Psalms 7:16

7:16 He becomes the victim of his own destructive plans ¹ 

and the violence he intended for others falls on his own head. ² 

Psalms 64:8

64:8 Their slander will bring about their demise. ³ 

All who see them will shudder, ⁴ 

Psalms 94:23

94:23 He will pay them back for their sin. ⁵ 

He will destroy them because of ⁶  their evil;

the Lord our God will destroy them.

Esther 5:14

5:14 Haman’s ⁷  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ⁸  high built, and in the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet contented.” ⁹ 

It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.

Esther 7:10

7:10 So they hanged Haman on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. The king’s rage then abated.

Proverbs 10:6

10:6 Blessings ¹⁰  are on the head of the righteous,

but the speech ¹¹  of the wicked conceals ¹²  violence. ¹³ 

Proverbs 10:11

10:11 The teaching ¹⁴  of the righteous is a fountain of life, ¹⁵ 

but the speech ¹⁶  of the wicked conceals ¹⁷  violence. ¹⁸ 

Proverbs 12:13

12:13 The evil person is ensnared ¹⁹  by the transgression of his speech, ²⁰ 

but the righteous person escapes out of trouble. ²¹ 

Proverbs 18:7

18:7 The mouth of a fool is his ruin,

and his lips are a snare for his life. ²² 

Matthew 27:25

27:25 In ²³  reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

[7:16]  ¹ tn Heb “his harm [i.e., the harm he conceived for others, see v. 14] returns on his head.”

[7:16]  ² tn Heb “and on his forehead his violence [i.e., the violence he intended to do to others] comes down.”

[64:8]  ³ tc The MT reads literally, “and they caused him to stumble, upon them, their tongue.” Perhaps the third plural subject of the verb is indefinite with the third singular pronominal suffix on the verb being distributive (see Ps 63:10). In this case one may translate, “each one will be made to stumble.” The preposition עַל (’al) might then be taken as adversative, “against them [is] their tongue.” Many prefer to emend the text to וַיַּכְשִׁילֵמוֹ עֲלֵי לְשׁוֹנָם (vayyakhshilemo ’aley lÿshonam, “and he caused them to stumble over their tongue”). However, if this reading is original, it is difficult to see how the present reading of the MT arose. Furthermore, the preposition is not collocated with the verb כָּשַׁל (kashal) elsewhere. It is likely that the MT is corrupt, but a satisfying emendation has not yet been proposed.

[64:8]  ⁴ tn The Hitpolel verbal form is probably from the root נוּד (nud; see HALOT 678 s.v. נוד), which is attested elsewhere in the Hitpolel stem, not the root נָדַד (nadad, as proposed by BDB 622 s.v. I נָדַד), which does not occur elsewhere in this stem.

[94:23]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.

[94:23]  ⁶ tn Or “in.”

[5:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “fifty cubits.” Assuming a standard length for the cubit of about 18 inches (45 cm), this would be about seventy-five feet (22.5 meters), which is a surprisingly tall height for the gallows. Perhaps the number assumes the gallows was built on a large supporting platform or a natural hill for visual effect, in which case the structure itself may have been considerably smaller. Cf. NCV “a seventy-five foot platform”; CEV “a tower built about seventy-five feet high.”

[5:14]  ⁹ tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”

[10:6]  ¹⁰ sn The word “blessings” has the sense of gifts, enrichments, that is, the rewards or the results of being righteous. The blessings come either from the people the righteous deal with, or from God. CEV understands the blessings as praise for good behavior (“Everyone praises good people”).

[10:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.

[10:6]  ¹² tn Heb “covers.” Behind the speech of the wicked is aggressive violence (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 422).

[10:6]  ¹³ tn The syntax of this line is ambiguous. The translation takes “the mouth of the wicked” as the nominative subject and “violence” as the accusative direct object; however, the subject might be “violence,” hence: “violence covers the mouth of the wicked” (cf. KJV, ASV, NIV).

[10:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “mouth.” The word “mouth” is metonymy of cause, representing what the righteous say and teach.

[10:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a fountain of life is the mouth of the righteous” (NAB similar). The subject (“a fountain of life”) and the predicate (“the mouth of the righteous”) in the Hebrew text are reversed in the present translation (as in most English versions) for the sake of clarity and smoothness. The idea of this metaphor, “the fountain of life,” may come from Ps 36:9 (e.g., also Prov 13:14; 14:27; 16:22). What the righteous say is beneficial to life or life-giving. Their words are life-giving but the words of the wicked are violent. See R. B. Y. Scott, “Wise and Foolish, Righteous and Wicked,” VT 29 (1972): 145-65.

[10:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.

[10:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “covers.” Behind the speech of the wicked is aggressive violence (W. McKane, Proverbs [OTL], 422).

[10:11]  ¹⁸ tn The syntax of this line is ambiguous. The translation takes “the mouth of the wicked” as the nominative subject and “violence” as the accusative direct object; however, the subject might be “violence,” hence: “violence covers the mouth of the wicked.”

[12:13]  ¹⁹ tc MT reads the noun מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “bait; lure”). The LXX, Syriac and Tg. Prov 12:13 took it as a passive participle (“is ensnared”). The MT is the more difficult reading and so is preferred. The versions appear to be trying to clarify a difficult reading.

[12:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “transgression of the lips.” The noun “lips” is a genitive of specification and it functions as a metonymy of cause for speech: sinful talk or sinning by talking. J. H. Greenstone suggests that this refers to litigation; the wicked attempt to involve the innocent (Proverbs, 131).

[12:13]  ²¹ sn J. H. Greenstone suggests that when the wicked become involved in contradictions of testimony, the innocent is freed from the trouble. Another meaning would be that the wicked get themselves trapped by what they say, but the righteous avoid that (Proverbs, 131).

[18:7]  ²² tn Heb “his soul” (so KJV, NASB, NIV).

[27:25]  ²³ tn Grk “answering, all the people said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.