Amsal 5:21

5:21 For the ways of a person ¹  are in front of the Lord’s eyes,

and the Lord ²  weighs ³  all that person’s ⁴  paths.

Amsal 10:10

10:10 The one who winks ⁵  his ⁶  eye causes ⁷  trouble,

and the one who speaks foolishness ⁸  will come to ruin.

Amsal 12:19

12:19 The one who tells the truth ⁹  will endure forever,

but the one who lies ¹⁰  will last only for a moment. ¹¹ 

Amsal 15:3

15:3 The eyes of the Lord ¹²  are in every place,

keeping watch ¹³  on those who are evil and those who are good.

Amsal 27:20

27:20 As ¹⁴  Death and Destruction are never satisfied, ¹⁵ 

so the eyes of a person ¹⁶  are never satisfied. ¹⁷ 

[5:21]  ¹ tn Heb “man.”

[5:21]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:21]  ³ tn BDB 814 s.v. פָּלַס 2 suggests that the participle מְפַּלֵּס (mÿpalles) means “to make level [or, straight].” As one’s ways are in front of the eyes of the Lord, they become straight or right. It could be translated “weighs” since it is a denominative from the noun for “balance, scale”; the Lord weighs or examines the actions.

[5:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “all his”; the referent (the person mentioned in the first half of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:10]  ⁵ tn The term (קָרַץ, qarats) describes a person who habitually “winks” his eye maliciously as a secretive sign to those conspiring evil (Prov 6:13). This is a comparison rather than a contrast. Devious gestures are grievous, but not as ruinous as foolish talk. Both are to be avoided.

[10:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “the eye.”

[10:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “gives.”

[10:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “the fool of lips”; cf. NASB “a babbling fool.” The phrase is a genitive of specification: “a fool in respect to lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause (= lips) for effect (= speech). The word for fool (אֶוִיל, ’evil) refers to someone who despises knowledge and discernment.

[12:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “a lip of truth.” The genitive אֱמֶת (’emet, “truth”) functions as an attributive adjective: “truthful lip.” The term שְׂפַת (sÿfat, “lip”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= lip) for the whole (= person): “truthful person.” The contrast is between “the lip of truth” and the “tongue of lying.”

[12:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a tongue of deceit.” The genitive שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “deceit”) functions as an attributive genitive. The noun לָשׁוֹן (lashon, “tongue”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= tongue) for the whole (= person): “lying person.”

[12:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “while I would twinkle.” This expression is an idiom meaning “only for a moment.” The twinkling of the eye, the slightest movement, signals the brevity of the life of a lie (hyperbole). But truth will be established (תִּכּוֹן, tikon), that is, be made firm and endure.

[15:3]  ¹² sn The proverb uses anthropomorphic language to describe God’s exacting and evaluating knowledge of all people.

[15:3]  ¹³ tn The form צֹפוֹת (tsofot, “watching”) is a feminine plural participle agreeing with “eyes.” God’s watching eyes comfort good people but convict evil.

[27:20]  ¹⁴ tn The term “as” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation in light of the analogy.

[27:20]  ¹⁵ sn Countless generations of people have gone into the world below; yet “death” is never satisfied – it always takes more. The line personifies Death and Destruction. It forms the emblem in the parallelism.

[27:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “eyes of a man.” This expression refers to the desires – what the individual looks longingly on. Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:34 (one of the rabbinic Midrashim) says, “No man dies and has one-half of what he wanted.”

[27:20]  ¹⁷ tc The LXX contains a scribal addition: “He who fixes his eye is an abomination to the Lord, and the uninstructed do not restrain their tongues.” This is unlikely to be original.