Amsal 11:8

11:8 The righteous person is delivered ¹  out of trouble,

and the wicked turns up in his stead. ² 

Amsal 15:9

15:9 The Lord abhors ³  the way of the wicked,

but he loves those ⁴  who pursue ⁵  righteousness.

Amsal 17:13

17:13 As for the one who repays ⁶  evil for good,

evil will not leave ⁷  his house. ⁸ 

Amsal 11:27

11:27 The one who diligently seeks ⁹  good seeks favor,

but the one who searches ¹⁰  for evil – it will come to him. ¹¹ 

[11:8]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.”

[15:9]  ³ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) functions as a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.”

[15:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “the one who” (so NRSV).

[15:9]  ⁵ sn God hates the way of the wicked, that is, their lifestyle and things they do. God loves those who pursue righteousness, the Piel verb signifying a persistent pursuit. W. G. Plaut says, “He who loves God will be moved to an active, persistent, and even dangerous search for justice” (Proverbs, 170).

[17:13]  ⁶ tn The sentence begins with the participle מֵשִׁיב (meshiv, “the one who repays”). The whole first colon may be taken as an independent nominative absolute, with the formal sentence to follow. Some English versions have made the first colon a condition by supplying “if” (NAB, NIV, TEV, NLT).

[17:13]  ⁷ tn The verb מוּשׁ (mush) means “to depart; to remove.” The Kethib is a Hiphil, which would yield a meaning of “to take away”; so the Qere, which is the Qal, makes more sense in the line.

[17:13]  ⁸ sn The proverb does not explain whether God will turn evil back on him directly or whether people will begin to treat him as he treated others.

[11:27]  ⁹ tn Two separate words are used here for “seek.” The first is שָׁחַר (shakhar, “to seek diligently”) and the second is בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek after; to look for”). Whoever is seeking good is in effect seeking favor – from either God or man (e.g., Ps 5:12; Isa 49:8).

[11:27]  ¹⁰ tn The participle דֹּרֵשׁ (doresh) means “to seek; to inquire; to investigate.” A person generally receives the consequences of the kind of life he seeks.

[11:27]  ¹¹ tn The verb is the imperfect tense, third feminine singular, referring to “evil,” the object of the participle.