Amsal 10:9

10:9 The one who conducts himself ¹  in integrity ²  will live ³  securely,

but the one who behaves perversely ⁴  will be found out.

Amsal 11:6

11:6 The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, ⁵ 

but the faithless will be captured ⁶  by their own desires. ⁷ 

Amsal 11:8-9

11:8 The righteous person is delivered ⁸  out of trouble,

and the wicked turns up in his stead. ⁹ 

11:9 With his speech ¹⁰  the godless person ¹¹  destroys ¹²  his neighbor,

but by knowledge ¹³  the righteous will be delivered.

Amsal 13:6

13:6 Righteousness ¹⁴  guards the one who lives with integrity, ¹⁵ 

but wickedness ¹⁶  overthrows the sinner.

Amsal 17:11

17:11 An evil person seeks only rebellion, ¹⁷ 

and so ¹⁸  a cruel messenger ¹⁹  will be sent against him.

Amsal 19:2

19:2 It is dangerous ²⁰  to have zeal ²¹  without knowledge,

and the one who acts hastily ²²  makes poor choices. ²³ 

Amsal 28:22

28:22 The stingy person ²⁴  hastens after riches

and does not know that poverty will overtake him. ²⁵ 

[10:9]  ¹ tn Heb “he who walks.” The idiom is used widely in both OT and NT for conduct, behavior, or lifestyle.

[10:9]  ² sn “Integrity” here means “blameless” in conduct. Security follows integrity, because the lifestyle is blameless. The righteous is certain of the course to be followed and does not fear retribution from man or God.

[10:9]  ³ tn Heb “walks.”

[10:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “he who perverts his ways” (so NASB); NIV “who takes crooked paths” (NLT similar). The Piel participle מְעַקֵּשׁ (mÿ’aqqesh) means “make crooked; twisted; perverse.” It is stronger than simply taking crooked paths; it refers to perverting the ways. The one who is devious will not get away with it.

[11:6]  ⁵ sn The contrast is between being rescued or delivered (נָצַל, natsal) and being captured (לָכַד, lakhad). Righteousness is freeing; [evil] desires are enslaving.

[11:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “taken captive” (so NRSV); NIV, TEV “are trapped.”

[11:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “but by the desire of the faithless are they taken captive.”

[11:8]  ⁸ tn The verb is the Niphal perfect from the first root חָלַץ (khalats), meaning “to draw off; to withdraw,” and hence “to be delivered.”

[11:8]  sn The verse is not concerned with the problem of evil and the suffering of the righteous; it is only concerned with the principle of divine justice.

[11:8]  ⁹ tn The verb is masculine singular, so the subject cannot be “trouble.” The trouble from which the righteous escape will come on the wicked – but the Hebrew text literally says that the wicked “comes [= arrives; turns up; shows up] in the place of the righteous.” Cf. NASB “the wicked takes his place”; NRSV “the wicked get into it instead”; NIV “it comes on the wicked instead.”

[11:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with his mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) functions as a metonymy of cause for speech.

[11:9]  ¹¹ sn The Hebrew word originally meant “impious, godless, polluted, profane.” It later developed the idea of a “hypocrite” (Dan 11:32), one who conceals his evil under the appearance of godliness or kindness. This one is a false flatterer.

[11:9]  ¹² sn The verb שָׁחַת (shakhat) means “to destroy; to ruin” (e.g., the destruction of Sodom in Gen 13:10). The imperfect tense is probably not an habitual imperfect (because the second colon shows exceptions), but probably a progressive imperfect (“this goes on”) or potential imperfect (“they can do this”).

[11:9]  ¹³ sn The antithetical proverb states that a righteous person can escape devastating slander through knowledge. The righteous will have sufficient knowledge and perception to see through the hypocrisy and avoid its effect.

[13:6]  ¹⁴ sn Righteousness refers to that which conforms to law and order. One who behaves with integrity will be safe from consequences of sin.

[13:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “blameless of way.” The term דָּרֶךְ (darekh) is a genitive of specification: “blameless in respect to his way.” This means living above reproach in their course of life. Cf. NASB “whose way is blameless”; NAB “who walks honestly.”

[13:6]  ¹⁶ sn Righteousness and wickedness are personified in this proverb to make the point of security and insecurity for the two courses of life.

[17:11]  ¹⁷ sn The proverb is set up in a cause and effect relationship. The cause is that evil people seek rebellion. The term מְרִי (mÿri) means “rebellion.” It is related to the verb מָרָה (marah, “to be contentious; to be rebellious; to be refractory”). BDB 598 s.v. מְרִי translates the line “a rebellious man seeketh only evil” (so NASB).

[17:11]  ¹⁸ tn The parallelism seems to be formal, with the idea simply continuing to the second line; the conjunction is therefore translated to reflect this. However, the proverb could be interpreted as antithetical just as easily.

[17:11]  ¹⁹ sn Those bent on rebellion will meet with retribution. The messenger could very well be a merciless messenger from the king; but the expression could also figuratively describe something God sends – storms, pestilence, or any other misfortune.

[19:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “not good.” This is a figure known as tapeinosis (a deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario): “it is dangerous!”

[19:2]  ²¹ tn The interpretation of this line depends largely on the meaning of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) which has a broad range of meanings: (1) the breathing substance of man, (2) living being, (3) life, (4) person, (5) seat of the appetites, (6) seat of emotions and passions, (7) activities of intellect, emotion and will, (8) moral character, etc. (BDB 659-61 s.v.). In light of the synonymous parallelism, the most likely nuance here is “zeal, passion” (HALOT 713 s.v. 8). NIV takes the word in the sense of “vitality” and “drive” – “it is not good to have zeal without knowledge” (cf. NCV, TEV, and NLT which are all similar).

[19:2]  ²² tn Heb “he who is hasty with his feet.” The verb אוּץ (’uts) means “to be pressed; to press; to make haste.” The verb is followed by the preposition בְּ (bet) which indicates that with which one hastens – his feet. The word “feet” is a synecdoche of part for the whole person – body and mind working together (cf. NLT “a person who moves too quickly”).

[19:2]  ²³ tn Heb “misses the goal.” The participle חוֹטֵא (khote’) can be translated “sins” (cf. KJV, ASV), but in this context it refers only to actions without knowledge, which could lead to sin, or could lead simply to making poor choices (cf. NAB “blunders”; NASB “errs”; NCV “might make a mistake”).

[19:2]  sn The basic meaning of the verb is “to miss a goal or the way.” D. Kidner says, “How negative is the achievement of a man who wants tangible and quick rewards” – he will miss the way (Proverbs [TOTC], 132).

[28:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “a man with an evil eye” (as opposed to the generous man who has a “good” eye). This individual is selfish, unkind, unsympathetic to others. He looks only to his own gain. Cf. NAB “The avaricious man”; NLT “A greedy person.”

[28:22]  ²⁵ sn The one who is hasty to gain wealth is involved in sin in some way, for which he will be punished by poverty. The idea of “hastening” after riches suggests a dishonest approach to acquiring wealth.