Wisdom Shows Up in the Unfinished Work

“Brutish” is ba’ar, stupid as cattle, from be’ir, livestock. Asaph confesses the same state in Psalm 73:22: “So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.” The man who hates correction is compared to an animal that can be driven but not taught.

“Man of wicked devices” is ish mezimmot, the planning power promised to the young in 1:4, gone bad. “Condemn” is yarshia, to declare guilty, the verdict of a court, the word of Deuteronomy 25:1, “they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked”.

“Established” is yikkon, to be set firm, the verb used of God setting the heavens in place in 3:19. The root returns in verse 12, where it yields fruit: here it holds a man up, there it feeds him. Wickedness can gain ground but cannot put down roots.

“A virtuous woman” is eshet chayil, a woman of strength, the phrase of 31:10 and of Boaz praising Ruth (Ruth 3:11); chayil is the word for an army and for wealth. “Rottenness in his bones” uses raqav, the rot of 10:7; 14:30 applies it to envy.

“Right” is mishpat, justice: the plans of the righteous are just. “Counsels” is tachbulot again, the helmsman’s ropes of 1:5 and 11:14; the wicked are skilled steersmen, but what they steer by is deceit.

“Lie in wait for blood” is arav dam, the gang’s own words in 1:11, “let us lay wait for blood”. Their talk is the ambush. “Shall deliver them” can mean the upright rescue themselves by what they say, or rescue the people the wicked are lying in wait for.

“Overthrown” is hafokh, the verb for the overthrow of Sodom (Genesis 19:25). The Hebrew is terse: “overturn the wicked, and they are not”, a single stroke and nothing left. The house standing is the picture 10:25 gave of an everlasting foundation.

“Commended” is yehullal, from halal, the verb of Hallelujah: a man is praised by the measure of his insight, sekhel, the good sense of 3:4. “Perverse heart” is na’aveh lev, a twisted heart, and it ends in contempt, the opposite of praise.

“He that is despised” is niqleh, lightly esteemed, the word David used of himself before Saul: “I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed” (1 Samuel 18:23). “Hath a servant” may instead mean “works for himself”, which the Greek translation supports.

“Regardeth the life” is literally “knows the soul”, yode’a nefesh, the idiom of Exodus 23:9, “ye know the heart of a stranger”. The Law gave the ox a Sabbath rest (Exodus 23:12) and forbade muzzling it at the threshing floor (Deuteronomy 25:4).

“Tilleth” is oved, works or serves, Adam’s charge “to till the ground” (Genesis 3:23). “Vain persons” is reqim, empty things or empty men, the word for the hired rabble of Abimelech (Judges 9:4). 28:19 repeats the verse with a harsher ending: “shall have poverty enough.”

The Hebrew of the first half is obscure; metsod can mean a net, a catch or a stronghold, and the Greek translation reads something quite different. In the second half “yieldeth” is simply “gives”, with no object: the root of the righteous gives, and that is enough.

“Is snared” is moqesh, a bait-stick or snare, the fowler’s word of 6:2, “snared with the words of thy mouth”. The wicked man is trapped by the rebellion, pesha, of his own lips. “Trouble” is tsarah, the distress of 1:27, which the just get out of.

“The recompence of a man’s hands” is gemul yadav, the phrase of Isaiah 3:11, “the reward of his hands shall be given him”. The written Hebrew has “he will return” and the scribes read “shall be rendered”: what a man deals out comes back to him. 18:20 repeats the first half.

“Right in his own eyes” is the refrain of Judges, “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6, 21:25). The book returns to the thought in 16:2 and 21:2, where the LORD weighs what seems right. Hearing counsel is the one test the fool never takes.

“Wrath” is ka’as, vexation or irritation, the flare of a man provoked. “Covereth shame” means he leaves an insult unanswered, qalon, the disgrace of 11:2. David, cursed by Shimei on the road, told his men to “let him curse” (2 Samuel 16:11).

“Speaketh truth” is yafiach emunah, breathes out faithfulness, the verb 6:19 used of a witness who breathes out lies. “Sheweth forth” is yaggid, declares, as a witness declares in court. The setting is testimony: what a man says under question shows what he is.

“Speaketh” is boteh, to blurt rashly, the verb for a careless oath “pronouncing with his lips” (Leviticus 5:4) and for Moses, who “spake unadvisedly with his lips” (Psalm 106:33). “Piercings” are madqerot, stabbings, thrusts of a blade.

“But for a moment” is ad argi’ah, literally “until I wink”, the blink of an eye; Jeremiah 49:19 uses the word for “suddenly”. Truth is “established”, set firm like the house of verse 7; a lie lasts as long as it takes to blink.

“Imagine” is charash, plough, the fourth time the book pictures evil being ploughed in (3:29, 6:14, 6:18). “Counsellors of peace” are those who advise shalom, the people Jesus calls blessed as peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). Deceit sits in one heart; joy in the other.

“Evil” here is aven, a word that means both trouble and iniquity. Psalm 91:10 makes a similar promise: “There shall no evil befall thee.” “Filled with mischief” is ra, harm: the wicked are full of it, the way a jar is full.

Abomination and delight are paired for the third time (11:1, 11:20), now over lips. “Deal truly” is osei emunah, “those who do faithfulness”; truth is something performed, not only said. Emunah is the word of Habakkuk 2:4, “the just shall live by his faith”.

“Concealeth” is koseh, covers, the verb of 10:12 and 12:16. “Proclaimeth” is yiqra, calls out, the verb used for Wisdom crying in the streets (1:21, 8:1). The fool’s heart imitates her, shouting its folly in public the way she shouts her wisdom.

“Bear rule” is timshol, from mashal, to rule, the same consonants as mashal, a proverb. “Under tribute” is lamas, forced labour, the corvée Solomon laid on the remaining Canaanites (1 Kings 9:21). The slack hand, remiyyah (10:4), ends up doing another man’s work for nothing.

“Heaviness” is de’agah, anxiety, the verb of Jeremiah 17:8, the tree that “shall not be careful in the year of drought”. “Maketh it stoop” pictures a heart bent over. Isaiah 50:4 speaks of the gift “to speak a word in season to him that is weary”.

The first half is hard to translate. The King James reads “more excellent than his neighbour”; others take the verb as “guides” or “searches out”, so that the righteous man leads his friend or chooses him carefully. “Seduceth” is tat’em, leads astray, from ta’ah, the wandering of 7:25.

“Roasteth” is charakh, a word found nowhere else in the Bible; the Greek reads “shall not catch his game” instead. The second half, in its Hebrew order, can be read “diligence is a man’s precious wealth”, the diligent man being the charuts, the sharp one of 10:4.

“No death” is al-mavet, an unusual phrase, since al normally forbids rather than denies. Some translators change the vowels to read “the crooked path leads to death”; others have read “no death” as a glimpse of life that death does not end.