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 12:16

12:16 A fool’s annoyance ⁵  is known at once, ⁶ 

but the prudent ⁷  overlooks ⁸  an insult.

[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.

[12:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “The fool, at once his vexation is known.” This rhetorically emphatic construction uses an independent nominative absolute, which is then followed by the formal subject with a suffix. The construction focuses attention on “the fool,” then states what is to be said about him.

[12:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “on the day” or “the same day.”

[12:16]  sn The fool is impatient and unwise, and so flares up immediately when anything bothers him. W. McKane says that the fool’s reaction is “like an injured animal and so his opponent knows that he has been wounded” (Proverbs [OTL], 442).

[12:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “shrewd.”

[12:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “covers.” The verb כָּסָה (casah) means “covers” in the sense of ignores or bides his time. The point is not that he does not respond at all, but that he is shrewd enough to handle the criticism or insult in the best way – not instinctively and irrationally.