Proverbs 6:12

A worthless and wicked person ¹  walks around saying perverse ²  things; ³ 

A scoundrel and villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth,

A worthless person, a wicked man, Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,

Here is a description of worthless and wicked people: They are constant liars,

Riffraff and rascals talk out of both sides of their mouths.

A good-for-nothing man is an evil-doer; he goes on his way causing trouble with false words;

A scoundrel and a villain goes around with crooked speech,

A worthless person, a wicked man, Walks with a perverse mouth;

A worthless and wicked person ¹  walks around saying perverse ²  things; ³ 

¹ sn The terms describe one who is both worthless and wicked. Some suggest that בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al) is a compound of the negative בְּלִי (bÿli) and a noun יַעַל (ya’al, “profit; worth”). Others suggest that the root is from בַּעַל (ba’al, “lord [of goats]”) or a derivative of בָּלַע (bala’) with reduplication (“confusion” or “engulfing ruin”), or a proper name from Babylonian Bililu. See B. Otzen, TDOT 2:131-36; and D. W. Thomas, “בְּלִיַּעַל in the Old Testament,” Biblical and Patristic Studies in Memory of Robert Pierce Casey, 11-19. Whatever the etymology, usage shows that the word describes people who violate the law (Deut 15:9; Judg 19:22; 1 Kgs 21:10, 13; Prov 16:27; et al.) or act in a contemptuous and foolish manner against cultic observance or social institutions (1 Sam 10:27; 25:17; 30:22); cf. NRSV “a scoundrel and a villain” (NAB and NIV similar). The present instruction will focus on the devious practice of such wicked and worthless folk.

² tn Heb “crooked” or “twisted.” This term can refer to something that is physically twisted or crooked, or something morally perverse. Cf. NAB “crooked talk”; NRSV “crooked speech.”

³ tn Heb “walks around with a perverse mouth.” The term “mouth” is a metonymy of cause, an organ of speech put for what is said. This is an individual who says perverted or twisted things.