Proverbs 28:4

Those who forsake the law ¹  praise the wicked, ²  but those who keep the law contend ³  with them.

1Sa 15:14-24; 1Sa 22:14,15; 1Sa 23:19-21; 1Ki 18:18,21; 1Ki 20:41,42; 1Ki 21:19,20; 1Ki 22:19-28; 2Ki 3:13,14; Ne 5:7-13; Ne 13:8-11,17-20,23-26,28; Ps 10:3; Ps 49:18; Jer 5:30; Mt 3:7; Mt 3:15; Mt 14:4; Ac 12:22; Ac 15:2; Ac 19:9; Ac 24:2-4; Ro 1:32; Ga 2:3-6; Eph 5:11; 1Th 2:2; 1Jo 4:5; Jude 1:3

¹ sn Some commentators do not think that the word refers to the Mosaic law, but to “instruction” or “teaching” in general (cf. NCV “who disobey what they have been taught”). However, the expression “keep the law” in the second line indicates that it is binding, which would not be true of teaching in general (J. Bright, “The Apodictic Prohibition: Some Observations,” JBL 92 [1973]: 185-204). Moreover, Proverbs 28:9 and 29:18 refer to the law, and this chapter has a stress on piety.

² sn The proverb gives the outcome and the evidence of those who forsake the law – they “praise the wicked.” This may mean (1) calling the wicked good or (2) justifying what the wicked do, for such people are no longer sensitive to evil.

³ tn The verb is the Hitpael imperfect of גָּרָה (garah), which means “to stir up strife” but in this stem means “to engage in strife” (cf. NIV “resist them”). Tg. Prov 28:4 adds an explanatory expansion, “so as to induce them to repent.”