Proverbs 13:5

The righteous person hates anything false, ¹  but the wicked person acts in shameful disgrace. ² 

The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.

A righteous man hates falsehood, But a wicked man acts disgustingly and shamefully.

Those who are godly hate lies; the wicked come to shame and disgrace.

A good person hates false talk; a bad person wallows in gibberish.

The upright man is a hater of false words: the evil-doer gets a bad name and is put to shame.

The righteous hate falsehood, but the wicked act shamefully and disgracefully.

A righteous man hates lying, But a wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame.

The righteous person hates anything false, ¹  but the wicked person acts in shameful disgrace. ² 

¹ tn Heb “a word of falsehood.” The genitive “falsehood” functions as an attributive genitive. The construct noun דְּבַר (dÿvar) means either “word” or “thing.” Hence, the phrase means “a false word” or “a false thing.”

² tc The versions render this phrase variously: “is ashamed and without confidence” (LXX); “is ashamed and put to the blush” (Tg. Prov 13:5); “confounds and will be confounded” (Vulgate). The variety is due in part to confusion of בָּאַשׁ (ba’sh, “to stink”) and בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “to be ashamed”). Cf. NASB “acts disgustingly and shamefully.”

² tn Heb “acts shamefully and disgracefully.” The verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) literally means “to cause a stink; to emit a stinking odor” (e.g., Exod 5:21; Eccl 10:1) and figuratively means “to act shamefully” (BDB 92 s.v.). The verb וְיַחְפִּיר (vÿyakhppir) means “to display shame.” Together, they can be treated as a verbal hendiadys: “to act in disgraceful shame,” or more colorfully “to make a shameful smell,” or as W. McKane has it, “spread the smell of scandal” (Proverbs [OTL], 460). W. G. Plaut says, “Unhappily, the bad odor adheres not only to the liar but also to the one about whom he lies – especially when the lie is a big one” (Proverbs, 152).