The Scales, the City, and the Open Hand

“A just weight” is literally “a whole stone”, even shelemah; weights were stones carried in a bag and set against goods on the scale. Deuteronomy 25:13–16 forbids “divers weights, a great and a small” and calls the man who uses them an abomination, the same word as here.

“Pride” and “shame” are zadon and qalon, a sound pair: presumption arrives and disgrace arrives with it. “The lowly” are tsenu’im, the modest, a word found elsewhere only as the verb of Micah 6:8, “to walk humbly with thy God”.

“Integrity” is tummah, the word God uses of Job, “he holdeth fast his integrity” (Job 2:3), and his wife throws back at him in 2:9. “Perverseness” is selef, twisting, the verb for what a bribe does in Exodus 23:8, “perverteth the words of the righteous”.

Zephaniah 1:18 uses the same “day of wrath” with the same point: “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath.” The second half is 10:2 again, word for word, set now against riches rather than ill-gotten treasure.

“Direct” is yashar, make straight or level, the promise of 3:6 now attached to righteousness itself. The “perfect” is tamim, the whole or blameless man. Psalm 5:10 asks the same fate for the wicked: “let them fall by their own counsels.”

“Taken” is lakad, caught as in a trap. “Naughtiness” is hawwah, craving, the word translated “substance” in 10:3: the faithless are caught by their own appetites, as an animal is caught by the bait it wants. In 1611 naughtiness meant real wickedness.

“Expectation” is tiqvah again, the hope-cord of 10:28, and it perishes at death. “The hope of unjust men” can also be read “the hope placed in strength” or “in wealth”, since onim can mean vigour or riches as well as iniquity.

“In his stead” is tachtav, in his place, an exchange of positions. Haman hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai (Esther 7:10), and Daniel’s accusers were thrown into the den from which Daniel had been lifted (Daniel 6:24).

“Hypocrite” is chanef, the godless or profane man, from a verb for polluting; the land is “polluted” with it in Numbers 35:33. The King James word narrows it. “Destroyeth” is yashchit, the verb God uses of the flood in Genesis 6:13: speech that ruins as thoroughly as water.

“Shouting” is rinnah, a ringing cry of joy, the ranan of Psalm 145:7. When Mordecai went out in royal apparel, “the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad” (Esther 8:15). A city cheers at both events, the rise of one and the fall of the other.

“The blessing of the upright” can mean the blessings they speak, their prayers for the city, which makes the two halves a contest of mouths. “Overthrown” is tehares, torn down, the word for a wall or an altar demolished (Judges 6:25).

When Saul was first made king, some worthless men “despised him”, “but he held his peace” (1 Samuel 10:27), the same two verbs. “Void of wisdom” is chasar lev, lacking heart. The man with sense keeps his contempt, if he has any, to himself.

“Talebearer” is holech rakhil, one who goes about trading gossip; rakhil is related to the word for a travelling merchant. Leviticus 19:16 forbids it: “Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people.” “Concealeth” is mekhasseh, the covering of 10:12.

“Counsel” is tachbulot, the steering ropes of 1:5: “where there is no helmsman, a people falls.” The second half is repeated in 24:6 of war, and 15:22 makes the same point about plans: “in the multitude of counsellors they are established.”

“Shall smart for it” is ra yeroa, “evil, evil shall befall”, a doubled verb for certain harm. “Suretiship” is toqe’im, the striking of hands of 6:1, so the man who hates the handshake is the one who stays secure, boteach.

“Strong men” are aritsim, the ruthless, the word of Psalm 37:35, “the wicked in great power”. The ruthless seize wealth and keep it; the gracious woman keeps something else, honour. The Greek adds lines here about a woman who hates righteousness being “a throne of dishonour”.

“Doeth good” is gomel, to deal out fully, to repay. “Troubleth” is okher, the verb Joshua uses to Achan, “Why hast thou troubled us?” (Joshua 7:25), from which the valley of Achor was named. Cruelty troubles the cruel man first.

“Deceitful work” is pe’ullat shaqer, literally “wages of falsehood”, the pe’ullah of 10:16. The line rhymes in Hebrew: sheqer, falsehood, against sekher, reward. The wicked man is paid in a currency that turns out to be false; the sower of righteousness is paid in true coin.

“As righteousness tendeth to life” may also be read “so steadfast righteousness leads to life”, taking ken as a noun meaning firm or upright. “Pursueth” is rodef, to chase: the one who chases evil is running toward his own death, not after a prize.

The abomination and delight of verse 1 return, but now it is hearts, not weights, on the scale. “Froward heart” is iqqeshei lev, twisted of heart. “Upright in their way” is temimei derek, whole in their road, the tamim of verse 5.

“Hand join in hand” is yad leyad, “hand to hand”, perhaps the handshake of a pledge: you may shake on it, be sure of it. The King James reads it as the wicked joining forces, which still cannot save them. “Seed” is descendants: the promise reaches the next generation.

The “jewel of gold” is a nezem, a nose ring, the ring Abraham’s servant put on Rebekah’s face (Genesis 24:47). “Discretion” is ta’am, taste or good judgment, the word David used of Abigail’s “advice” (1 Samuel 25:33), a beautiful woman who had plenty.

“Only good” is ach tov, nothing but good. “Wrath” is evrah, the “day of wrath” of verse 4. The expectation of the wicked is not simply disappointed: what they are really waiting for, whether they know it or not, is wrath.

“Scattereth” is mefazzer, the verb of Psalm 112:9, “He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor”, which Paul quotes in 2 Corinthians 9:9 while urging a collection for Jerusalem. “More than is meet” is literally “more than is right”, withholding past what uprightness allows.

“The liberal soul” is nefesh berakhah, “a soul of blessing”. “Made fat” is the verb of Psalm 23:5, “thou anointest my head with oil”, literally “thou makest fat”, fatness being a picture of plenty. The giver of water becomes the one who receives it.

Holding back grain in famine to drive up the price is the scheme Amos 8:5 attacks. Joseph in the famine “opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians” (Genesis 41:56). “Curse” here is naqav, a word for piercing, cursing that marks a man out.

“Diligently seeketh” is shocher, seeks early, the eager seeking Wisdom promised to reward (8:17). The Hebrew says he seeks favour, ratson. The man who goes looking for harm finds it arriving at his own door, the pattern of the pit in 26:27.

“Branch” is aleh, a leaf, the foliage of Psalm 1:3, “his leaf also shall not wither”, and of the tree by the water in Jeremiah 17:8. Riches are something you lean on and fall with; the righteous are something alive, putting out leaves.

“Troubleth” is okher, Achan’s verb from verse 17, and Achan’s whole household was destroyed for the trouble he brought (Joshua 7:24–25). “Inherit the wind” became the title of a 1955 play about the Scopes trial. The fool ends up a slave in someone else’s house.

The tree of life appears for the second of its four times (3:18). “Winneth souls” is loqeach nefashot, “takes lives”, the phrase used in 1:19 of greed, “which taketh away the life of the owners”. There taking a life meant death; here the wise man takes lives into life.

“Recompensed” is yeshullam, paid in full, from the root of shalem, the whole weight of verse 1. 1 Peter 4:18 quotes the Greek form: “if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” The reckoning is “in the earth”, in this life.