robbers Will Lose their Land

2:1 Those who devise sinful plans are as good as dead, ³⁰ 

those who dream about doing evil as they lie in bed. ³¹ 

As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, ³² 

because they have the power to do so.

2:2 They confiscate the fields they desire,

and seize the houses they want. ³³ 

They defraud people of their homes, ³⁴ 

and deprive people of the land they have inherited. ³⁵ 

[6:14]  ¹ tn The noun is an adverbial accusative of manner, explaining the circumstances that inform his evil plans.

[6:14]  ² tn The word “contention” is from the root דִּין (din); the noun means “strife, contention, quarrel.” The normal plural form is represented by the Qere, and the contracted form by the Kethib.

[6:18]  ³ tn Heb “heart that devises plans of wickedness.” The latter term is an attributive genitive. The heart (metonymy of subject) represents the will; here it plots evil schemes. The heart is capable of evil schemes (Gen 6:5); the heart that does this is deceitful (Prov 12:20; 14:22).

[6:18]  ⁴ tc The MT reads “make haste to run,” that is, be eager to seize the opportunity. The LXX omits “run,” that is, feet hastening to do evil. It must have appeared to the LXX translator that the verb was unnecessary; only one verb occurs in the other cola.

[16:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “man of violence.” He influences his friends toward violence. The term חָמָס (khamas, “violence”) often refers to sins against society, social injustices, and crimes.

[16:29]  ⁶ tn The verb in the first colon is the Piel imperfect, and the form in the second is the Hiphil perfect; the first is a habitual imperfect, and the second a gnomic perfect. The first verb, “to persuade, seduce, entice,” is the metonymy of cause; the second verb, “to lead,” is the metonymy of effect, the two together forming the whole process.

[16:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “not good” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “a harmful path.” The expression “a way that is not good” is an example of tapeinosis – a deliberate understatement for the sake of emphasis: It is terrible. This refers to crime and violence. The understatement is used to warn people away from villains and to remind them to follow a good path.

[16:30]  ⁸ sn The participle עֹצֶה (’otseh) describes one as shutting his eyes (cf. KJV, ASV). This could mean simply “closing the eyes,” or it could refer to “winking” (so many English versions). The proverb is saying that facial expressions often reveal if someone is plotting evil (e.g., 6:13-14).

[16:30]  ⁹ tn The conjunction “and” does not appear in the Hebrew but is implied by the synonymous parallelism.

[16:30]  ¹⁰ tn The participle קֹרֵץ (qorets) indicates that the person involved is pinching, compressing, or biting his lips (cf. NIV “purses his lips”).

[16:30]  ¹¹ tn The verb is a Piel perfect; it means “complete, finish, bring to an end.” The two cola may form the whole process: The first line has “to devise” evil, and the second has “he completes” evil. BDB, however, classifies this use of the Piel as “to accomplish in thought” meaning “to determine” something (BDB 478 s.v. כָּלָה 1f). In that case the two lines would have synonymous ideas, i.e., using facial expressions to plan evil actions.

[35:20]  ¹² tn Heb “for they do not speak peace.”

[35:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “but against the quiet ones of the land words of deceit they plan.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 20 highlight their characteristic behavior.

[55:20]  ¹⁴ sn He. This must refer to the psalmist’s former friend, who was addressed previously in vv. 12-14.

[55:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “stretches out his hand against.”

[55:20]  ¹⁶ tc The form should probably be emended to an active participle (שֹׁלְמָיו, sholÿmayv) from the verbal root שָׁלַם (shalam, “be in a covenant of peace with”). Perhaps the translation “his friends” suggests too intimate a relationship. Another option is to translate, “he attacks those who made agreements with him.”

[55:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he violates his covenant.”

[59:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.

[59:3]  ²⁰ sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.

[18:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “They.” The referent is unidentified; “some people” has been used in the translation.

[18:18]  ²² tn Heb “Let us make plans against Jeremiah.” See 18:18 where this has sinister overtones as it does here.

[18:18]  ²³ tn Heb “Instruction will not perish from priest, counsel from the wise, word from the prophet.”

[18:18]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Let us smite him with our tongues.” It is clear from the context that this involved plots to kill him.

[18:19]  ²⁵ tn The words “Then I said” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity to show that Jeremiah turns from description of the peoples’ plots to his address to God to deal with the plotters.

[18:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the voice of my adversaries.”

[18:20]  ²⁷ tn Or “They are plotting to kill me”; Heb “They have dug a pit for my soul.” This is a common metaphor for plotting against someone. See BDB 500 s.v. כָּרָה Qal and for an example see Pss 7:16 (7:15 HT) in its context.

[18:20]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to speak good concerning them” going back to the concept of “good” being paid back with evil.

[18:20]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to turn back your anger from them.”

[2:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Woe to those who plan sin.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”; “ah”) was a cry used in mourning the dead.

[2:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “those who do evil upon their beds.”

[2:1]  ³² tn Heb “at the light of morning they do it.”

[2:2]  ³³ tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”

[2:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”

[2:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.