Proverbs 6:17

6:17 haughty eyes, ¹  a lying tongue, ² 

and hands that shed innocent blood, ³ 

Proverbs 16:18

16:18 Pride ⁴  goes ⁵  before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall. ⁶ 

Proverbs 18:12

18:12 Before destruction the heart ⁷  of a person is proud,

but humility comes ⁸  before honor. ⁹ 

Proverbs 19:29

19:29 Judgments ¹⁰  are prepared for scorners,

and floggings for the backs of fools.

Esther 3:5-6

3:5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing or paying homage to him, he ¹¹  was filled with rage. 3:6 But the thought of striking out against ¹²  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ¹³  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ¹⁴  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ¹⁵  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Ecclesiastes 7:8-9

7:8 The end of a matter ¹⁶  is better than its beginning;

likewise, patience ¹⁷  is better than pride. ¹⁸ 

7:9 Do not let yourself be quickly provoked, ¹⁹ 

for anger resides in the lap ²⁰  of fools.

Matthew 2:16

2:16 When Herod ²¹  saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men ²²  to kill all the children in Bethlehem ²³  and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.

[6:17]  ¹ sn The expression “high/ lofty [רָמוֹת, ramot] eyes” refers to a proud look suggesting arrogant ambition (cf. NCV “a proud look”). The use of “eyes” is a metonymy of adjunct, the look in the eyes accompanying the attitude. This term “high” is used in Num 15:30 for the sin of the “high hand,” i.e., willful rebellion or defiant sin. The usage of “haughty eyes” may be illustrated by its use with the pompous Assyrian invader (Isa 10:12-14) and the proud king of the book of Daniel (11:12). God does not tolerate anyone who thinks so highly of himself and who has such ambition.

[6:17]  ² tn Heb “a tongue of deception.” The genitive noun functions attributively. The term “tongue” functions as a metonymy. The term is used of false prophets who deceive (Jer 14:14), and of a deceiver who betrays (Ps 109:2). The Lord hates deceptive speech because it is destructive (26:28).

[6:17]  ³ sn The hands are the instruments of murder (metonymy of cause), and God hates bloodshed. Gen 9:6 prohibited shedding blood because people are the image of God. Even David being a man of blood (in war mostly) was not permitted to build the Temple (1 Chr 22:8). But shedding innocent blood was a greater crime – it usually went with positions of power, such as King Manasseh filling the streets with blood (2 Kgs 21:16), or princes doing it for gain (Ezek 22:27).

[16:18]  ⁴ sn The two lines of this proverb are synonymous parallelism, and so there are parasynonyms. “Pride” is paired with “haughty spirit” (“spirit” being a genitive of specification); and “destruction” is matched with “a tottering, falling.”

[16:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “[is] before destruction.”

[16:18]  ⁶ sn Many proverbs have been written in a similar way to warn against the inevitable disintegration and downfall of pride. W. McKane records an Arabic proverb: “The nose is in the heavens, the seat is in the mire” (Proverbs [OTL], 490).

[18:12]  ⁷ sn The term “heart” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the seat of the spiritual and intellectual capacities – the mind, the will, the motivations and intentions. Proud ambitions and intentions will lead to a fall.

[18:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “[is] before honor”; cf. CEV “humility leads to honor.”

[18:12]  ⁹ sn The way to honor is through humility (e.g., Prov 11:2; 15:33; 16:18). The humility and exaltation of Jesus provides the classic example (Phil 2:1-10).

[19:29]  ¹⁰ tc Some (cf. NAB) suggest emending the MT’s “judgments” (from שָׁפַט, shafat) to “rods” (from שָׁבַט, shavat); however, this is not necessary if the term in the MT is interpreted figuratively. The LXX “scourges” might reflect a different Vorlage, but it also could have been an interpretive translation from the same text. “Judgments” is a metonymy of cause and refers to the punishment that the scoffer is to receive.

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Haman.” The pronoun (“he”) was used in the translation for stylistic reasons. Repeating the proper name here is redundant according to contemporary English style, although the name is repeated in NASB and NRSV.

[3:6]  ¹² tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

[3:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

[3:6]  ¹⁴ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

[3:6]  ¹⁵ tc This parenthetical phrase is not included in the LXX. Some scholars emend the MT reading עַם (’am, “people”) to עִם (’im, “with”), arguing that the phrase is awkwardly placed and syntactically inappropriate. While there is some truth to their complaint, the MT makes sufficient sense to be acceptable here, and is followed by most English versions.

[7:8]  ¹⁶ tn The term דָבָר (davar) denotes “matter; thing” here rather than “speech; word,” as the parallelism with “patience” suggests. The term was misunderstood as “speech; word” by the Vulgate (so also Douay).

[7:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the patient of spirit.”

[7:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the proud of spirit.”

[7:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Do not be hasty in your spirit to become angry.”

[7:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “bosom.”

[2:16]  ²¹ sn See the note on King Herod in 2:1. Note the fulfillment of the prophecy given by the angel in 2:13.

[2:16]  ²² tn Or “soldiers.”

[2:16]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.