Discovery BoxProverbs 4:19 
Context4:19 The way of the wicked is like gloomy darkness; 1
they do not know what causes them to stumble. 2
Proverbs 5:6
Context5:6 Lest 3 she should make level the path leading to life, 4
her paths are unstable 5 but she does not know it. 6
Proverbs 10:32
Context10:32 The lips of the righteous know 7 what is pleasing, 8
but the speech 9 of the wicked is perverse.
1 sn The simile describes ignorance or spiritual blindness, sinfulness, calamity, despair.
2 tn Heb “in what they stumble.”
3 tn The particle פֶּן (pen) means “lest” (probably from “for the aversion of”). It occurs this once, unusually, preceding the principal clause (BDB 814 s.v.). It means that some action has been taken to avert or avoid what follows. She avoids the path of life, albeit ignorantly.
4 tn Heb “the path of life.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “of life”) functions as a genitive of direction (“leading to”).
5 sn The verb נוּעַ (nua’) means “to quiver; to wave; to waver; to tremble”; cf. KJV “her ways are moveable”; NAB “her paths will ramble”; NLT “She staggers down a crooked trail.” The ways of the adulterous woman are unstable (BDB 631 s.v.).
6 sn The sadder part of the description is that this woman does not know how unstable her life is, or how uneven. However, Thomas suggests that it means, “she is not tranquil.” See D. W. Thomas, “A Note on לא תדע in Proverbs v 6,” JTS 37 (1936): 59.
7 sn The verb “know” applied to “lips” is unusual. “Lips” is a metonymy for what the righteous say; and their words “know” (a personification) what is pleasing, i.e., they are acquainted with.
8 sn The righteous say what is pleasing, acceptable, or delightful; but the wicked say perverse and destructive things.
9 tn Heb “lips.” The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause for what is said.
