³ tn Heb “wages of deception.”

¹ tn Grk “deception for/toward.”

⁴ tn Heb “and [with] deception deceivers deceive.”

⁴ tn Heb “from a tongue of deception.”

² tn Heb “and your lips from speaking deception.”

² tn Heb “acted with deception [or, ‘trickery’].”

² tn Heb “and their tongue is deceptive in their mouth.”

³ tn Heb “Tell us smooth things, see deceptive things.”

⁷ tn Heb “and to cheat with deceptive scales”; cf. NASB, NIV “dishonest scales,” NRSV “false balances.”

⁷ sn A wordplay (paronomasia) occurs between “deceptive” (שָׁקֶר, shaqer) and “reward” (שֶׂכֶר, sekher), underscoring the contrast by the repetition of sounds. The wages of the wicked are deceptive; the reward of the righteous is sure.

¹ sn Merchants also used rigged scales and deceptive weights to cheat their customers. See the note at Amos 8:5.

¹ tn Heb “Will you be to me like a deceptive (brook), like waters which do not last [or are not reliable].”

¹ tn Heb “the tongue of deception.” The subject matter of this proverb is deceptive speech. The “tongue of deception” (using a metonymy of cause with an attributive genitive) means that what is said is false. Likewise the “smooth mouth” means that what is said is smooth, flattering.

⁴ sn The proverb affirms that God in safeguarding true knowledge will frustrate deception from faithless people—what they say will not have its intended effect.

³ sn Whatever recompense or reward the wicked receive will not last, hence, it is deceptive (R. B. Y. Scott, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes [AB], 88).

³ tn The Niphal participle of לוּז (luz, “devious; crooked”) describes conduct that is morally deceptive, crafty, and cunning (Isa 30:12).

¹ tn Heb “the words of the Lord are pure words,” i.e., untainted by falsehood or deception (in contrast to the flattery of the evildoers, v. 2).

¹ tn The word מָעַל (maʿal) is used for “treachery; deception; fraud.” Here Job is saying that their way of interpreting reality is dangerously unfaithful.

¹ tn The verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) means “to be disappointing; to deceive; to fail; to grow lean.” In the Piel stem it means “to deceive; to act deceptively; to cringe; to disappoint.” The idea of acting deceptively is illustrated in Hos 9:2 where it has the connotation of “disowning” or “refusing to acknowledge” (a meaning very close to its meaning here).

² 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 19:35-36), as did the ancient Near East (ANET 388, 423).