Proverbs 15:11

15:11 Death and Destruction are before the Lord

how much more the hearts of humans!


tn Heb “Sheol and Abaddon” (שְׁאוֹל וַאֲבַדּוֹן (shÿol vaadon); so ASV, NASB, NRSV; cf. KJV “Hell and destruction”; NAB “the nether world and the abyss.” These terms represent the remote underworld and all the mighty powers that reside there (e.g., Prov 27:20; Job 26:6; Ps 139:8; Amos 9:2; Rev 9:11). The Lord knows everything about this remote region.

tn The construction אַף כִּי (’af ki, “how much more!”) introduces an argument from the lesser to the greater: If all this is open before the Lord, how much more so human hearts. “Hearts” here is a metonymy of subject, meaning the motives and thoughts (cf. NCV “the thoughts of the living”).

tn Heb “the hearts of the sons of man,” although here “sons of man” simply means “men” or “human beings.”