4:19 The way of the wicked is like gloomy darkness; 1
they do not know what causes them to stumble. 2
10:10 The one who winks 3 his 4 eye causes 5 trouble,
and the one who speaks foolishness 6 will come to ruin.
1 sn The simile describes ignorance or spiritual blindness, sinfulness, calamity, despair.
2 tn Heb “in what they stumble.”
3 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.
4 tn Heb “the eye.”
5 tn Heb “gives.”
6 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.