² tn Heb “and your tongue binds together [i.e., “frames”] deceit.”

⁵ sn The deceit is in not making her his wife or concubine as the arrangement had stipulated.

² tn Heb “a tongue of deceit.” The genitive שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “deceit”) functions as an attributive genitive. The noun לָשׁוֹן (lashon, “tongue”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= tongue) for the whole (= person): “lying person.”

² tn Grk “the deceitfulness of riches.” Cf. BDAG 99 s.v. ἀπάτη 1, “the seduction which comes from wealth.”

² tn Grk “the deceitfulness of riches.” Cf. BDAG 99 s.v. ἀπάτη 1, “the seduction which comes from wealth.”

² tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.

³ sn Agur requested an honest life (not deceitful) and a balanced life (not self-sufficient). The second request about his provision is clarified in v. 9.

¹ tc Rather than the MT’s מִרְמָה (mirmah, “deceit”), the BHS editors suggest מֹרָה (morah, “bitterness, sorrow”) as a contrast to joy in the second half.

² sn The plans of good people are directed toward what is right. Advice from the wicked, however, is deceitful and can only lead to trouble.

¹ tn Heb “for a mouth of evil and a mouth of deceit against me they open, they speak with me [with] a tongue of falsehood.”

⁵ sn The enemies use deceit to bring down their victim. They make him think they are his friends by pronouncing blessings upon him, but inwardly they desire his demise.

² tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (ʿasah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.

² tn Heb “but against the quiet ones of the land words of deceit they plan.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 20 highlight their characteristic behavior.

² tn The verb means “to utter; to mumble; to meditate.” The implication is that he will not communicate deceitful things, no matter how quiet or subtle.

¹ tn Heb “speak iniquity.” The form functions adverbially. The noun עַוְלָה (ʿavlah) means “perversion; injustice; iniquity; falsehood.” Here it is parallel to רְמִיָּה (r^emiyyah, “fraud; deceit; treachery”).

² tn The expression is literally “men of emptiness” (see Ps 26:4). These are false men, for שָׁוְא (shavʾ) can mean “vain, empty, or false, deceitful.”

⁴ sn “Lie” and “deceitful word” would not be the terms used by the people. They would likely use the words “promise” and “reliable word,” but the prophet substitutes “lie” and “deceitful word” to emphasize that this treaty with death will really prove to be disappointing.

⁵ tn Heb “perversion in it.” The referent must be the tongue, representing speech, from the first line; so this has been supplied in the translation for clarity. A tongue that is twisted, perverse, or deceitful is a way of describing deceitful speech. Such words will crush the spirit.

³ sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

² sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question of the Pharisees and Herodians was specifically designed to trap Jesus.