Proverbs 16:27
ContextNET © | A wicked scoundrel 1 digs up 2 evil, and his slander 3 is like a scorching fire. 4 |
NIV © | A scoundrel plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire. |
NASB © | A worthless man digs up evil, While his words are like scorching fire. |
NLT © | Scoundrels hunt for scandal; their words are a destructive blaze. |
MSG © | Mean people spread mean gossip; their words smart and burn. |
BBE © | A good-for-nothing man is a designer of evil, and in his lips there is a burning fire. |
NRSV © | Scoundrels concoct evil, and their speech is like a scorching fire. |
NKJV © | An ungodly man digs up evil, And it is on his lips like a burning fire. |
KJV | |
NASB © | |
HEBREW | |
LXXM | |
NET © [draft] ITL | |
NET © | A wicked scoundrel 1 digs up 2 evil, and his slander 3 is like a scorching fire. 4 |
NET © Notes |
1 tn Heb “a man of belial.” This phrase means “wicked scoundrel.” Some translate “worthless” (so ASV, NASB, CEV), but the phrase includes deep depravity and wickedness (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 125-26). 2 tn Heb “digs up” (so NASB). The “wicked scoundrel” finds out about evil and brings it to the surface (Prov 26:27; Jer 18:20). What he digs up he spreads by speech. 3 tn Heb “on his lips” (so NAB) The term “lips” is a metonymy of cause. To say that “evil” is on his lips means that he talks about the evil he has dug up. 4 sn The simile stresses the devastating way that slander hurts people. W. McKane says that this one “digs for scandal and…propagates it with words which are ablaze with misanthropy” (Proverbs [OTL], 494). |