Proverbs 28:4

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

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, But those who keep the law strive with them.

To reject the law is to praise the wicked; to obey the law is to fight them.

If you desert God's law, you're free to embrace depravity; if you love God's law, you fight for it tooth and nail.

Those who have no respect for the law give praise to the evil-doer; but such as keep the law are against him.

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law struggle against them.

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, But such as keep the law contend with them.

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

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.”