15:8 The Lord abhors 1 the sacrifices 2 of the wicked, 3
but the prayer 4 of the upright pleases him. 5
15:29 The Lord is far 6 from the wicked,
but he hears 7 the prayer of the righteous. 8
1 tn Heb “an abomination of the
2 tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).
3 sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the
4 sn J. H. Greenstone notes that if God will accept the prayers of the upright, he will accept their sacrifices; for sacrifice is an outer ritual and easily performed even by the wicked, but prayer is a private and inward act and not usually fabricated by unbelievers (Proverbs, 162).
5 tn Heb “[is] his pleasure.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix functions as a subjective genitive: “he is pleased.” God is pleased with the prayers of the upright.
6 sn To say that the
7 sn The verb “hear” (שָׁמַע, shama’) has more of the sense of “respond to” in this context. If one “listens to the voice of the
8 sn God’s response to prayer is determined by the righteousness of the one who prays. A prayer of repentance by the wicked is an exception, for by it they would become the righteous (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 316).