Article April 24, 1937 Issue

Bible Notes

"The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way" (Prov. 11:5)—The Hebrew verb which is here translated "direct" can also mean "to make straight, level or even" (cf. Feyerabend: Hebrew Dictionary, p. 138). Consequently, Dr. Delitzsch renders: "The righteousness of the blameless smootheth his way" (Commentary on Proverbs: Vol. I, p. 232), and Moffatt has: "The path of a right-minded man is cleared by his own goodness;" while Smith prefers to render: "The honest man's path is kept straight by his righteousness."

"Transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness" (Prov.11:6)—The term translated "naughtiness" is used in Hebrew to mean either "desire" or "chasm" (and so, figuratively, "destruction"). (Compare Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 217.) Other suggested renderings are: "passion, corruption, wickedness" (Feyerabend: op. cit., p. 76). The word rendered "the transgressors" can mean "the recreant, the impious," or "the deceivers." Delitzsch suggests the translation: "In their own covetousness are the faithless taken" (op. cit., p. 232), while Goodspeed has: "The faithless are caught by their lusts;" and Moffatt: "Crafty men are caught by their own schemes."

"The wicked worketh a deceitful work" (Prov. 11:18)—The Hebrew phrase here rendered "worketh a . . . work" is sometimes employed idiomatically in the sense of "earns wages" (cf. Brown, etc., op. cit., pp. 795 and 821). As a consequence, Smith translates: "The wicked man earns illusive wages;" and Kent: "A wicked man earns deceitful wages;" while Moffatt renders: "It is not real what a bad man gains." Then, too, Delitzsch suggests: "The godless acquires deceptive gain."

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