Proverbs 12:5-7

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Proverbs 12:5 tn Heb “thoughts.” This term refers not just to random thoughts, however, but to what is planned or devised.
2. Proverbs 12:5 sn The plans of good people are directed toward what is right. Advice from the wicked, however, is deceitful and can only lead to trouble.
3. Proverbs 12:6 tn Heb “are to ambush blood.” The infinitive construct אֱרָב (ʾerov, “to lie in wait”) expresses the purpose of their conversations. The proverb either compares their words to an ambush (cf. NAB, NRSV “are a deadly ambush”) or states what the content of their words is about.
4. Proverbs 12:6 tn Heb “for blood.” The term “blood” is a metonymy of effect, the cause being the person that they will attack and whose blood they will shed. After the construct “blood” is also an objective genitive.
5. Proverbs 12:6 tn Heb “mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) is a metonymy of cause, signifying what the righteous say. The righteous can make a skillful defense against false accusations that are intended to destroy. The righteous, who have gained wisdom, can escape the traps set by the words of the wicked.
6. Proverbs 12:7 tn The MT has an infinitive absolute “as to the overthrow of the wicked—they are [then] no more.” The verb הָפַך (haphakh) can mean “to turn” (change directions), “to turn something into something,” or “to overthrow” (particularly said of cities). The LXX interprets as “wherever the wicked turns he disappears.”sn This proverb is about the stability of the righteous in times of trouble.
7. Proverbs 12:7 tn Heb “and they are not.”
8. Proverbs 12:7 tn Heb “the house of the righteous.” The genitive צַדִּיקִים (tsaddiqim) functions as an attributive adjective: “righteous house.” The noun בֵּית (bet, “house”) functions as a synecdoche of container (= house) for the contents (= family, household; perhaps household possessions). Cf. NCV “a good person’s family”; NLT “the children of the godly.”