Mazmur 36:5

36:5 O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky; ¹ 

your faithfulness to the clouds. ² 

Mazmur 52:4

52:4 You love to use all the words that destroy, ³ 

and the tongue that deceives.

Amsal 6:14

6:14 he plots evil with perverse thoughts ⁴  in his heart,

he spreads contention ⁵  at all times.

Amsal 16:27

16:27 A wicked scoundrel ⁶  digs up ⁷  evil,

and his slander ⁸  is like a scorching fire. ⁹ 

Yesaya 59:4

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ¹⁰ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ¹¹  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ¹² 

and give birth to sin.

Hosea 7:15

7:15 Although I trained and strengthened them, ¹³ 

they plot evil against me!

[36:5]  ¹ tn Heb “[is] in the heavens.”

[36:5]  ² sn The Lord’s loyal love/faithfulness is almost limitless. He is loyal and faithful to his creation and blesses mankind and the animal kingdom with physical life and sustenance (vv. 6-9).

[52:4]  ³ tn Heb “you love all the words of swallowing.” Traditionally בַּלַּע (bala’) has been taken to mean “swallowing” in the sense of “devouring” or “destructive” (see BDB 118 s.v. בָּלַע). HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע proposes a homonym here, meaning “confusion.” This would fit the immediate context nicely and provide a close parallel to the following line, which refers to deceptive words.

[6:14]  ⁴ tn The noun is an adverbial accusative of manner, explaining the circumstances that inform his evil plans.

[6:14]  ⁵ 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.

[16:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “a man of belial.” This phrase means “wicked scoundrel.” Some translate “worthless” (so ASV, NASB, CEV), but the phrase includes deep depravity and wickedness (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 125-26).

[16:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “digs up” (so NASB). The “wicked scoundrel” finds out about evil and brings it to the surface (Prov 26:27; Jer 18:20). What he digs up he spreads by speech.

[16:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “on his lips” (so NAB) The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause. To say that “evil” is on his lips means that he talks about the evil he has dug up.

[16:27]  ⁹ sn The simile stresses the devastating way that slander hurts people. W. McKane says that this one “digs for scandal and…propagates it with words which are ablaze with misanthropy” (Proverbs [OTL], 494).

[59:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ¹² tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

[7:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “their arms” (so NAB, NRSV).