Proverbs 12:2

12:2 A good person obtains favor from the Lord,

but the Lord 1  condemns a person with wicked schemes. 2 

Proverbs 12:21

12:21 The righteous do not encounter 3  any harm, 4 

but the wicked are filled with calamity. 5 

1 tn Heb “but he condemns”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

2 tn Heb “a man of wicked plans.” The noun מְזִמּוֹת (mÿzimmot, “evil plans”) functions as an attributive genitive: “an evil-scheming man.” Cf. NASB “a man who devises evil”; NAB “the schemer.”

3 tn Heb “is not allowed to meet to the righteous.”

4 tn Heb “all calamity.” The proper nuance of אָוֶן (’aven) is debated. It is normally understood metonymically (effect) as “harm; trouble,” that is, the result/effect of wickedness (e.g., Gen 50:20). Rashi, a Jewish scholar who lived a.d. 1040-1105, took it as “wickedness,” its primary meaning; “the righteous will not be caught up in wickedness.”

5 tn The expression רָע מָלְאוּ (malÿ’u ra’, “to be full of evil”) means (1) the wicked do much evil or (2) the wicked experience much calamity (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).