20:23 The Lord abhors 1 differing weights,
and dishonest scales are wicked. 2
11:1 The Lord abhors 3 dishonest scales, 4
but an accurate weight 5 is his delight.
12:22 The Lord 6 abhors a person who lies, 7
but those who deal truthfully 8 are his delight. 9
15:8 The Lord abhors 10 the sacrifices 11 of the wicked, 12
but the prayer 13 of the upright pleases him. 14
15:9 The Lord abhors 15 the way of the wicked,
but he loves those 16 who pursue 17 righteousness.
15:26 The Lord abhors 18 the plans 19 of the wicked, 20
but pleasant words 21 are pure. 22
16:5 The Lord abhors 23 every arrogant person; 24
rest assured 25 that they will not go unpunished. 26
20:10 Diverse weights and diverse measures 27 –
the Lord abhors 28 both of them.
11:20 The Lord abhors 29 those who are perverse in heart, 30
but those who are blameless in their ways 31 are his delight. 32
1 tn Heb “an abomination of the
2 tn Heb “not good.” This is a figure known as tapeinosis – a deliberate understatement to emphasize a worst-case scenario: “it is wicked!” (e.g., 11:1; 20:10).
3 tn Heb “an abomination of the
4 tn Heb “scales of deception.” The genitive is attributive: “deceptive scales.” This refers to dishonesty in the market where silver was weighed in the scales. God condemns dishonest business practices (Deut 25:13-16; Lev 10:35-36), as did the ancient Near East (ANET 388, 423).
5 tn Heb “a perfect stone.” Stones were used for measuring amounts of silver on the scales; here the stone that pleases the
6 tn Heb “an abomination of the
7 tn Heb “lips of lying.” The genitive שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “lying”) functions as an attributive genitive: “lying lips.” The term “lips” functions as a synecdoche of part (= lips) for the whole (= person): “a liar.”
8 tn Heb “but doers of truthfulness.” The term “truthfulness” is an objective genitive, meaning: “those who practice truth” or “those who act in good faith.” Their words and works are reliable.
9 sn The contrast between “delight/pleasure” and “abomination” is emphatic. What pleases the
10 tn Heb “an abomination of the
11 tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).
12 sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the
13 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).
14 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.
15 tn Heb “an abomination of the
16 tn Heb “the one who” (so NRSV).
17 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).
18 tn Heb “an abomination of the
19 tn The noun מַחְשְׁבוֹת (makhshÿvot) means “thoughts” (so KJV, NIV, NLT), from the verb חָשַׁב (khashav, “to think; to reckon; to devise”). So these are intentions, what is being planned (cf. NAB “schemes”).
20 tn The word רַע (“evil; wicked”) is a genitive of source or subjective genitive, meaning the plans that the wicked devise – “wicked plans.”
21 sn The contrast is between the “thoughts” and the “words.” The thoughts that are designed to hurt people the
22 tc The MT simply has “but pleasant words are pure” (Heb “but pure [plural] are the words of pleasantness”). Some English versions add “to him” to make the connection to the first part (cf. NAB, NIV). The LXX has: “the sayings of the pure are held in honor.” The Vulgate has: “pure speech will be confirmed by him as very beautiful.” The NIV has paraphrased here: “but those of the pure are pleasing to him.”
23 tn Heb “an abomination of the
24 tn Heb “every proud of heart”; NIV “all the proud of heart.” “Heart” is the genitive of specification; the phrase is talking about people who have proud hearts, whose ideas are arrogant. These are people who set themselves presumptuously against God (e.g., 2 Chr 26:16; Ps 131:1; Prov 18:12).
25 tn Heb “hand to hand.” This idiom means “you can be assured” (e.g., Prov 11:21).
26 tc The LXX has inserted two couplets here: “The beginning of a good way is to do justly, // and it is more acceptable with God than to do sacrifices; // he who seeks the
tn The B-line continues the A-line, but explains what it means that they are an abomination to the
27 tn The construction simply uses repetition to express different kinds of weights and measures: “a stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah.”
28 tn Heb “an abomination of the
sn Behind this proverb is the image of the dishonest merchant who has different sets of weights and measures which are used to cheat customers. The Lord hates dishonesty in business transactions.
29 tn Heb “an abomination of the
30 sn The word עִקְּשֵׁי (“crooked; twisted; perverted”) describes the wicked as having “twisted minds.” Their mentality is turned toward evil things.
31 tn Heb “those who are blameless of way.” The noun דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) is a genitive of specification: “blameless in their way.”
32 sn The noun means “goodwill, favor, acceptance, will”; it is related to the verb רָצַה (ratsah) which means “to be pleased with; to accept favorably.” These words are used frequently in scripture to describe what pleases the