Proverbs 9:14

9:14 So she sits at the door of her house,

on a seat at the highest point of the city,

Proverbs 16:12

16:12 Doing wickedness ¹  is an abomination to kings,

because a throne ²  is established in righteousness.

Proverbs 20:8

20:8 A king sitting on the throne to judge ³ 

separates out ⁴  all evil with his eyes. ⁵ 

[16:12]  ¹ sn The “wickedness” mentioned here (רֶשַׁע, resha’) might better be understood as a criminal act, for the related word “wicked” can also mean the guilty criminal. If a king is trying to have a righteous administration, he will detest any criminal acts.

[16:12]  ² tn The “throne” represents the administration, or the decisions made from the throne by the king, and so the word is a metonymy of adjunct (cf. NLT “his rule”).

[20:8]  ¹ tn The infinitive construct is דִּין; it indicates purpose, “to judge” (so NIV, NCV) even though it does not have the preposition with it.

[20:8]  ² tn The second line uses the image of winnowing (cf. NIV, NRSV) to state that the king’s judgment removes evil from the realm. The verb form is מִזָרֶה (mÿzareh), the Piel participle. It has been translated “to sift; to winnow; to scatter” and “to separate” – i.e., separate out evil from the land. The text is saying that a just government roots out evil (cf. NAB “dispels all evil”), but few governments have been consistently just.

[20:8]  ³ sn The phrase with his eyes indicates that the king will closely examine or look into all the cases that come before him.